[R-390] Working on the R-392

[David Olean]

Thanks for the comments, Charles,

Yes, I think I will be replacing many of those postage stamp types as 
time goes on.  I like the term "hoe".   Many of the rigs I have been 
restoring were obtained from Land Air Communications. I am not sure if 
the previous work that I have seen on this gear was done there or the 
units were like that when Land Air received them.  All I know is that 
the work was shoddy and I spent much time undoing damage caused by 
previous repairs. Garden tools sounds about right.  Another term that I 
recall was from Glen, K1GW who described his repair acumen as akin to 
using blow torch and boxing gloves.

73

Dave K1WHS

On 1/16/2020 8:06 AM, Charles Steinmetz wrote:
> David wrote:
>
>> So all the Sprague Vitamin-Q caps were fine, and it was a silver mica
>> postage stamp type capacitor  inside an RF transformer that was giving
>> me grief!
>
> In the ~60 years I've been playing with radios and other electronic 
> gear, I can only recall finding one bad Vitamin-Q -- and there is a 
> very good chance that one was damaged by the hoe who tried to fix the 
> radio before me.  [For those who haven't heard the term before, "hoe" 
> refers to someone who leaves electronic equipment looking like it was 
> worked on with garden tools.]
>
> By contrast, postage-stamp micas are dying like flies now.  The time 
> is nearing -- if it isn't here already -- when they should be replaced 
> shotgun-style, like plastic-cased paper caps.
>
> Epoxy-dipped silver micas have generally been very reliable unless 
> they had spent time underwater, but old ones have started to show EOL 
> failures over the last 20 years or so.  I expect this trend to 
> accelerate as they age further.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Charles
>
>
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