[R-390] Parts Needed, new R-390A owner & questions...

[wli]

Steve:

Nice to have you join the group. May I recommend downloading the Y2K manual  off the Web along with the very nice compedium of notes collected by Perry Sandeen et al; listed as *Y2K-R3*. Together they make a great addition to the published JAN manuals.

By now, you have seen that we are a varied bunch; with some desiring a pristine near factory fresh unit restoration, and the others happy with a slightly beat up fully functional unit. No question, a restored panel and knobs look swell. It is the insides that are equally, if not more important. 

Some of us have specialized in doing a ground-up restoration of all or part of a R390A for very reasonable charges. They are to be commended in a labor of love. I am much more lazy, and have chosen to spend all my time and effort on function: swapping tubes for minimum noise and reasonable gain, replacing deteriorated components, and mechanical-electrical alignment.

Fair sells m-BNC connectors that have had the coax cut off short... for something like $3.50. I have bought some and made nifty BNC-to-mBNC 6 inch adapter cables to feed signals into the IF deck. They have been invaluable in alignments and assessing stage gains.

Chuck Rippel's mod of the precision ten-turn 100 ohm pot makes adjustment of the Line Level meter real easy.

As Gene says, jump in and get started, or you will miss all the fun.

W. Li
Mercer Island, WA