[R-390] Cloth wire preservation and Soviet Mil Stuff

[b w]

Cecil,

Interesting stuff, so don't worry about the topic police. Glad to hear 
about projects like this as I have a few of them going on around here too.

You can buy the cloth type of wire covering in different colors. I've 
used it a lot in some places. It looks pretty new, but if you desoldered 
the wiring and replaced it with this covering it would all look pretty 
good. The SX-28 is worth it if you care to put in the time. The 
transformer wires could be done by unsoldering one end, slipping the 
cloth sleeves over the wire, and resoldering....if doing it all was the 
goal. New cloth sleeves would preserve the original wiring.

Sounds like a good project,


the other other Barry

>Hey folks,
>
>        I have a question that I though I would field to the group since I
>know many of you not only work on R-390's but many other various makes of
>boatanchor receivers.
>
>I have a rough old tube receiver that has great potential.  It has cloth
>wiring.  It looks as though the cloth is showing signs of deterioration.
>One of the IF cans were removed when I got the receiver because of a problem
>in the can...turned out both of the mica caps were leaky and one of the IF
>coils open.  I had picked up a spare set of IF cans so I set out to replace
>the thing.  The wiring was a mix of cloth and rubber insulated wire.  Why
>they used different I don't know.  The rubber insulated wire was crumbling.
>The cloth was coming apart where it had been manipulated to unsolder the
>connections in the chassis.  I opted to replace all the wires with modern
>plastic insulated wire.  It doesn't look original under the chassis but will
>function fine.
>
>My question: is there a way to preserve the existing wiring in the chassis
>from further deterioration.  The wiring that is original and not pulled
>around on much is still intact and the cloth still providing it insulating
>properties but I would like to do something to preserve it if it can be
>done.  I just don't really know what one might do to minimize further
>deterioration.
>
>I keep all my old radios in a humidity and temp controlled environment and
>that should help...
>
>For the record it's an SX-28A...In it's original cabinet and with it's
>matching speaker.
>
>The previous owner, who is now deceased, was well along in recapping the
>receiver.  The job needs to be checked and finished. I am in the process of
>removing a 2nd IF can to replace it's wiring and check the internal
>components.  The wiring has come apart because I think the previous owner
>had removed that can at some point as well.
>
>I think it will make a nice addition to the R-390's and SP-600's when
>finished.
>
>On another topic...does any of you fool around with old Soviet Military
>stuff.  Do you know someone that does.  I have accumulated some parts that
>came out of some old Soviet Comm. vans that might be of use in maintaining
>that type stuff.  It's all NOS parts and is in my way and needs to find a
>new home.  I also have a couple pieces of test equipment and 2 real nice
>Soviet mil. Morse encoding\decoding keyboards that were installed in a
>couple of the vans.  They work once I converted the power supplies to
>120VAC.
>
>A lot of this stuff is marked with the C.C.C.P. markings...making them
>interesting Cold War Relics.
>
>Sorry for the ramblings for those of you not interested in this...just
>wanted to make use of the best technical resource I know of on the
>web....the folks on the R-390 list!
>
>Cecil....
>
>  
>