[SignalOne] 2 issues

[signalone@mailman.qth.net]

ka9p,

I'm laughing about the cheap.  Yes, it was cheap, $200.  About the
price of a good SB-303 or "Clackin" IC-720A.  The CX7A
offers 10 times the challenge of either.   What a bargain!

It took a while to figure out that the AC connector wasn't a mod,
that the factory designed that.  What were they thinking?  Someone told
me that same connector is used on commercial video for AC power.  Sure
looks like a baby Centronics/telephone connector.

As far as I can tell, and I've only spent a couple hours looking at the
interior, there are no mods or repairs except for the 4CX350F, the
extra wires to the backpanel voltage regulator, the loose regulator on
the main power board, and "something that looks like a naked ceramic
disk capacitor" that's hanging in the air behind the upper right front
panel. 

Everything else looks unmodified and seems to be working.

Like you, I remember the ads in QST and hearing "big stations" announce
that they were running "Signal/One Alpha" trumping the guys running
"S-Line, Henry 2K".   

I wonder about mods. I've seen KWM-2's with the Waters mods and
even one that had factory looking lever switches added to the front
panel.  These are the switches like in a 312B-4 that require slots cut.

I've seen several KWM-2 hulks on eBay.  Even the worse models look like
they could be rebuilt into working radios. 

I guess I've changed my philosophy of life as I'm more interested in
restoring the radios to the original look and feel.   

I'm not a purist, I put a radial cap in place of an axial in an SB-303.
It works.  If someone ever wants to spend a few hours hollowing out the
Heathkit axial cap, well, they can do that.  A modern axial cap is just
as out of place as the radial.

WB2QLL,

I'm doing this on the cheap too.  In addition to the hand surgery, I
had a several financial set backs, was out of work, took a job at a
lower salary, etc. 

Some motives for fixing the radios is that I am building another
skillset.  I picked up an M.S. Computer Science in 1992 (after working
as a programmer for 20 years).  

I repaired the computerized gasoline pumps for my neighborhood gas
station.  This was a pro-bono job.  They had two hardware failures and
I was able to help them out.  I learned something doing that.

When I refurb each Heathkit, I learn something useful.  I also
transform a dead hulk into a valuable radio.  I can't do this
for a living.  It takes me a week to refurb an SB-303. That takes a
$150 beater to maaaaybe $300.  Call it $4.00/hour.  Not very good money
but it beats watching TV.  

I "think" that we have passed the bottom of the recession and that
prices and valuations will rise over the next few years. 

A friend has been buying beater Hallicrafters with the idea of
refurbing them for resale.  He thinks that as prices rise, he'll be
able to sell the cleaned up units to supplement his retirement.