kl7aj
12-28-2007, 09:41 PM
A bit about boat anchors added.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Pieces and Parts and Such
Well, here we are at Chapter Twenty already, and we still have a lot of ground to cover. Or, perhaps, re-cover. I think we’ve touched most of the bases, but a lot of things bear closer scrutiny. Like life itself, Amateur Radio doesn’t precisely compartmentalize into chapters.
You’ve probably noticed by now that I’ve made little mention of commercially-made ham radio equipment. It’s certainly not that I have any objection to the concept. I have always had many excellent specimens of commercial ham radios at my disposal (although I was licensed for over a third of a century before I actually bought a new commercial radio).
The fact of the matter is that most new hams have far “too much radio.” Notice, I didn’t say “too many radios,” because I don’t believe there is such a thing. By “too much radio” I mean a rig that has more features than you can use effectively. And, sadly, a good deal of modern commercial equipment sacrifices rudimentary performance for a lot of bells and whistles that do little if anything to improve communications effectiveness or convenience.
It is far better to have a very simple radio (or several very simple radios) that have excellent performance in the areas that really matter. Happily enough, excellent performance can be achieved very inexpensively, if you know what you’re looking for.
How does one know what one is looking for? This is where it’s extremely important to be able to “kick the tires” so to speak. Back in the days of yore when just about every town had a genuine ham radio store, this was the standard way to go. You could sit down and actually operate the latest model rigs to your heart’s content—or at least until the next guy in line kicked you off the throne. You also had sales people who were hams, who could give you the straight dope.
Alas, those days, for the most part, no longer exist. The vast majority of modern hams purchase their radios sight unseen (or at least unheard) from ham radio catalogs. This leaves a great deal to be desired, except for the manufacturers, of course.
The ideal antidote to this, of course, is to build your rig or rigs from scratch. This way, you can put in just the features you want or need, save a bundle of money, and learn a lot in the process. There are still a number of hams who do just this, and hopefully, we’ve encouraged some of you to at least try this approach. You don’t have to build your whole station from scratch, but every ham should have some homebrew equipment around. You can start small with simple-to-build items like antenna tuners. These are extremely useful items in any ham shack, and you can never have too many of them around. Probably the next level of complexity (and danger) you might attempt is a linear amplifier. These generally have relatively few parts, and those parts are generally large; you don’t need a microscope and surgical instruments to build them. Just be aware that you will be dealing with lethal voltages and currents in these puppies, so you want to work with someone who knows their way around high power stuff. You should always be working with an Elmer anyway, as it’s the best way to learn, as we so strongly emphasized earlier in the Opus.
Now, this brings us to another modern-day dilemma. It’s not as easy to find radio parts as it once was. For example, a certain well-known chain of “electronics” stores whose very namesake arose from their historic dedication to radio amateurs and other electronics enthusiasts now carries zero basic electronic components. Notice we said “historic” dedication. Nowadays, if you were to walk into one of these particular electronics outlets whose very namesake would seem to indicate that they have radio amateurs and electronics enthusiasts in mind, and ask the proprietor thereof for a capacitor, you would be greeted with a deer-in-the-headlights response.
Recently, I entered our local electronics store whose very namesake would indicate that their business is dedicated to the radio amateur/electronics enthusiast, and asked the sub-minimum-wage “salesman” behind the counter for a microammeter, an extremely common instrument. He went to the back room, rummaged around for a while, and came back with some kind of portable battery tester. “This is the smallest ammeter we’ve got,” he announced. The tragic, horrifying part was he wasn’t trying to be witty.
Needless to say, that was the very last time I entered our local electronics store whose very namesake would seem to indicate that their business has something to do with radio amateurs/electronics enthusiasts.
Now it could be that in your particular neck of the woods, your local electronics store, whose very namesake would seem to indicate that they would cater to your needs as a radio amateur/electronics enthusiast, is staffed by an army of informed, considerate, helpful, and consummately professional electronics experts.
Fat chance. In all likelihood the person behind the counter will have a brain that can be quite adequately duplicated with three transistors and a relay...except for the fact that they don’t have three transistors and a relay anywhere in the store.
