Only on contest weekend

[N8YX]

Late last evening I flipped one of my R-5000s on and set it up to monitor one of the local PD frequencies. About 5 minutes after power-up I hear this really loud 'buuzzzzz' which broke the squelch. No biggie, right? It's powered by a 70A Astron - as is every other piece of 12v capable equipment in the shack, and they're all operating normally.

Turned it off this morning, turned it back on to monitor some HF traffic...and have almost NO audio output. HF signals are practically nonexistent and the VHF stuff is way down in strength. Whatever it is affects the IF and possibly the PLL boards, as those are 'common' to both HF and VHF signal paths. I'm beginning to suspect a blown electrolytic or two.

Repairing stuff is fun, but not when you have to... :-?

[N8YX]

From the 'Shoulda NEVER worked!" department:

Problem with the R5000 was a no- (not just a cold) solder joint on a leg of one of the interstage IF transformers. How the rig managed to function for the 20+ years it has is a total mystery.

[N2CHX]

Wow. Nice find.

[KG4CGC]

Cool. Visual finds make my day!

[NQ6U]

I thought the R-5000 was a general coverage SW receiver that topped out at 30MHz. Am I thinking of something other than what you have?

[N8YX]

I thought the R-5000 was a general coverage SW receiver that topped out at 30MHz. Am I thinking of something other than what you have?

Put the (unobtanium) VC-20 VHF converter in and it'll also receive 118-174MHz.

[NQ6U]

Put the (unobtanium) VC-20 VHF converter in and it'll also receive 118-174MHz.

RR, thanks. I looked that up last night after I posted, in fact.