JCARA Needs YOU!

 The Jennings County Amateur Radio Association is looking for an insured / bonded tower climber for two upcoming projects in southern Indiana.

Allied AX-190

 I picked this rare bird up from some estate items that were on Marketplace. The AX-190 is a "ham bands only" reciever. This is one of the least likely to find recievers, compared to its shortwave oriented version, the SX-190. Overall, it initially looked pretty good, but dirty from storage. The preselector was seized and wouldn't turn, it had a power supply hum when I brought it up on a variac, but otherwise seemed OK.

I gave it a good cleaning, unfroze the preselector, lubricated all shafts and controls, cleaned all pots, replaced the electrolytic caps, and gave it a full alignment. Wow, this is a pretty sharp reciever and the Q-multiplier is a gem! This is probably the best looking reciever Allied ever made. Here's a few pics and videos...

Kenwood TS-530S, pt2

 This is a friend's Kenwood TS-530S that I brought out of the mothballs for a friend, last year. Another minor bug had developed, and I resolved that. This radio wasn't completely recapped, and that was the cause of this instability problem. 

Once repaired, my friend had an Astatic D-104 microphone that he wanted checked and wired for it. I cleaned the gain control pot in the base of the mic, installed a 4-pin plug to mate with the 530, and a new battery. This radio uses pin1 for audio in, pin 4 for audio ground, pin 2 for ptt, and pin 3 for ptt common. With this mic, no processor is needed. I set the rig's mic gain to full, adjust the mic's gain control up until background noise begins to rise, and hold the mic a foot or so away from my mouth when talking. Fine tune with the rig's mic gain to taste.