- 2024
- Aug
- 4
It’s time to clean out some stuff - maybe to Dayton 2025?
One of my fellow show-goers was talking about taking some of the audio gear he collected to Dayton in 2025, and we’ll set up a table on the flea market. This sounds like a cool idea to me, I’ve attended shows but never had a sales table.
In the spirit of things, I took a look at what I’ve collected over the years that’s never going to go anywhere, and there’s a bunch. It’s time to start cleaning out, and I have a bunch of things that could go. Where does it all come from?
See you there, and maybe you can take something home! It’s cheap cheap cheap!
(If you see something you like, drop me a line on LinkedIn and we’ll see about a deal!)
- 2024
- Jul
- 31
Replacing the filter capacitors in a Hallicrafters S-38C
One of the things I picked up at Dayton this year was a really nice example of an S-38C multi-band radio. Completely untouched inside, it of course has bad filters. That’s par for the course for one of these. (It probably also has some silver mica disease, but that’s another day’s problem!)
Replacing them is easy enough, but it all depends on how you want to do it. Some prefer to keep it original, opening up the can on the multi-section device and putting new components inside. Others just wrap capacitors wherever there’s a place to put them. I’m thinking of going a different direction with this one.
Most of Hallicrafters low-end transformerless sets used similar multi-section capacitors and dropping resistors.
(Schematic from the Riders Manual.)
Some, like this one, used a 220Ω and 1kΩ resistor, others (like the S-95) used a 470Ω instead of the 1K.
So…why not create some sort of universal PCB that can drop in and replace all of the filter capacitors, sans the cathode bypass capacitor used in the audio stage of some of the units?
I had thought of using axial devices, but those can get expensive. What’s not expensive, and are compact and readily available? Surface mount parts. A small board could be created with three capacitors and space for the two dropping resistors, pre-assembled (or partially, depending on what you’re trying to fix,) and either double-side taped in or bolted down. The board wouldn’t need to have any through holes, wires could simply lay on pads and be soldered down. 5W resistors and 160V capacitors exceed original specifications, and would be easy to install on the board.
There’s certainly plenty of room in the device once the original can has been removed.
Wow, those feet are in bad shape…need to find some replacements!
I know that idea will offend some purists, but that’s not my concern here. I want to get the device back up and running with good quality parts that fit in the space required, without drilling a lot of holes or simply shooting parts all over the place.
I just need to brush up on my PCB skills, and lay out the board for sizing. Stay tuned!
- 2024
- Jul
- 4
Yet another test box - The Waage Model 066.
This is a benchtop test box I picked up at the Breezeshooter’s Hamfest this past June. It’s simply a switched, fused outlet with some indicator lamps and a current meter. It proclaims itself to be a Waage Electric Model 066, “All Purpose Tester.” It’s in eh shape, and probably sat on someone’s bench for decades.
The cord is in good shape, which is surprising for the age, but both the neon pilot lamp and the little 7W peanut bulb for the circuit test are dead. It was probably “on” for most of it’s life. The neon bulb in the pilot doesn’t even do the flickering thing at this point.
Everything seems to be mechanically working, the switch snaps with a nice thunk, the meter pointer moves but needs to be adjusted, and all of the sockets are intact. Of note here is the Edison Fuse - no 3AG glass fuses here!
The inside is pretty clean, overall. I can immediately see the cord appears to have been replaced because of the way it’s put on the screw terminals - it’s unlikely the factory would have shipped it all birdcaged out like that. So that’s probably a new(er) cord.
Of real not here is the small gauge wire used for the device. The orange wire appears to be about 22GA solid - that’s not going to handle the 15A this thing is supposedly rated for. It makes me wonder if this thing was completely redone at some point in time, as there’s a mix of thermoplastic and cloth-coated wire in this. It’s of an age where everything would have been cloth coated.
In all, it’s kind of a neat piece, and was probably meant for testing products of the kind that Waage made - heating devices such as irons and coffee pots. For the $1 I paid for it, it’s literally a nothing lost proposition.
If I wanted to use it, the non-polarized outlet would need to be replaced, as would the cord and small gauge wire. I’d probably try and save the original pilot lamp, and find an incandescent bulb for the test socket.
But who knows. It’s of limited use other than a “That’s cool” thing to have on your bench. I’ll probably clean it up and see what I can do with it, stay tuned!
- 2024
- Jun
- 13
Minor imperfections. Priced to sell.
I picked one of these guys up at Dayton for $20, modified to work in the 2M band. Figured, hey! I’ll pick up some parts units.
For some reason, a non-working device with a (hopefully intact) broken display cover, swollen batteries (and quite possibly corroded inside,) no battery cover, no (oddball) power adapter, and covered with dirt for $250 doesn’t inspire me to add “Priced to sell” in the description. Especially when the device has been superseded many times over with modern equipment at lower prices.
At least it’s free shipping!
- 2024
- Jun
- 9
Breezeshooters 2024 - What I brought home.
I tried to limit myself to things I could possibly use, and I (mostly) did so. We’ll see if all these things actually work, or if some of them need some work.
This HP AC Transistor Voltmeter Model 403A seems to be in good condition, and has a Westinghouse tag on the back. I can’t really test it because it has some odd battery requirements. It looks to need 5 mercury cell batteries - 2 4V batteries, and 3 1.35V batteries in a configuration that provides bias and + / - voltages. These are unobtainable, so a small supply may be in order if I actually want to use this thing.
This came from a vendor that had boxes of parts. One part was $2, if you took the whole box it was $1. So…I took a box of mica capacitors and some other parts. High voltage mica caps can always come in handy.
This DigiMax Instruments D-1200 counter claims to go to 1.2GHz, and has lamps for an ovenized reference on it. It’s awfully light, but it does light up. I need to get a signal in it to see if it’s actually counting, or if it’s just spitting out garbage.
The Harris-Dracon butt sett was picked up becaue it was cool looking. I don’t know what I’ll use it for, but whatever. The Waage All-Purpose Tester Model 066 test box was a dollar - it’s mostly just an ammeter you can switch out, with a fuse and a lamp for testing the AC line. It’s pretty rusty, but looks clean inside. Who knows where this will end up.
This VIZ Senior VoltOhmist WV-98C meter seems to be operational, and has a case you could kill a poodle with. It’s a two-tube unit, using a 6AL5 Dual Diode and a 12AU7 amplifier. It’s small enough to go on the bench instead of the giant EICO VTVM currently there.
This Weller solder gun has all of the tools with it, and is one of the units made in the USA. I have a couple of these, they come in handy soldering chassis items.
That’s this year’s haul. I tried to limit myself to smaller items I could use, and I mostly succeeded. There were a lot of larger items that I wanted, but left there since I don’t have room for them. In all, I didn’t spend a lot and brought home some neat things.
Next show is either the Van Wert, OH show - that’s a long drive and may not be in the cards - and/or the Columbus, OH show which is a lot closer to me and much easier to attend. Either way, stay tuned for pictures from those shows, and I’ll see you there!
- 2024
- Jun
- 9
Pictures from Breezeshooters 2024 Hamfest.
It was raining where I was, and threatened rain all the way to the show - but when we arrived, the sky had cleared and it was a sunny, slightly breezey 71F. Essentially, perfect conditions for wandering the aisles. While I didn’t see some of the things I hoped would show up this year, there was still quite a bit to look at. I spent a couple hours wandering the show before heading out for some lunch.
The usual mix of equipment showed up here, and a few things managed to wander home with me. This is what I saw at this year’s show:
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Next show will probably be the Columbus, OH hamfest, although there are some happening before that. Regardless, I’ll (maybe) see you there!
- 2024
- May
- 20
Hamvention 2024 - Sunday’s Pictures.
The last day of the show was hot and dry.
Sunday was a slim day - many of the vendors pack up Saturday evening, but maybe 1/5 were still on the grounds, not counting the exhibit buildings. Lots of reduced price deals and some free stuff were around today, and I still managed to bring home too much. Today’s lunch was Bourbon Chicken and a milkshake - a bottle of sauce managed to make it home as well. In all, this was a good show even if Friday was a bit messy. It’s also the first year I didn’t go through the exhibit halls, but there’ s nothing in there I needed this year.
Here’s what I saw this year on Sunday:
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All three days of pictures:
Friday https://wereboar.com … 24-fridays-pictures/
Saturday https://wereboar.com … -saturdays-pictures/
Sunday https://wereboar.com … 24-sundays-pictures/
Links to all the things I drug home this year:
Friday https://wereboar.com … d-in-my-car-i-swear/
Saturday https://wereboar.com … it-followed-me-home/
Sunday https://wereboar.com … t-because-its-cheap/
- 2024
- May
- 20
Hamvention 2024 - Saturday’s Pictures.
Saturday was perfect. It was about 80F, partly cloudy, and the grounds had started to dry out enough you could walk and reasonably expect to stay on the surface.
And the weird stuff came out as well…
All the vendors that toughed out the previous day were open displaying all kinds of electronic wonders. A steak tip dinner was had for lunch, and it was awesome as always - much better than the burnt burgers and nasty nachos offered by the other venue. We spent about half the day going through the flea market looking for things to take home.
Here’s what I saw this year on Saturday:
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All three days of pictures:
Friday https://wereboar.com … 24-fridays-pictures/
Saturday https://wereboar.com … -saturdays-pictures/
Sunday https://wereboar.com … 24-sundays-pictures/
Links to all the things I drug home this year:
Friday https://wereboar.com … d-in-my-car-i-swear/
Saturday https://wereboar.com … it-followed-me-home/
Sunday https://wereboar.com … t-because-its-cheap/
- 2024
- May
- 20
Hamvention 2024 - Friday’s Pictures.
Friday promised to be a rainy day, and it wasn’t a lie. The RADAR showed rain, and lots of it!
And it was wet…
The line ride was soaked.
But that didn’t stop me from playing in the mud like a happy little wereboar. There were still plenty of vendors open with tents over their wares, and I still brought home way too much. I spent about 4 hours wandering the wet ways, and of course it decided to stop the minute I was finished! I was soaked by then, and ready to go, but Saturday and Sunday awaited.
Here’s what I saw this year on Friday:
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All three days of pictures:
Friday https://wereboar.com … 24-fridays-pictures/
Saturday https://wereboar.com … -saturdays-pictures/
Sunday https://wereboar.com … 24-sundays-pictures/
Links to all the things I drug home this year:
Friday https://wereboar.com … d-in-my-car-i-swear/
Saturday https://wereboar.com … it-followed-me-home/
Sunday https://wereboar.com … t-because-its-cheap/
- 2024
- May
- 19
Hamvention 2024 - Sunday’s Stuff I Didn’t Need (Ok, I’m just buying it because it’s cheap!)
Sunday was much like Saturday, except warmer. 85F and no rain, the infield was dry, and crowds were low - of course, many vendors pack up the night before. All the food vendors were still there, so I hit the Bourbon Chicken stand and took home a bottle of sauce after eating my delicious chicken.
There’s a vendor that always has tables of stuff for a dollar. I always spend a few dollars here, this year I brought home a bag of indicator lamps of differing styles, some packs of mounting brackets, and a couple of oddball alerting devices. The bag also contains some pin jacks from another vendor that were 2 for a quarter, so I grabbed a handful.
I can’t not buy a voltmeter, so this Sabtronics unit compliments the counter I got Friday. The seller claims it works with a bad segment, that will just be a display replacement. The cool thing about this is it has all documentation, including the shipping box, invoices, and correspondence between the buyer and seller. It cost $2.21 to ship from Texas to Missouri in 1979!
The counter is just…a counter. It’s in an odd case. It’s from the 1970s. I have no idea if it works. That’s for another day.
Last is this odd radio. It’s a Ten Ten brand, manufacturing by Federal Signal. It monitors one frequency. Just one. I’m hoping I can convert it to work on the weatherband, which may be as simple and changing a crystal. We’ll see.
That wraps up the 2024 Dayton Hamvention. General pictures of the event coming soon, I took quite a few this year!
Links to all the things I drug home this year:
Friday https://wereboar.com … d-in-my-car-i-swear/
Saturday https://wereboar.com … it-followed-me-home/
Sunday https://wereboar.com … t-because-its-cheap/