So, what, pray tell, is the homebrew aspirant to do? Well, fortunately, things are not as grim as they might appear. There are countless goldmines of surplus electronics on this great continent. There is a century’s accumulation of high quality electronics parts (as well as assemblies) in countless attics, basements, military surplus yards, businesses, transfer stations and circus tents. (Well, I can’t really vouch for the circus tents).
Like any goldmine, you might have to do a little digging. There’s not as much lying right on the surface as there once was, perhaps, but the search is always rewarding. The stuff that shows up on eBay is astonishing, but that is far from being the only source. The various ham-based internet forums are excellent places to find just the parts you need. If you don’t have it, some other ham does; you can count on it.
One thing to remember, when scoping out the surplus landscape: many hams confuse surplus with used. Sadly, many hams shun the surplus market because they assume that because something’s old that it’s worn. There are untold billions of military surplus electronics components that are still in their “flavor-fresh” wrappers. A lot of this stuff is far higher quality than anything you can buy new.
I can’t vouch for this, but I’ve heard rumors that the surplus situation is even better in places like Europe and Asia. And Germany, for one, still manufactures top quality radio components like vacuum capacitors and roller inductors for the amateur market. Of course, you have to pay accordingly, unless you have some good friends there. It’s a great opportunity and incentive to develop some international friendships, by the way. After all, isn’t that what ham radio is all about?
NEVER pass up an opportunity to beg. I am utterly shameless about this. It is almost always fruitful. When people know you are serious about your hobby, they will give you what you need. Just be sure you’re willing to reciprocate. My parts bin is your parts bin. Hams have traditionally been inveterate barterers. And remember, barter doesn’t necessarily mean a parts for parts exchange. How about spending a few hours helping another ham rewire his garage in exchange for that plate transformer you’ve been lusting after? Works for me!
Copper is an interesting commodity these days. It’s probably a good idea to save all the copper you can, in any form you can. China is in the midst of a huge modernization project, and since China has no local source of copper, is consuming a good part of the world’s reserves of the stuff. For the foreseeable future, the prices of copper are only going to go up.
Now, most of us who have been around a while have heard this song and dance before; we were all hoarding copper in the late 70’s only to see the price fall through the floor. Lots of us kept tons of otherwise useless transformers and motors around, just for the copper they contained, only to have to find a way to get rid of the wee beasties years later. Now, this copper thing seems to be real. We should have kept our oversized paper weights.
Now, even though copper is a high value-density material, it still takes up a bit of space, which is also a high value-density commodity these days. Rather than housing all the stuff yourself, it might be more practical to keep tabs on who does have sizeable stashes of copper in their basements and garages and tool sheds. Fortunately, enameled copper wire lasts a long long time, even if not stored properly. Also, fortunately, a lot of people don’t have a clue how valuable copper is yet, and these suck...er...I mean individuals can also be a good source of the material.
Although copper in the form of wire is, naturally, of the most value for most hams, don’t overlook copper pipe, ground rods, sheeting, strapping, foil, and the like. These are all valuable for many radio applications in their present forms as well as for their exchange value.
What about other metals? Well, aluminum certainly bears watching, but it’s unlikely it will ever reach the stratospheric heights of copper. I periodically check the metals indexes for interesting signs, but nothing slaps me upside the head like copper has recently.
Rare Earth metals should be very interesting, especially since they have discovered that Hafnium greatly accelerates silicon semiconductor performance. Hafnium has always been one of those “curiosity” elements—extraordinarily rare, but relatively inexpensive because nobody had a use for it. This all changed overnight, when they found its marvelous semiconductor accelerant property. Several other “curiosity” elements seem poised on the brink of destiny, as well. Unfortunately, Rare Earths don’t usually show up on the metals markets because there is no standardized vehicle for purchasing them. Since, for example, you could probably fit the entire world’s supply of Dysprosium in an Almond Roca can; it’s understandable why these materials lay low on the commodities market. But they’re worth investigating. Quietly. It might possibly pique the curiosity of the Men In Black a tad, if you were to publicly announce you’re looking to buy a pound of Dysprosium...especially since the only known use for the stuff is in nuclear research.
