40 meter AM qso

[w2amr]

I had a nice chat with Gerry/KC8ZUL in Ohio this morning on 40 AM. He restores and collects old AM broadcast transmitters. This morning he was running a Collins 20V3 transmitter. Check out his collection on QRZ. Talk about heavy metal.

[K4PIH]

I'm drooling! What a collection!

[KG4CGC]

That's gansta as shit!

[WZ7U]

Holee crap! Dude died and went to heaven and doesn't even know it.

[w2amr]

He was telling me he has a fork lift to move transmitters around.

[KG4CGC]

Does he have his own substation or are some of those diesel powered?

[WØTKX]

I checked my log, and I have talked to him on 20m AM.

Notice the Flex 3000 on the op position? :mrgreen:

[w2amr]

I checked my log, and I have talked to him on 20m AM.

Notice the Flex 3000 on the op position? :mrgreen:During our QSO he was using the flex receiver.

[N8YX]

Nothing I have inline at the moment sounds very good on AM. One of the projects in the over-the-holidaze queue is to add AM transmit to my IC-745. This rig supposedly works AM FB when modded accordingly.

Another is to finish up the cooling fan projects for my FT-980s. Ditto the sound.

The 101 Twins, FT-301 stuff and FT-901DM are on the repair bench for various things: Capacitor replacement, VFO rebuilds, meter re-lamping. All of these get great reports, especially the FL-101 transmitter.

When I get something workable on the air I'll look for youse guys. Can always work SSB in the meantime! :snicker:

[w2amr]

Nothing I have inline at the moment sounds very good on AM. One of the projects in the over-the-holidaze queue is to add AM transmit to my IC-745. This rig supposedly works AM FB when modded accordingly.

Another is to finish up the cooling fan projects for my FT-980s. Ditto the sound.

The 101 Twins, FT-301 stuff and FT-901DM are on the repair bench for various things: Capacitor replacement, VFO rebuilds, meter re-lamping. All of these get great reports, especially the FL-101 transmitter.

When I get something workable on the air I'll look for youse guys. Can always work SSB in the meantime! :snicker: Sounds good. My Valiant works great on 40, but the plan is to use the Johnson 500 on 40 when I get it finished.

[WØTKX]

The Flex line is very good on AM transmit, but you have to be a discerning pilot.

OTH if had that badass transmit hardware?

Hell yes. The best AM transmitter I ever had?

Eico 720 with a reverse engineered/cloned
Eico 730 homebrew plate modulator.

I could not afford an SSB rig at first.
This kicked ass on AM.

Later, I built an HW-101, I got an employee discount for volunteer work.
HS ham radio club built modified Heathkits for Handi-Hams.

I enjoy the hell out of getting on AM still. My TS-850 does OK.

But the Flex is better on AM RX, hell yeah.

[WZ7U]

I haven't played with AM since early in the cb daze, for me about 1973. I know I don't have the shizzle to pull it off so I don't bother. 40 watts and a hand mike doesn't cut it, so I don't embarrass myself. Someday maybe, just not today.

I do envy you fuckurrz that can pull it off with style and panache.

Forklifts to move radios; what a concept. I love it!

[suddenseer]

AM?, Is that when you turn the transmitter on, and off with that beepy thingy?

[N8YX]

AM?, Is that when you turn the transmitter on, and off with that beepy thingy?
Yes, but Now With Added Modulation! :snicker:

[KD8TUT]

I haven't played with AM since early in the cb daze, for me about 1973. I know I don't have the shizzle to pull it off so I don't bother. 40 watts and a hand mike doesn't cut it, so I don't embarrass myself. Someday maybe, just not today.

I do envy you fuckurrz that can pull it off with style and panache.

Forklifts to move radios; what a concept. I love it!

I do a little AM. But only answer the rare CQ. Been fun.

But settling into those AM groups on 75 isn't quite my bag :)

[KG4CGC]

I do a little AM. But only answer the rare CQ. Been fun.

But settling into those AM groups on 75 isn't quite my bag :)

You have to be a real, full fledged, windbag to get in on those groups. There's also a technical reason for that. Something about getting the toobs hot for "full plate modulation." Their term, not mine.

[KD8TUT]

You have to be a real, full fledged, windbag to get in on those groups. There's also a technical reason for that. Something about getting the toobs hot for "full plate modulation." Their term, not mine.

I have no tubes- guess I'm safe :P

[PA5COR]

Surprisingly the FT 2000-D does quite well in AM, 50 watt carrier and 200 watts modulated, according the green anchor weight people i speak to in the AM round on 80.
Not expected that from low level modulation, bt using the EQplus seems to add the needed punch.

[N8YX]

I snagged another FR-101 this past week. It's the digital version and came fully equipped - optional 6 and 2M converters, all filters (including the FM unit) and all SW range crystals. The arrival motivated me to drag my analog set onto the bench and rebuild its $@%$^ing VFO drive mechanism.

Suffice it to say the while the electrical components of a surplus FL-101 VFO unit are the same as the receiver's, the mechanicals ARE NOT interchangeable. :wall:

While the receiver's VFO was out of its chassis I did some experimentation with the mechanism and I -think- (fingers crossed) I have it fixed this time.

Both receivers got a servicing with DeOxIt applied to bandswitch contacts and FaderLube applied to all potentiometers. The -S got a preselector tracking alignment once it was back together, the -D got the published anti-flicker mod for its readout (so if you tune above or below the band edges the display won't flash). Both also had their BFO and Mode circuits rewired to use the Narrow CW filter on RTTY.

On a bench test, the new receiver drifted maybe 200Hz total from a cold start since last night. This is a lot better stability than just about any other non-synthesized rig I own.

Next thing to do is to have a look at the FL-101 and see if a re-capping is necessary, then I'm going to mod the audio and modulator circuits for better-sounding yay-yem (per the Timtron). Also going to install 12 and 17M at the two "Aux" spots. Carol of Fox-Tango hooked me up with crystals a while back.

[N8YX]

See my sig line.

Everyone also wants to take the cheap-a$$ed way OUT of a problem when it comes to fixing such.

Been chasing a transmitted hum in my FL-101 for some time. Yesterday I changed every electrolytic in the thing except for those on the AF Board; most of these will get replaced when I mod the board for better-sounding audio (above). Doing some research last night I stumbled upon a possibility: Heater-to-cathode shorts. It just so happens that I snagged a set of 6JS6Cs from a German vendor and they arrived earlier in the week.

So...this morning I opened up the final compartment for a tube swap. The first one out was an OEM-spec'd green-banded Toshiba. The second one was a General Electric.

What. The. Fugg. :wtf:

George, John and Eddie probably know this tidbit about U.S. vs. Japanese-produced sweep tubes, but for the rest of us: The interelectrode capacitances are different, as are the gain curves. A U.S.-made 6JS6C will NOT neutralize properly in a Yaesu of the FT-101/FL-101 vintage without a modification to the neutralizing circuit.

The bad news: Swapping them for a pair of (condition unknown) OEM Toshibas did not address the issue. The good news was that the new set of tubes looks to produce full output. I still need to neutralize them after adding 12 and 17M to the rig. Listening to the output with a remote DC-powered receiver revealed an interesting phenomenon: The hum was completely gone unless the transmitter was loaded to the point that the HV began to sag and ripple.

Chalk this up to a case of Common-Mode-Itis.

Back to the test bench...