[TMC] GPR-90RXD stuff

[George Maier]

Hi All:

 

I'm a newbie to the TMC list, but an old timer in the hobby; first licensed
in 1958 as KN1GXT and K1GXT a year later.  The current call sign was pretty
much a mid-life crisis, but that was almost 20 years ago now.  

 

Regarding TMC, I've had lust in my heart for a GPR for decades, but never
owned one until now.  It's a Canadian made GPR-90RXD (ca 1971 vintage) that
came with an original TMC cabinet and a matching TMC speaker.  John P tells
me that this a rare find so I'm wondering if anyone in the group has seen
any other Canadian made receivers.

 

It's actually in very nice shape physically and works rather well after some
TLC and a complete alignment.  I'm still cleaning it up here and there, and
will probably have the cabinets repainted professionally provided the color
can be matched accurately.

 

Does anyone know the actual color chip that was used, or have the paint
formula?   Also, the speaker grill cloth must be replaced so I'm searching
through all of the web based grill cloth resources, but have not found a
really close match yet.  My interior designer XYL has given me some of her
fabric catalogs to look through, so may I'll find something there unless
someone has a good resource.  

 

Last but not least, the BFO injection in this receiver was ultra-wimpy,
making it barely useable on CW and a waste of time on SSB .  It's different
from other GPR's in that the BFO is injected at the detector while other
models have the BFO injected at the grid of last IF tube, except for the
RXDS with its built-in product detector.  The RXD is actually more like most
Collins, Hammarlund, Hallicrafters and National radios that do not have
built-in product detectors, but their injection levels are much higher.
Adding 20 pf to the original 3 pf BFO coupling cap made all the difference
in the world; it's now a very pleasant receiver on CW and manageable on SSB.
Score one for the old guy!

 

Any info or tips will be sincerely appreciated.  

 

Thank & 73, 

George - W1LSB