[R-390] R-390 Digest, Vol 140, Issue 21
bernie nicholson
vk2abn at bigpond.net.au
Sun Dec 13 03:11:14 EST 2015
Hi to everyone from Australia , .............regarding the R390 and 6082
tubes , I repaired one here the other day, for a Friend , and 6082 s are
very hard to find in this country, but 6080 s are very cheap , Being 6v
filaments ........I just reconnected the filaments , in series and put a
power diode in series off the 24V , Nothing is overloaded and it all works
fine and looks original , THE Purist may balk at this but it works , cheers
and the complements of the season to all ......regards Bernie VK2ABN
----- Original Message -----
From: <r-390-request at mailman.qth.net>
To: <r-390 at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, December 13, 2015 5:37 PM
Subject: R-390 Digest, Vol 140, Issue 21
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Test (Drew P.)
> 2. Re: R392 (David Wise)
> 3. Re: R-392 (wli)
> 4. Re: Collins ARR-41/R-648 HELP???? (Don Reaves)
> 5. R-390 Topics (Don Reaves)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 13 Dec 2015 03:59:41 +0000 (UTC)
> From: "Drew P." <drewrailleur807 at yahoo.com>
> To: <r-390 at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: [R-390] Test
> Message-ID:
> <203135989.275536.1449979181551.JavaMail.yahoo at mail.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> Roy Morgan done wrote:
>
> (snipped)
>
> "The ?non-A? has its challenges, but some feel it is easier to overhaul.
> For instance, many of the capacitors are going to be still just FINE after
> all these years. Also there is the fabled Green Gear. And the voltage
> regulator system.
>
> My suggestion is that you put a fan on the outside of the frame to blow
> air past the 6082 series regulator tubes (you do have some spare 6082?s
> right?). I have a picture of the one I cobbled up that shows how it is
> made and how it fastened to the existing bottom plate and frame screws.
> It makes a HUGE improvement in the temperature of the regulator section.
> Glad to send that picture to anyone interested."
>
> Those 6082's do get VERY hot. one of our list members was working on a
> non-A resting on a newspaper-covered work surface, and reported that the
> 6082's set the newspaper on fire.
>
> A worthwhile modification detailed on this list is construction of a
> simple soiled-state voltage regulator to replace the 6082's and associated
> circuitry. The 6082's, being relatively big power triodes, could then be
> auctioned off to the highest-bidding audiophool. The modification easily
> could be made plug and play to avoid disfiguring the radio. Further, the
> soiled-state regulator could be located external to the radio and
> connected via an umbilical, thus moving heat outside the box.
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2015 20:57:50 -0800
> From: David Wise <David_Wise at Phoenix.com>
> To: wes Bolin <k5apl41 at gmail.com>, Roy Morgan <k1lky68 at gmail.com>
> Cc: "r-390 at mailman.qth.net" <r-390 at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: Re: [R-390] R392
> Message-ID:
> <FFF45F8A4E2B6F4CA4920B3B028CE73D15F3269770 at SCL-ExchMB.phoenix.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252
>
> Roy was twitting you, Wes. Any of us would welcome another R392... and
> another R392 owner.
>
> Dave
>
> ________________________________________
> From: R-390 [r-390-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of wes Bolin
> [k5apl41 at gmail.com]
> Sent: Saturday, December 12, 2015 7:14 PM
> To: Roy Morgan
> Cc: r-390 at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [R-390] R392
>
> Thanks for the offer to get rid of it Roy, but I'll hold on to this one.
> I
> have owned a couple in the past many years, but this one is a keeper. The
> power supply will be no problem,cause I bought some Rad Shak transformers
> when they were shutting down stores in Texarkana. The 392 has been
> sitting
> for somewhere around 30 years, the case is really good cosmetically, and
> the front panel has many layers of dust. Will be a few weeks before I can
> get it operational, but should be fun. I'll keep in touch. Thanks.
> Wes
>
> On Sat, Dec 12, 2015 at 8:32 PM, Roy Morgan <k1lky68 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> On Dec 12, 2015, at 4:00 PM, David Wise <David_Wise at Phoenix.com> wrote:
>>
>> > Welcome, Wes. R392 is definitely "in the family?.
>>
>> > From: R-390 [r-390-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of wes Bolin [
>> k5apl41 at gmail.com]
>>
>> > Does this list cover R392 radios?
>>
>> Wes,
>>
>> Actually, David is being kind. That radio is pretty useless, and the
>> tubes it uses are hard to find. The thing will drive you nuts trying to
>> fix it. You don?t want to be driven nuts, do you. No, you don?t. So
>> just
>> ship it to me and I?ll save you from the pain and stigma of being nuts.
>> I?ll pay shipping.
>>
>> HAH!
