Got up, got a cup of coffee, and started the re-cap on my SBE Console V.
Short story. Got this one back in ohhh.. mid 1980 in a pawn shop here in Deer Park. Weird thing is, as I recall Console V's only came out in about 1978 so whoever had it didn't have it long. Anyway, when I got it AM did not work but SSB did. Using early skills (which weren't that great!) I tracked it down to, I think, Q602 (2SC1061) that fed the audio (through the AM//USB/LSB switch when in AM) back to the final and driver.
Was able to use it until about 1983. Second son was born and I had to give up the room and, to be honest, not a lot was going on at the time.... so off into long term storage it went.
A few years back (2005 ish) pulled it back out and hooked it up to a Radio Shack 5/8 wave and it was disappointing. It worked.... kind of.....but not well. Only put out about a watt at the most. Receive audio was BEYOND weak... I mean...with the radio on and volume full up.... you could not hear the normal AM atmospheric trash unless you were IN the room and within about 5 ft of it. Even when signal was present (which there was, there were some operators active 10- 15 miles away!).... the audio was way way weak.
So I have been slowly sauntering in this direction for a number of years... telling people I was going to do it and then never quite getting the proverbial "round tuit"!
A few months ago I was contacted by Klondike Mike. Having seen some of this he was wondering if I might be willing to turn some of my racked up documentation as he had been requested to make up a cap kit for the Console V. I did.... then he did.... and I wound up getting the kit myself. The baggie has been sitting here on my bench since then.
Enter...... "THIS MORNING". I just looked up ....and said.... it's time!
I AM taking it slowly as, with my feeble eyes and hands less steady than they once were, it takes me a little time to locate each one, track it to the right pads and do the deed.
That said, I've got the power supply done, everything UNDER a shield done (and the shields back on!). And one or two on the main board. So Done with the PLL can and the Up/Down logic.
I know you have all heard it before, but I REALLY AM being careful that I get polarity correct putting the new ones in (literally... MULTIPLE checks before I stick the new one in) and using my magnifying hood to check for bad soldering and bridging. All things considered... it's going well!
With that, we are having some visitors tomorrow so I'm gonna go help the missus do some cleaning around here. (BY THE WAY, she just retired... yesterday was her last day at work!)
So at this point, I would say that I am about 1/3 of the way done (15 caps out of 48)....BUT..... I have done all the ones that I think of as more "time consuming" which leaves me all the ones on the main board.
And I came up with a question for those with the experience....
On the back of the board.... was a 10uF 16v electrolytic cap..... bodged on the traces. On the component side it is directly across a resistor and on the base of a transistor that is part of the channel scan circuit. The thing is, I took the callouts (Q806 and R120) and went to the schematic.... and that cap is NOT there!!!!!
Also, inside the PLL can.... the spot for C813 (1uF 50v) was empty. Not like.... somebody took it out. Like...it was NEVER THERE!
Does either of these two findings surprise anybody?
Thanks folks! Onward through the fog!!!!!!! I will be getting back to complete it.
Short story. Got this one back in ohhh.. mid 1980 in a pawn shop here in Deer Park. Weird thing is, as I recall Console V's only came out in about 1978 so whoever had it didn't have it long. Anyway, when I got it AM did not work but SSB did. Using early skills (which weren't that great!) I tracked it down to, I think, Q602 (2SC1061) that fed the audio (through the AM//USB/LSB switch when in AM) back to the final and driver.
Was able to use it until about 1983. Second son was born and I had to give up the room and, to be honest, not a lot was going on at the time.... so off into long term storage it went.
A few years back (2005 ish) pulled it back out and hooked it up to a Radio Shack 5/8 wave and it was disappointing. It worked.... kind of.....but not well. Only put out about a watt at the most. Receive audio was BEYOND weak... I mean...with the radio on and volume full up.... you could not hear the normal AM atmospheric trash unless you were IN the room and within about 5 ft of it. Even when signal was present (which there was, there were some operators active 10- 15 miles away!).... the audio was way way weak.
So I have been slowly sauntering in this direction for a number of years... telling people I was going to do it and then never quite getting the proverbial "round tuit"!
A few months ago I was contacted by Klondike Mike. Having seen some of this he was wondering if I might be willing to turn some of my racked up documentation as he had been requested to make up a cap kit for the Console V. I did.... then he did.... and I wound up getting the kit myself. The baggie has been sitting here on my bench since then.
Enter...... "THIS MORNING". I just looked up ....and said.... it's time!
I AM taking it slowly as, with my feeble eyes and hands less steady than they once were, it takes me a little time to locate each one, track it to the right pads and do the deed.
That said, I've got the power supply done, everything UNDER a shield done (and the shields back on!). And one or two on the main board. So Done with the PLL can and the Up/Down logic.
I know you have all heard it before, but I REALLY AM being careful that I get polarity correct putting the new ones in (literally... MULTIPLE checks before I stick the new one in) and using my magnifying hood to check for bad soldering and bridging. All things considered... it's going well!
With that, we are having some visitors tomorrow so I'm gonna go help the missus do some cleaning around here. (BY THE WAY, she just retired... yesterday was her last day at work!)
So at this point, I would say that I am about 1/3 of the way done (15 caps out of 48)....BUT..... I have done all the ones that I think of as more "time consuming" which leaves me all the ones on the main board.
And I came up with a question for those with the experience....
On the back of the board.... was a 10uF 16v electrolytic cap..... bodged on the traces. On the component side it is directly across a resistor and on the base of a transistor that is part of the channel scan circuit. The thing is, I took the callouts (Q806 and R120) and went to the schematic.... and that cap is NOT there!!!!!
Also, inside the PLL can.... the spot for C813 (1uF 50v) was empty. Not like.... somebody took it out. Like...it was NEVER THERE!
Does either of these two findings surprise anybody?
Thanks folks! Onward through the fog!!!!!!! I will be getting back to complete it.