Procurement of parts is where radio amateurs have always shown great resourcefulness. Don’t be daunted; it’s worth the search.
Now, if you are particularly fortunate, you may find a collection of surplus parts already assembled in the form of a boat anchor (which is, if you missed it, hamspeak for vintage radio gear). This is a joyous find indeed. In fact, it’s even more joyous if said collection of parts is in the form of a working boat anchor. Either way is fine.
There are volumes written on the fine art of boat anchor restoration, generally geared for specific makes or models. However, there are a few things common to most boat anchors, which we can touch on here.
It’s almost a given that if you’re dealing with boat anchors, you’re dealing with vacuum tubes. You aren’t going to find a new tube tester, but used ones are in plentiful supply. Anyone who repaired TV’s for a living had one or two of these around. Lots of boat anchor problems can be determined by a thorough tube checking. Now, back in the latter dark ages, it was pretty much standard practice to replace all the tubes on a newly acquired boat anchor, as a matter of routine. This was when tubes were plentiful and cheap. Tubes are precious commodities these days, and such a shotgun approach is bound to be rather costly, and not always necessary.
Now, there’s a very good probability that all the tubes on your latest find do indeed need replacing, but just in case you’re lucky, you want to only toss the ones that really need it. Actually, you probably don’t want to toss any tubes these days, they’re collectors’ items in any condition. Even the cartons are worth something these days!
Some boat anchors run just fine with really lame tubes; I’ve had many of these. Other ones, by virtue or curse of their design, start sputtering, performance-wise, long before a typical tube tester can even see any problems. Tube testing is an art form, as are tube testers themselves. Experience rules here.
Next to soggy, floppy tubes, the most common problem in boat anchors is electrolytic capacitors. This is one area where wholesale replacement of all the capacitors is usually justified, as well as cost effective. Modern replacements for electrolytic capacitors are much better than the originals, and will probably outlive you. In fact, a newly “capped” boat anchor will likely exceed its original performance specs. Cool!
One of my old friends had a long, highly lucrative career as an electrolytic capacitor changer. His official job title was “Television Repairman,” but his de-facto job description was electrolytic capacitor changer. Fully 95% of his job involved replacing electrolytic capacitors in televisions-for a few decades. They finally got good at making electrolytic capacitors around the time people stopped repairing televisions. I’m not sure this was accidental.
At any rate, if they made electrolytic capacitors back in the 1940s like they make them now, there probably wouldn’t be any boat anchors available for us, because they’d all still be in use by their original owners! So, once in a while you find something that’s actually better than its older incarnation.
Not often, but sometimes.
Boat anchors generally have more moving parts than modern radios. You have things like dial cords, gears, racks, toggle switches, rotary switches, and variable capacitors to contend with. Fortunately, these items are all large enough to be visible by the naked eye. After you “recapacitate” your “new” boat anchor, the next thing you’re going to want to do is drench everything that even remotely moves with a good contact cleaner/lubricant. Back in the olden days, this meant carbon tetrachloride, but it was discovered a while back that “carbon tet” caused people to grow superfluous cranium-like appendages or something like that, so the substance is now banned. They have more politically correct chemicals for contact cleaning these days. When all else fails, a good dose of WD-40 serves as a fairly respectable contact cleaner...but doesn’t smell anywhere near as nice as carbon tet.
Genuine dial cord is a bit hard to find these days, and more than likely your boat anchor will need a re-stringing. The next best thing is good Dacron fly-fishing line; it’s very tough and doesn’t stretch. If you do it right, you’ll probably never have to do it again. (Famous last words!) Replacing dial cord is another art form in itself, and if the original one happens to be missing, it can be a real challenge to figure out which way everything is supposed to turn. There seemed to be no limit to the creativity of radio designers when it came to devising convoluted, circuitous, unnecessarily complicated dial cord paths! After the ultimate demise of the dial cord, these designers, now all centenarians and senile, were pulled out of retirement to design the Windows operating system.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Pieces and Parts and Such
Well, here we are at Chapter Twenty already, and we still have a lot of ground to cover. Or, perhaps, re-cover. I think we’ve touched most of the bases, but a lot of things bear closer scrutiny. Like life itself, Amateur Radio doesn’t precisely compartmentalize into chapters.