>>
>> No, I don?t have an R-392. I think that somewhere I have a partially
>> disassembled module from one, but I never had a whole radio. Here are a
>> couple of notes about it:
>>
>> - The filaments will run ok on 24 volts, but if you separate the ?plate
>> supply? connection and make sure it gets 28 volts or so, the thing will
>> run
>> better. Apparently the improvement in performance is quite noticeable
>> with
>> full plate supply.
>>
>> - If the outside is cruddy, just wash it. It?s pretty waterproof. The
>> INSIDE may look pristine, since it was made to be quite well sealed up.
>> Imagine life in the back of a jeep during monsoon season.
>>
>> Roy
>>
>> Roy Morgan
>> k1lky68 at gmail.com
>> K1LKY Since 1958
>>
>>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sun, 13 Dec 2015 05:22:20 +0000 (UTC)
> From: wli <wli98122 at yahoo.com>
> To: <r-390 at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: Re: [R-390] R-392
> Message-ID:
> <912136932.298858.1449984140801.JavaMail.yahoo at mail.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> Well, the R392 is really a masterpiece of construction: compact, hardened,
> sealed, and robust. I love mine. It has the best of the 390 and 390A built
> in, in my opinion. The tubes are not all that hard to find... you have to
> be cunning and persistent. The one tricky bit is the huge front connector,
> that Fair Radio still has. Mine happens to be powered with a PowerDesign
> 3650-S which puts out 0-35VDC at 0-5A that's metered nicely.
>
> Don't turn it down should one come up!
>
> W. Li
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Sun, 13 Dec 2015 00:19:12 -0600
> From: Don Reaves <donreaves at gmail.com>
> To: Glenn Scott <wa4aos at aol.com>, R-390 List <r-390 at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: Re: [R-390] Collins ARR-41/R-648 HELP????
> Message-ID:
> <CAEjO2LZWRd-GNZM1+zERuH+iB9M-H=wNJ-QsRTZx2k3Ak25J6Q at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> Glenn, here are some notes I collected over the years regarding the
> R-648/ARR-41. I have had one for years, but it hasn't made it to the top
> of my project pile. My particular receiver has one of the handles snapped
> off and missing. I have yet to find an exact match to the intact one.
>
> *I made some formatting edits to the R-390 archive contract excerpt below
> to make it a little easier to read. Hope your email client or mine
> doesn't
> foul it up.*
>
>
> http://k4che.com/ARR-41/ARR-41%20pg1.htm
> image of Collins ad for initial ARR-41 Navy contract
> ---
> A bit of anecdotal info on the ARR-41 from an ebay seller, circa 2013:
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-Navy-Collins-ARR-41-R-648-Military-Aircraft-HF-Receiver-and-PS-R-390-/251242726530
> (** copied below just in case ebay zaps the completed sale details or the
> long URL gets hammered)
>
> ---
> My list of downloadable manuals for ARR-41:
> http://militaryradio.com/manuals/ARR-41/
> If you examine the 1974 P3V Installation manual excerpt, it pretty much
> validates what the ebay seller was describing as to how they may have used
> the ARR-41.
> ---
> from the R-390 archives:
>
>>From courir26 at yahoo.com Mon Oct 3 15:40:43 2005 Subject: [R-390] R-648
> contracts I dug into my bar napkins and found these contract notes on the
> 648. I'm still a little fuzzy on the freq coverage. Did only some of them
> cover medium wave? Tom R
>
> 648/ARR-41 Highest Serial#
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> NOas55-821r 150
> NOas57-438 1045
> NOas60-0164(medium wave) MW-897
> N383(19-383)74432A YY-125
>
> Total Production: 2,207
>
> *Don's note: I've not seen any info on number of units produced on the
> initial contract, NOas52-670c. *
> *My unit is part of the 60-0164 contract, serial 150, and is not a medium
> wave only receiver. *
>
> ---
> ** 2013 ebay description copy (*Don: apply grains of salt as needed*)
>
> US Navy Collins ARR-41 R-648 Military Aircraft HF Receiver with AC Power
> Supply and Speaker. This radio was called the flying R-390 and if you?re
> here looking at this you already know what it is. I flew with these on the
> P-3B Orion on many deployments during my US Navy career in the early 70?s.
> That is why I have this one but it is time to pass on all the stuff I have
> collected to a new home. We used these at the time to tune in news and
> music from home as they were not used for more than that back then. The
> Navy was phasing them out as the ARC-94 HF Receiver on the aircraft at the
> time was used for any real communications work. I think the Navy and
> Lockheed just had so many of these left over from the EC-121 Constellation
> and the P2V Neptune programs that they put them in the P-3A and B to use
> them up. There was no other real use for the radio as the TT-264 Teletype
> was tied into the ARC-94 and not the ARR-41.
