[SixClub] Anyone running a Heathkit Seneca VHF-1?

[Steve Katz]

Believe me, Senecas *all* drifted!  Again, you wouldn't notice it by using
one; the poor guy who was on the receive end noticed it.  Of course, some of
the old boat anchor receivers also drifted, but usually not as much as a
Seneca would.  I used an Ameco VFO-621 plugged into the Seneca's crystal
socket if I wanted to be "stable," because the Ameco VFO was infinitely more
stable than the Seneca.  Never had any mike amp or relay problems, though.
We had a local TV-CH 2 also and my Seneca and I qualified for the WATV
award.  That wasn't really the Seneca's fault: Any six meter rig had the
same issue, even the SSB rigs.   When cable TV first came to my neighborhood
in about 1979, I went door to door in the neighborhood convincing every
neighbor I had to sign up for it, and if they did, I'd take down their TV
antennas for free.  That was a very happy time for six meter operators!
-WB2WIK/6

-----Original Message-----
From: Tom WA9WSJ [mailto:wa9wsj at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 1:30 PM
To: doc at kd4e.com; World Wide Six Meter Club
Subject: Re: [SixClub] Anyone running a Heathkit Seneca VHF-1?

Hi Doc,

I have one, in storage, but used it allot in the late
60's-early 70's. Worked many openings and allot of the
local neighborhood tv's! :-) Being 17 years old at the
time, I became pretty good at explaining what a tvi
filter was!

The only problems I ever had was the internal relay
began arching on standby, thru the bakelite, thus
drawing excessive standby current. The easy fix was to
use a thin hack saw blade and cut an air gap between
the two arching contacts. Worked great after that.

The other problem was the first stage microphone amp
tube like to fail more often than I thought it should
so I replaced it with a more heavy duty type. Can't
remember the number but can find out if you're
interested.

Other than these items it did ok on both 6 and 2
meters, can't remember any problems with drifting
though.

Tom


--- kd4e <doc at kd4e.com> wrote:

> Back on topic ... 6M ... anyone running a Heathkit
> Seneca VHF-1?
> 
> I *may* acquire one tomorrow for $50.
> 
> Is it fun to operate?
> 
> Anything I should look for as costly and/or major
> repairs?
> 
> -- 
> 
> Thanks! & 73, doc, KD4E
> Personal: http://bibleseven.com/kd4e.html
>
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