You’ve probably noticed by now that I’ve made little mention of commercially-made ham radio equipment. It’s certainly not that I have any objection to the concept. I have always had many excellent specimens of commercial ham radios at my disposal (although I was licensed for over a third of a century before I actually bought a new commercial radio).
The fact of the matter is that most new hams have far “too much radio.” Notice, I didn’t say “too many radios,” because I don’t believe there is such a thing. By “too much radio” I mean a rig that has more features than you can use effectively. And, sadly, a good deal of modern commercial equipment sacrifices rudimentary performance for a lot of bells and whistles that do little if anything to improve communications effectiveness or convenience.
It is far better to have a very simple radio (or several very simple radios) that have excellent performance in the areas that really matter. Happily enough, excellent performance can be achieved very inexpensively, if you know what you’re looking for.
How does one know what one is looking for? This is where it’s extremely important to be able to “kick the tires” so to speak. Back in the days of yore when just about every town had a genuine ham radio store, this was the standard way to go. You could sit down and actually operate the latest model rigs to your heart’s content—or at least until the next guy in line kicked you off the throne. You also had sales people who were hams, who could give you the straight dope.
Alas, those days, for the most part, no longer exist. The vast majority of modern hams purchase their radios sight unseen (or at least unheard) from ham radio catalogs. This leaves a great deal to be desired, except for the manufacturers, of course.
The ideal antidote to this, of course, is to build your rig or rigs from scratch. This way, you can put in just the features you want or need, save a bundle of money, and learn a lot in the process. There are still a number of hams who do just this, and hopefully, we’ve encouraged some of you to at least try this approach. You don’t have to build your whole station from scratch, but every ham should have some homebrew equipment around. You can start small with simple-to-build items like antenna tuners. These are extremely useful items in any ham shack, and you can never have too many of them around. Probably the next level of complexity (and danger) you might attempt is a linear amplifier. These generally have relatively few parts, and those parts are generally large; you don’t need a microscope and surgical instruments to build them. Just be aware that you will be dealing with lethal voltages and currents in these puppies, so you want to work with someone who knows their way around high power stuff. You should always be working with an Elmer anyway, as it’s the best way to learn, as we so strongly emphasized earlier in the Opus.
Now, this brings us to another modern-day dilemma. It’s not as easy to find radio parts as it once was. For example, a certain well-known chain of “electronics” stores whose very namesake arose from their historic dedication to radio amateurs and other electronics enthusiasts now carries zero basic electronic components. Notice we said “historic” dedication. Nowadays, if you were to walk into one of these particular electronics outlets whose very namesake would seem to indicate that they have radio amateurs and electronics enthusiasts in mind, and ask the proprietor thereof for a capacitor, you would be greeted with a deer-in-the-headlights response.
Recently, I entered our local electronics store whose very namesake would indicate that their business is dedicated to the radio amateur/electronics enthusiast, and asked the sub-minimum-wage “salesman” behind the counter for a microammeter, an extremely common instrument. He went to the back room, rummaged around for a while, and came back with some kind of portable battery tester. “This is the smallest ammeter we’ve got,” he announced. The tragic, horrifying part was he wasn’t trying to be witty.
Needless to say, that was the very last time I entered our local electronics store whose very namesake would seem to indicate that their business has something to do with radio amateurs/electronics enthusiasts.
Now it could be that in your particular neck of the woods, your local electronics store, whose very namesake would seem to indicate that they would cater to your needs as a radio amateur/electronics enthusiast, is staffed by an army of informed, considerate, helpful, and consummately professional electronics experts.
Fat chance. In all likelihood the person behind the counter will have a brain that can be quite adequately duplicated with three transistors and a relay...except for the fact that they don’t have three transistors and a relay anywhere in the store.
