It's never the tube ............

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06-03-2018, 03:47 PM
N8GAV

It's never the tube ............

OK so I asked for this one, but proved my point. Friend of mine calls me this morning, got a HW 101 somewhere yesterday rig has low audio like most HW 101's " It's the audio tube, it's suppose to have a 6EA8, but this one has a 6CQ8 " OK some Hams did chanced out 6EA8 for 6CQ8 old trick to increase audio. " Well the tube is bad " Did you check it ? " I don't have a tube tester " Then how do you know its the tube ? " Has to be because the wrong tube is in there" It's not the tube, I could be wrong but my money says it's something else. " What do I do now ? " Bring it over here I'll prove my point, you won't be happy until I do, and I don't want you calling me everyday asking me what it could be. First thing I did was check the tube, It's fine better then 95 % , then turned it over and saw a leaky cap, a resistor that someone piggy- back to get the right resistance, and didn't do a good job at it. and a few other little things to clean up. Got my HW 101 manual went to audio circuit, found out value of bad cap and resistor, replaced them. Cleaned up some bad wiring work put together looked at the D-104 and mic plug. took apart and look like my 5 yr old grandson did it, re- wired that, and damn audio clean and sounds good. But the tube was bad what he said SMH
06-03-2018, 04:29 PM
WZ7U

Well, better hit him up for a different tube, plus all the other work. Now, next time he says it's a bad tube, you already have a spare! :icon_wink:
06-03-2018, 05:09 PM
N8GAV

Quote:

Originally Posted by WZ7U

Well, better hit him up for a different tube, plus all the other work. Now, next time he says it's a bad tube, you already have a spare! :icon_wink:

I don't mind helping him, about the only thing he has is maybe a volt meter. Told him if you're going to play a round with tube stuff buy a tube tester. He doesn't take advantage of people, just doesn't have much so. He lost his wife a year ago and it's been hard for him with the loss of her income money is tight
06-03-2018, 05:15 PM
suddenseer

Let's see, the tube glows, so it's not the tube.....
06-03-2018, 05:43 PM
suddenseer

Quote:

Originally Posted by N8GAV

I don't mind helping him, about the only thing he has is maybe a volt meter. Told him if you're going to play a round with tube stuff buy a tube tester. He doesn't take advantage of people, just doesn't have much so. He lost his wife a year ago and it's been hard for him with the loss of her income money is tight

One of the things that I had to let go was a late 70s repair shop version with some home made leads, and extensions. I had a nice early 80's set of tube cross reference manuals, including the east Eurozone/Russian tubes, mostly for commercial/military applications, yes the NSN/FSCM numbers as well. I moved to a much smaller house, and ended up giving most of the stuff in my shack to a young ham/repair guy who could repair at the component level like we all were required to do. I need a 100X microscope help to even see the solder joints these days. Hank, tell the truth, have you ever used temporary tube extenders, and rig up something to, "get on the air tonight", put on the cover, and have been running since?
http://k4che.com/tube%20extenders/TU...20PAGE%201.htm
06-03-2018, 06:04 PM
WZ7U

Quote:

Originally Posted by N8GAV

I don't mind helping him, about the only thing he has is maybe a volt meter. Told him if you're going to play a round with tube stuff buy a tube tester. He doesn't take advantage of people, just doesn't have much so. He lost his wife a year ago and it's been hard for him with the loss of her income money is tight

Oh boy do I relate with the no money thing. Good on you for helping him out! He's lucky to have a friend with the right test equipment to help him. I wasn't insinuating you should charge/overcharge him but I see how it might have come across like that.
06-03-2018, 06:34 PM
KD8TUT

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06-03-2018, 07:02 PM
WZ7U

Quote:

Originally Posted by KD8TUT

...

S
06-03-2018, 08:01 PM
suddenseer

Quote:

Originally Posted by WZ7U

S

I thought that was from last night's sneeze!
06-04-2018, 11:44 AM
N8YX

It's not the tube, it's the TUBES.

Second FT-102 is on the bench at the moment. It uses 3x 6146s. At this rate I'll be keeping RF Parts in business.
06-04-2018, 03:45 PM
N8GAV

Quote:

Originally Posted by N8YX

It's not the tube, it's the TUBES.

Second FT-102 is on the bench at the moment. It uses 3x 6146s. At this rate I'll be keeping RF Parts in business.

I've seen that with FT- 102, that not uncommon Fred, why no one seem to know, or if they do they are not telling.
06-05-2018, 02:04 PM
N8YX

I think it's due to the fact that few know how to tune a hybrid correctly, Hank.

Yaesu got it right with the Tune function and associated 10-second timer as used in the FT-90x. Why they didn't carry the functionality into the '102 line is anyone's guess.
06-05-2018, 02:26 PM
N8GAV

Quote:

Originally Posted by N8YX

I think it's due to the fact that few know how to tune a hybrid correctly, Hank.

Yaesu got it right with the Tune function and associated 10-second timer as used in the FT-90x. Why they didn't carry the functionality into the '102 line is anyone's guess.

I asked Carol W4CLM about this and she never said what she thoughts are, but what you're saying makes sense.