- 2025
- Dec
- 22
Another S-38C on my bench, part 4: Installing the parts.
Working inside a wild chassis is always an exercise in delicate maneuvers…you have to get in to places without burning or breaking other components that might be unreplaceable. I’ve spent a few hours replacing the paper capacitors in this Hallicrafters S-38C. At least, the ones I know of, some of the postage stamps might also be paper…but the majority of the problem devices are gone, modern parts in their place.
This one has been a bit different. For most of my projects, I’ve been gutting the chassis and starting over. Not here - the old stuff must remain because this is a more complex device with a lot of inductors and adjustable capacitors for the various frequency bands. I did take the time to move some of the parts to more convenient locales, however - mostly necessity as some of the new ones don’t reach as far as the old ones did.
I did choose some different parts after studying where they actually lay in the circuit. The yellow boxy part and the blue drop are both safety capacitors, chosen because these tie the line to various points like power and chassis ground. The remaining parts are regular film devices.
I haven’t soldered everything yet, I want to give it a final look over with schematic in hand. But, another hour or so, and this device is ready to play once more. Well, at least some of the local AM stuff, there’s just not much on SW these days that this thing can hear.
Time to clean the wax off my fingers and pull the schematics, and then clean the wax off of the new parts. That stuff gets everywhere!
- 2025
- Dec
- 9
Another S-38C on my bench, part 3: We have parts!
In the last installment, we talked about getting parts for the Hallicrafters S-38C. Justradios.com comes through again with values marked per the schematic.
I have exact values as per the schematic, not that it really matters too much. But, if you can get them, why not?
2 x 0.05μF
2 x 0.02μF
1 x 0.01μF
1 x 0.002μF
and
1 x 0.022 for the across-the-line capactitor.
I’ll probably get to this in a couple of weeks, as there’s some holiday prep that needs to be accomplished this weekend.
- 2025
- Dec
- 3
Tickets for the 2026 Dayton Hamvention are available.
Mail-order tickets for the 2026 Dayton Hamvention are now available. It’s the same price as last year - $26 for all three days, and this is a discount over window price. They’re generally available until the end of April. After that, they start getting held will-call for pickup day of show.
This is the premier event of it’s type, and for the longest time when I only had one slot available for shows it’s the one I chose to go to.
Dayton Hamvention
Greene County Fair and Expo Center - The Whole Thing
210 Fairground Road
Xenia, OH 45385
May 18 19 20
Hours vary by day, opens at 9AM
https://hamvention.org
See you there!