Heathkit SB-102 Restoration

 I restored this beautiful Heathkit SB-102 for a friend in Kentucky. While in great cosmetic condition, it had some of the typical aches and pains of a 50+ year old radio. She needed recapping, had a handful of carbon resistors way out of spec, a few bad tubes, tube sockets not making connection, dirty switches, etc. To top that off an rf transformer was open (probably a near lightning strike), and a few incorrect parts were installed in places. Oh, I forgot to mention, it had shipping damage. That's a little tougher than just repairing something that quits working :-) Anyway, here she is, photos in no particular order, and a few videos explaining things...

44' Sailboat Mods...

 A friend with a 44'  Jeanneau sailboat needed an aux USB port at the rear helm. After locating some switched 12vdc in the helm pod, I cut a hole, mounted the port, and wired it. Easy peasy! 

Next, I've got to go back and trace the wiring that goes to the mast-top mounted Radar unit. 

Here's a few pics...

Computer Overheat, Studio A

 One of my old hamshack computers recently started shutting itself down. After a few events, I started looking around in the bios and found the processor temp was going through the roof. I unplugged everything, and hauled it out to the shop. After popping the covers, I was amazed it had not caught fire! It had more lint than the 35+KV supply in an old color tv!

I vacuumed and blew it out. I found the fan that was supposed to be attached to the processor, had a broken bracket and was laying in the bottom of the cabinet! To top it off, one of the power supplies had a bad fan, and the blower on one of the doors had a failed connector. Wow, 3 non-funcitional fans...

I all fans were repaired, and all is a well in the shack! I used a piece of balsa wood glued to the bottom of the fan as a shim.  A piece of electric fence wire was ised to make a hold-down for the fan. The computer was  bought back around 2003 and runs non-stop. I should probably bring the others to the shop and clean them out!

Icom IC-7800 display Repairs

 This is an Icom IC-7800. I gotta say, it makes me nervous to put a $10,600 radio on my workbench and start digging in, but somebody's gotta do it :-) This one lost the display. Luckily, it has a computer SVGA port on the back, so the owner plugged a spare monitor in to keep using it. I found the problem in the switcher supply that powered a large CCFL backlight, beefed it up a little, and got it back online. This is an ultimate radio, and was a LOT of fun to play with. Alas, it had to go back home to it's owner :-( Here's a few videos and photos: