I just picked up a Sonar FS-23 w/ matching BR-21 amp and Turner Plus Three mic. The FS-23 is very dusty inside, bought some compressed air today to clean it out really good tonight before proceeding further.
Turned the radio on last night just to see if it would receive (didn't intend to transmit until I cleaned the radio/checked it out further). Well, bummer, I don't get any receive. (connected to dipole antenna, verified RF-gain was cranked wide open, squelch off, volume up, mic plugged in (but no battery installed, shouldn't matter right?) checked all channels).
I have a 40 channel CB walkie talkie, brought it over right next to the FS-23 and tried transmitting once on each of the 23 channels (rotated through each once on the FS-23) and it didn't receive anything, S meter wouldn't swing like it was receiving my test transmission from the walkie talkie)
S meter is about a 3 on all channels (doesn't move around like it should if it was receiving and it was just the speaker that wasn't putting out), and when I back the RF gain down the S meter goes to zero.
The guy I got the radio from had a big box of spare tubes and said I could have any that went to the FS-23. The only two I took were new/in box RCA 6HS6 tubes.
I checked the service manual and saw that the 6HS6 is a direct replacement for the two 6BA6 in the 1st IF amp and the 2nd IF amp. Could either of these tubes being bad kill my receive? I guess since I have two brand new tubes I could try replacing them but I'm kind of shooting in the dark without a tube tester. I realize there could be any number of things wrong with this 40+ year old radio (caps, crystals, tubes, resisters gone high, etc.)
Can you safely pull tubes out of a radio like this without discharging everything or am I going to get shocked just pulling tubes and staying away from capacitors? <ignorant hat on>
Would really love to get it up and working though, always wanted a tube rig and love the audio these things are known to produce.
Turned the radio on last night just to see if it would receive (didn't intend to transmit until I cleaned the radio/checked it out further). Well, bummer, I don't get any receive. (connected to dipole antenna, verified RF-gain was cranked wide open, squelch off, volume up, mic plugged in (but no battery installed, shouldn't matter right?) checked all channels).
I have a 40 channel CB walkie talkie, brought it over right next to the FS-23 and tried transmitting once on each of the 23 channels (rotated through each once on the FS-23) and it didn't receive anything, S meter wouldn't swing like it was receiving my test transmission from the walkie talkie)
S meter is about a 3 on all channels (doesn't move around like it should if it was receiving and it was just the speaker that wasn't putting out), and when I back the RF gain down the S meter goes to zero.
The guy I got the radio from had a big box of spare tubes and said I could have any that went to the FS-23. The only two I took were new/in box RCA 6HS6 tubes.
I checked the service manual and saw that the 6HS6 is a direct replacement for the two 6BA6 in the 1st IF amp and the 2nd IF amp. Could either of these tubes being bad kill my receive? I guess since I have two brand new tubes I could try replacing them but I'm kind of shooting in the dark without a tube tester. I realize there could be any number of things wrong with this 40+ year old radio (caps, crystals, tubes, resisters gone high, etc.)
Can you safely pull tubes out of a radio like this without discharging everything or am I going to get shocked just pulling tubes and staying away from capacitors? <ignorant hat on>
Would really love to get it up and working though, always wanted a tube rig and love the audio these things are known to produce.