So, what, pray tell, is the homebrew aspirant to do? Well, fortunately, things are not as grim as they might appear. There are countless goldmines of surplus electronics on this great continent. There is a century’s accumulation of high quality electronics parts (as well as assemblies) in countless attics, basements, military surplus yards, businesses, transfer stations and circus tents. (Well, I can’t really vouch for the circus tents).
Like any goldmine, you might have to do a little digging. There’s not as much lying right on the surface as there once was, perhaps, but the search is always rewarding. The stuff that shows up on eBay is astonishing, but that is far from being the only source. The various ham-based internet forums are excellent places to find just the parts you need. If you don’t have it, some other ham does; you can count on it.
One thing to remember, when scoping out the surplus landscape: many hams confuse surplus with used. Sadly, many hams shun the surplus market because they assume that because something’s old that it’s worn. There are untold billions of military surplus electronics components that are still in their “flavor-fresh” wrappers. A lot of this stuff is far higher quality than anything you can buy new.
I can’t vouch for this, but I’ve heard rumors that the surplus situation is even better in places like Europe and Asia. And Germany, for one, still manufactures top quality radio components like vacuum capacitors and roller inductors for the amateur market. Of course, you have to pay accordingly, unless you have some good friends there. It’s a great opportunity and incentive to develop some international friendships, by the way. After all, isn’t that what ham radio is all about?
NEVER pass up an opportunity to beg. I am utterly shameless about this. It is almost always fruitful. When people know you are serious about your hobby, they will give you what you need. Just be sure you’re willing to reciprocate. My parts bin is your parts bin. Hams have traditionally been inveterate barterers. And remember, barter doesn’t necessarily mean a parts for parts exchange. How about spending a few hours helping another ham rewire his garage in exchange for that plate transformer you’ve been lusting after? Works for me!
Copper is an interesting commodity these days. It’s probably a good idea to save all the copper you can, in any form you can. China is in the midst of a huge modernization project, and since China has no local source of copper, is consuming a good part of the world’s reserves of the stuff. For the foreseeable future, the prices of copper are only going to go up.
Now, most of us who have been around a while have heard this song and dance before; we were all hoarding copper in the late 70’s only to see the price fall through the floor. Lots of us kept tons of otherwise useless transformers and motors around, just for the copper they contained, only to have to find a way to get rid of the wee beasties years later. Now, this copper thing seems to be real. We should have kept our oversized paper weights.
Now, even though copper is a high value-density material, it still takes up a bit of space, which is also a high value-density commodity these days. Rather than housing all the stuff yourself, it might be more practical to keep tabs on who does have sizeable stashes of copper in their basements and garages and tool sheds. Fortunately, enameled copper wire lasts a long long time, even if not stored properly. Also, fortunately, a lot of people don’t have a clue how valuable copper is yet, and these suck...er...I mean individuals can also be a good source of the material.
Although copper in the form of wire is, naturally, of the most value for most hams, don’t overlook copper pipe, ground rods, sheeting, strapping, foil, and the like. These are all valuable for many radio applications in their present forms as well as for their exchange value.
What about other metals? Well, aluminum certainly bears watching, but it’s unlikely it will ever reach the stratospheric heights of copper. I periodically check the metals indexes for interesting signs, but nothing slaps me upside the head like copper has recently.
Rare Earth metals should be very interesting, especially since they have discovered that Hafnium greatly accelerates silicon semiconductor performance. Hafnium has always been one of those “curiosity” elements—extraordinarily rare, but relatively inexpensive because nobody had a use for it. This all changed overnight, when they found its marvelous semiconductor accelerant property. Several other “curiosity” elements seem poised on the brink of destiny, as well. Unfortunately, Rare Earths don’t usually show up on the metals markets because there is no standardized vehicle for purchasing them. Since, for example, you could probably fit the entire world’s supply of Dysprosium in an Almond Roca can; it’s understandable why these materials lay low on the commodities market. But they’re worth investigating. Quietly. It might possibly pique the curiosity of the Men In Black a tad, if you were to publicly announce you’re looking to buy a pound of Dysprosium...especially since the only known use for the stuff is in nuclear research.