> This one has a Military AIMD supplied AC power supply mounted in a nice
> Hallicrafters Speaker cabinet. The supply gives the radio all the needed
> voltages and has an audio section (impedance and output transformer) to
> supply the 8 ohm speaker from the line level as was used to supply the ICS
> system in the aircraft. I had the cabinets over spayed with Collins St.
> James Gray and used a nice undercoat of Truck Bed Coating to give it a
> very
> tough textured finish. It looks perfect. The front of the Speaker Grill is
> painted Collins S-Line speaker grill grey. The high low filter switch on
> the speaker works well. This is an earlier version of the ARR-41 as it has
> the chrome metal handles. Later versions had the handles pained black and
> were offset. This radio plays as well as it looks. This is the 3rd one I
> have owned and the last. Some of these were just plain deaf and no matter
> what you did with them they never got much better. This one is hot and the
> reason I kept it. I have not spec?d it out and if you think you?re going
> to
> be getting R-390 performance from this radio think again. With everything
> there is a compromise and this is not an R-390 or R-390A. But these did
> the
> job for Uncle Sam at the time and are light weight and easy to move about.
> It has been a pleasure using it and remembering the times I would tune in
> the BBC, VOA or AFRN and feed it through the ICS for everyone to listen to
> on those long flights.
> As of right now it needs a mechanical fix. The Veeder Root counter is off
> by 10mhz. The manual will take you through the calibration procedure. It
> is
> well written and easy to follow. I?m just tired of fixing things and so
> I?m
> leaving that up to you. I also have a couple of hand wired in replacement
> bulbs (not soldered) but you can get the peanut bulbs on eBay here and put
> in the correct ones. All the functions of the radio work well. The audio
> gain pot is scratchy though and no matter how much deoxit 5 I put in there
> it is permanent. I would recommend replacing if it bothers you. I even
> think I have an exact replacement pot for it someplace and if I find it,
> it
> will be included with the sale. The front panel has some blotchy spots to
> the upper right of the counter and below it where AIMD stickers and
> placards once were. The Navy used a glue that would hold an elephant to
> the
> bomb racks and so the residue stuck. It only shows in certain light. I
> dabbed some St. James Grey over the spots so it is the correct color and
> does not detract from the look of the panel. The rest of the panel and the
> lettering are in excellent shape for the use these got.
>
> [shipping details deleted]
>
> On Mar-13-13 at 13:37:15 PDT, seller added the following information:
>
> To answer a few more questions: The ARC-94 HF Radio set consisted of 2
> control panels, 2 Collins 618T Transceivers and an antenna coupler with a
> tandem dipole/long wire antenna from the tail of the aircraft to the
> center
> of the fuselage. The ARR-41/R-648 could be tied to the Teletype through
> the
> HF1 ICS Monitor Selection Switch but during the early 70? we did not use
> it that way. WWV @ 5, 10 or 15 MHz was the first thing we set the ARR-41
> on
> during preflight and that was all the tactical use it got. This one does
> not have a dynamotor. It is plug_and_play with the AC supply. This one
> works on all bands and all modes. It covers from 190-550 kHz, 2.0-25 MHz
> ---
> *Don again: AIMD is Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department? *
>
>>
>>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Sun, 13 Dec 2015 00:37:20 -0600
> From: Don Reaves <donreaves at gmail.com>
> To: R-390 List <r-390 at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: [R-390] R-390 Topics
> Message-ID:
> <CAEjO2LZooJxGBC00s_Ecte2dJ0C2WAZWKeLcB2jW6i02=O4Lrw at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> For those newer list members you may be wondering about R-392s and R-648s
> (I've had some private queries), here is the text from the R-390 list info
> notes.
>
> Welcome to the R-390 mailing list. This list is dedicated to the
> discussion
> of the Collins designed R-390 HF receiver, and its operation, repair,
> history, related equipment, and general information.
>
> List etiquette: Stay on topic. Be civil. This list may be moderated at
> times, usually to stop an outbreak of spam.
>
> So, under the category of related equipment, we encourage discussion of
> the
> R-390/R-390A cousins and sister radios, like the R-389, R-391, R-392,
> R-725, ARR-41; even the ARR-15 and R-388 share some common traits with the
> R-390. And this list never gets off topic, ever. :-)
>
> List member Bernie announced he was 79 years young. I wonder if anyone
> can
> top that. And what is the youngest age represented here? We need to have
> some young blood involved and interested in keeping these 50 year old
> iconic receivers going once we old timers can no longer pick them up. I
> plan to have my cold dead hands pried off my EAC R-390A but the rest have
> to find a new home eventually.
>
> Don
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Subject: Digest Footer
>
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of R-390 Digest, Vol 140, Issue 21
> **************************************
>
>
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