#439 is partially back in operation with donor parts from #496. These include the Counter/PLL and Exciter Boards.

As detailed elsewhere on IoMH, I did something really stupid with the defective S/RF/SWR meter that came with #439 and essentially destroyed the signal/PO section. After a couple failed attempts to adapt a "replacement" unit which was shipped inside #496, I dug into my junk pile yesterday morning and liberated an S/RF meter from an old Royce CB carcass. Even though the movement itself was a drop-in replacement, the meter sweep was left to right - whereas the Stoner version uses a right to left arrangement, albeit set 90 degrees from vertical.

The design was studied and a workaround identified:

The torsion spring was unsoldered from the centering arm, both sides of said arm were flattened and rotated to bring the solder side into position for an alternate sweep arrangement then ~1/8" of the spring was carefully snipped off and the end soldered to the centering arm. The movement was then extracted from the Royce OEM plastic housing and inserted into the Stoner housing, after which the needle was zeroed with the centering arm.

Put the meter assembly back into the radio and test it out...works great.

Any Stoner owners coming across this post who are in need of replacement movements need look no further than a junk Royce 1-619, 1-640/642, 1-624/625 or 1-641. They all used the same type of meter.

It's also possible to mod one of these for the centered-needle "SWR" function.

I took #496's bottom cover with internally mounted speaker and swapped #367's bottom cover for it. Since I don't have one of the SPK40's yet (and am NOT paying the $250+ which many people think they're worth) this will allow me to run the radio without an external speaker for the time being.

One other addition was done: I had previously rewired #367's mic connector to mirror Ten-Tec's connector arrangement (mic audio/gnd/TX/9v on TX). So...I dug up a NOS Astatic 878DM for use with the rig. Since the radio supplies 9v to the mic's internal preamp on transmit, I don't need to use a battery with it - and I can switch the mic over to my Ten-Tec gear if desired.

Right now the mic's amplifier gain is set to provide ~6w PEP with the Pro40's compressor switch off, and this increases to 10-12w PEP with the switch on. Perfect for local ragchews.