[R-390] Where do I begin?

[Flowertime01 at wmconnect.com]

Jim KA1EUI,

Ah yes, the old yesterday it worked today it does not problem.

Number zero if you have an R390/A check C253 in the IF deck.
If this is a brown or black plastic cap that look original, replace it NOW.
If this cap shorts or leaks it kill the mechanical filters.
Use a .01 600 volt orange Sprague or high quality cap.

Number one due to the hours of tube time used, all the tubes need to get 
checked.
Likely you do not own a tube checker. So task one is to locate a shop that 
still has
a tester you can use. Just finding a shop or parts house with a tester can be 
a job.
Sooner or later you are going to need to check the tubes and start weeding 
out the
weak, noisy and bad ones. Getting a set of tubes that are good will likely 
get you
some signals back. Then you will need to get into an alignment.

Number two is to find your self one of those silly spline keys to fit all the 
RF slug
rack, cam clamps, and knobs. A good tool store. You can grind an L wrench off
solder a length of spline into a tube to make a long screwdriver tool. A once 
in a
life time task.

Number three is to find your self a long #1 Philip screwdriver.
#1 as a #2 is two fat for some spaces.
Long as in to reach into all the recesses to the green screws.

See the late mail here on noisy pots and getting them cleaned.
Also see the mail on cleaning up your gear train.

Have you found the Y2K manual on line?
You should get a CD copy if your Internet connection is slow.

Back in 1999 the fellows did an awesome job of producing a great manual for 
the
R390 on line and available also on CD. The work got titled The Y2K manual.

You can fix your R390 your self, No problem, If you have a voltmeter you can 
do
a reasonable job of getting it aligned from the Calibration tones. 

If you have a voltmeter, an RF signal generator and the Y2K manual, you can
read and adjust your receiver back up to a great receiver.

After old tube problems, the R390/A has some sorry caps. Old age is getting 
the
electrolytic filter caps. There are a bunch of brown or black plastic caps 
that fail.
These just get replaced.  Filter caps plug in. New ones are hard to find.
You can put new caps in the old can. Put new caps in 8 pin octal tube sockets 
and
plug those in. You can put caps in relay cases and plug those in. The brown 
or black
caps just get replaced in circuit. New caps are smaller than the original. 
You will
be amazed at how much space is under the deck after you get those caps all 
replaced.

Go read the R390 archives. Lots of good detail. Lots of dead horses to read 
around.
After reading for a day you get some topics to read on and then sort and read 
by thread.

You will want to deal with the 26Z5s being replaced with diodes.
The ballast tube being replaced.

Roger KC6TRU