Procurement of parts is where radio amateurs have always shown great resourcefulness. Don’t be daunted; it’s worth the search.
Now, if you are particularly fortunate, you may find a collection of surplus parts already assembled in the form of a boat anchor (which is, if you missed it, hamspeak for vintage radio gear). This is a joyous find indeed. In fact, it’s even more joyous if said collection of parts is in the form of a working boat anchor. Either way is fine.
There are volumes written on the fine art of boat anchor restoration, generally geared for specific makes or models. However, there are a few things common to most boat anchors, which we can touch on here.
It’s almost a given that if you’re dealing with boat anchors, you’re dealing with vacuum tubes. You aren’t going to find a new tube tester, but used ones are in plentiful supply. Anyone who repaired TV’s for a living had one or two of these around. Lots of boat anchor problems can be determined by a thorough tube checking. Now, back in the latter dark ages, it was pretty much standard practice to replace all the tubes on a newly acquired boat anchor, as a matter of routine. This was when tubes were plentiful and cheap. Tubes are precious commodities these days, and such a shotgun approach is bound to be rather costly, and not always necessary.
Now, there’s a very good probability that all the tubes on your latest find do indeed need replacing, but just in case you’re lucky, you want to only toss the ones that really need it. Actually, you probably don’t want to toss any tubes these days, they’re collectors’ items in any condition. Even the cartons are worth something these days!
Some boat anchors run just fine with really lame tubes; I’ve had many of these. Other ones, by virtue or curse of their design, start sputtering, performance-wise, long before a typical tube tester can even see any problems. Tube testing is an art form, as are tube testers themselves. Experience rules here.
Next to soggy, floppy tubes, the most common problem in boat anchors is electrolytic capacitors. This is one area where wholesale replacement of all the capacitors is usually justified, as well as cost effective. Modern replacements for electrolytic capacitors are much better than the originals, and will probably outlive you. In fact, a newly “capped” boat anchor will likely exceed its original performance specs. Cool!
One of my old friends had a long, highly lucrative career as an electrolytic capacitor changer. His official job title was “Television Repairman,” but his de-facto job description was electrolytic capacitor changer. Fully 95% of his job involved replacing electrolytic capacitors in televisions-for a few decades. They finally got good at making electrolytic capacitors around the time people stopped repairing televisions. I’m not sure this was accidental.
At any rate, if they made electrolytic capacitors back in the 1940s like they make them now, there probably wouldn’t be any boat anchors available for us, because they’d all still be in use by their original owners! So, once in a while you find something that’s actually better than its older incarnation.
Not often, but sometimes.
Boat anchors generally have more moving parts than modern radios. You have things like dial cords, gears, racks, toggle switches, rotary switches, and variable capacitors to contend with. Fortunately, these items are all large enough to be visible by the naked eye. After you “recapacitate” your “new” boat anchor, the next thing you’re going to want to do is drench everything that even remotely moves with a good contact cleaner/lubricant. Back in the olden days, this meant carbon tetrachloride, but it was discovered a while back that “carbon tet” caused people to grow superfluous cranium-like appendages or something like that, so the substance is now banned. They have more politically correct chemicals for contact cleaning these days. When all else fails, a good dose of WD-40 serves as a fairly respectable contact cleaner...but doesn’t smell anywhere near as nice as carbon tet.
Genuine dial cord is a bit hard to find these days, and more than likely your boat anchor will need a re-stringing. The next best thing is good Dacron fly-fishing line; it’s very tough and doesn’t stretch. If you do it right, you’ll probably never have to do it again. (Famous last words!) Replacing dial cord is another art form in itself, and if the original one happens to be missing, it can be a real challenge to figure out which way everything is supposed to turn. There seemed to be no limit to the creativity of radio designers when it came to devising convoluted, circuitous, unnecessarily complicated dial cord paths! After the ultimate demise of the dial cord, these designers, now all centenarians and senile, were pulled out of retirement to design the Windows operating system.