[Racal] RA17C-12 with "PCBs Removed"

[Barry Hauser]

Hi Dan:


> Does anyone have any experience of bringing these RA17C-12 s back to
> life?

Not yet, but I'm workin' on it. ;-)

I have seen  quite a number of them on eBay in the past and
> wondered whether there was any more to do than repair the obvious damage
> that I see in mine; where each cap has been ripped out, there is a
> certain amount of collateral damage,

Collateral damage?  I haven't noticed any in the 3 I have like that, but
maybe I didn't look close enough.  Just looks like the caps were snipped
out.

so to speak, but whatever idiot did
> this did not delve too deep inside, so I should be thankful for small
> mercies.  For example in the calibrator there are 7 Hunts paper
> capacitors still there and presumably still others elsewhere.

Well, I haven't opened the calibrators, but the VFO (I think -- box they
plug into) was opened and snipped.  They had to bend the cover to do it.

> The other question is, of course, what PCBs?

Excellent question.  Old oil-filled caps may have PCB's, but as far as I can
tell, there aren't any in the 17C-12.  Might be an oil filled tranformer --
probably is.
>
> Does anyone know what twisted part of the collective military mind
> ordered this, and for what reason?

I think this may have been the Canadian Air Force, if so, part of the larger
dastardly industrial-DE-military complex.

I was told by the seller that they used some kind of "sniffer" that told
them which caps had the PCB's.  In reality, probably none had any.  More
likely, the sniffer operator was fond of garlic pepperoni pizza or the poor
radios got parked in an area with a lot of diesel traffic or something.

>
> But I suppose we should be grateful, seeing as it would normally be the
> first thing to do when getting hold of one of these elderly receivers,
> to replace all the paper caps :-)   Just wish they'd done it with a
> little more care!

What did they do to yours?  I haven't had a chance to closely compare all
three.  With the exception of the missing caps, they appear to be in pretty
good shape.  Some of the missing ones are easy to locate as they were
mounted on boards.  Others are point-to-point and you'll need a schematic
and readable photos.  I also have an intact unit to use as a model.

I keep telling myself that almost 1/2 the recapping job has already been
done. And, of course, if they had all their caps, they'd have sold for a
good deal more.

We de-milled RA17C-12 owners should stay in touch on the restorations.

Barry