This is a short video explaining how I clean tube pins and sockets. While restoring and/or repairing tube rigs, I've found dirty/bent tube pins and sockets to be one of the leading causes of receiver noise and intermittent operations.
Dave WB4IUY
Monday, September 20, 2021
Sunday, September 19, 2021
Repairing a Hallicrafters SX-111 Knob
There was a piece broken out of the edge of the knob. Considering
the age of this radio from the early 60's, I decided to try to repair
it.
I made a little form to follow along the inner curve of the knob with
tape. A small bit of 5-minute epoxy was built up in this area and
allowed to harden over night.
I removed the tape, and sanded the outer curve and edge of the knob to
match. Using a Dremel tool with a cut-off disc and a jewelers file, I
replicated the grooves in the outer surface. After cleaning, it's now
ready for a little touch up color to match, once I get that mixed.
Dave WB4IUY
Thursday, September 9, 2021
Heathkit HW-32A, Post Restoration
These are such cool little monoband radios! I've had all of them...the -12 on 75m, the -22 on 40m, and the -32 on 20m. They'll do around 100w output, are fairly compact, and have a great receiver. They are phone only, but with selectable sideband, I'm sure a little work could easily drop these in the digital segment of the band for those modes. This unit was pretty clean, but I washed the PCB and cleaned it up, anyway. The tube sockets and tube pins got cleaned, a shorted tube was replaced, caps replaced, some resistors were replaced, an assembly issue with the rear power connector was corrected, and the receiver was DEAD. I found a damaged I.F. transformer, repaired a burned winding, and it came alive. An alignment was performed to get her at peak performance. Wow, amazing performance from a 60 year old radio. Here's a video and a few pics...
Dave WB4IUY
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