[R-390] Is there (or will there be) a Y2KR3 Update?

[Perry Sandeen]

Yo Bubba Dudes!
The short answer: NO.
The long answer.
I gathered all the info and authored the Y2KR3 manual what seems eons ago.
Since then I have 20 or so more articles to add to it.  When I asked for help on this list there was only one person who said he might be able to donate one hour a week but he wasn't very familiar with using MS word.
As I posted recently, I've turned 78 (going on 18 according to my wife as well as some others opinions).  We are moving from Californicate to SC for financial reasons and we have some medical issues to deal with.
There are at least four regular posters to this list who could help.  Fortunately for the guilty they shall remain nameless.
So the cold, cold hard facts of life is that since there is no commitment by them to only post opinions or take info I've produced there isn't going to be any more.
A couple of examples.  Several years back I digitized the two sheet R390A schematic.  It took about 100 hours per sheet to make an exact reproduction BIT TIFF images that one could take to Kinko's and have reproduced to any size without smearing.  I shared these with any who wanted.  No problemo.
I also did an upgrade on these schematics annotating the problem/high probability parts reported over the 18 years I've been on this list.  Yet there are self anointed guru assholes who ridicule the information. But those who really know the truth almost always say nothing.
The other problem is wrong/misleading/impractical advice.
Wrong: You can't just take a signal generator and use it until things get better. IE RTFM! Also not to buy a good used HP signal generator.  Yes, it can break but so can everything else.  HP made professional equipment for professional use.  If it works OK when you buy it it is a 99 44/100 percent bet one will never wear it out.

Misleading: Just follow the TM.  No read Rogers info in the Y2KR3 manual.  He worked on the A for 8 continuous years.  There is absolutely no one who knows and has shared more.
Impracticable: Use a SDR receiver for a calibration generator.  OK, which model(s) and how? That's no help to a newbe (and even to me who was trained on the A in 1963.) If it's a good idea write it up and share it with all of us.  Otherwise is just a pie-in-the sky concept.

I have additionally collected and authored 20 or so more articles that would make everyone's A's better.  But why should I go to the effort?
A further example is that these same SAGA's ridiculed, belittled, baited and badgered off the list two of the most knowledgeable technical people to post, Dr. Jerry and Dallas Lankford. Between them they have forgotten more about our B/A receivers than almost all anyone else knows.
Years ago I as well had a load of abuse dumped on me.  I wrote a defense on the list but no one came forth to my defense.  Even a complaint to the list administrator elicited no response of help.
Now I've been able to put together all the clues that Chuck Felton revealed over the years for how he made his R390F model.  He made a living doing this upgrade on a good working A for $985 Plus S+H.
Any info I have will either go to the R390 FAQ site or to ER magazine to publish.
Fortunately there are the Hi Rez DVD's for us.  They are a real live hands on training tool and the only one in existance

Unless others who do work on the radios besides Roger R contribute and encourage on a continuing basis this list will just die.
The A was without question the most complex tube radio ever made.  It takes a lot of reading time and hands on to become skilled.  But there aren't an more schools. Old farts like me are fading into oblivion hoping each day that we'll wake up in the morning and when we do, we know who we are, where we are, and still remember what we planned to do from the nite before.

So it's time for a number of you to belly up to the bar and either put or shut up and go away and play somewhere else.
Now that I've shared my gracious, soft, kind and gentle encouragements it's bedtime for Bozo.
Regards,
Perrier