Quadruple QSO party weekend

There hasn’t been a whole lot of radio activity going on here lately since Field Day.

There were four state QSO parties going on this weekend (AZ, NV, PA, SD).  After getting a SD station (W0SD), I decided to try to get at least one contact in the other three.  I wasn’t able to find any more SD stations, but I did manage three contacts in AZ, three in NV, and eight in PA.

While tuning around the other bands (there wasn’t a whole lot), I scored contacts with hams in the Dominican Republic and Slovenia.  There was also someone in Spain, but he had a bit of a pileup going that I wasn’t able to get through.

Also came across the AMSAT International net that I listened to for a little bit.

Good weekend to be on the air.

Power supply: Needs more work

The power supply that I thought was fixed is going to need a little more troubleshooting and work.

In its first load test this weekend powering the radio, the power supply was having issues maintaining voltage after transmitting a couple times.

Not sure what the issue might be.  Maybe something overheating perhaps.  Looks like I’ll have to open it up and dive back in.

Heathkit IG-102 capacitor replacement

Replacing the DC blocking disc capacitor (C20, 0.01 μF)  just before the Fine Atten pot helped clean up the output signal quite a bit.  I didn’t get a picture of the wave form before, but it was pretty ugly looking and not very stable.

IG-102 wave form, about 500 kHz
IG-102 wave form, about 500 kHz

Much better looking now, and much more stable.

Heathkit IG-102 schematic from https://www.vintage-radio.info/
Heathkit IG-102 schematic from https://www.vintage-radio.info/

Heathkit IG-102 diagnostic

Fortunately, my IG-102 came with the assembly manual.   The IG-102 is roomy enough inside that it’s pretty easy to get in and probe around checking things.

Things I’ve found so far:

  • Audio frequency (AF) output, which the manual says should be 400 Hz, is around 260 Hz.  With the AF dial turned all the way up, the AF waveform measures about 20Vpp.
  • I can reliably get RF output when the Coarse Atten switch is at the Hi position and the Fine Atten dial is all the way clockwise.
  • Setting the Coarse Atten switch from Hi to the middle position drops the frequency by about a factor of 10 (according to my M3 frequency counter).
  • Setting the Coarse Atten switch to the Lo position makes the RF output drop out.
  • Turning the Fine Atten dial counter-clockwise ends up changing the frequency (unexpected) instead of changing the signal level.
  • The band select dial is kind of fiddly.  Sometimes when I switch to a different band, RF output drops out.  Switching back and forth will usually bring the RF output back.
  • Band A (100 – 300 kHz) is the most accurate.
  • Bands B (310 – 1100 kHz) and C (1 MHz – 3.2 MHz) are about 50 kHz low.
  • Band D (3.1 – 11 MHz) is low by 0.5 – 0.7 MHz.
  • Band E doesn’t work.
  • Band F (32 – 110 MHz) is reasonably accurate up to 50 MHz, but maxes out around 75 MHz.

V1 12AT7 pin voltages

PinSpecMeasured
16562
2-4-5
300
46.3 VAC7 VAC
56.3 VAC7VAC
66259.6
7-0.75-0.38
800
900

V2 6AN8 pin voltages

PinSpecMeasured
17062.8
2-0.2-0.5
31.51.57
46.3 VAC7 VAC
500
6125127
7130130.9
800
92.52.64
IG-102 AF signal
IG-102 AF signal around 260 Hz

The RF signal sampled at pin 2 of the 12AT7 tube looks decent enough.

IG-102 RF signal
IG-102 RF signal around 370-ish kHz

Need to do some more poking around with the oscilloscope to check the RF waveform at other places along the output path to see what’s happening before I try to figure out what bits I might need to replace.

Back on the bench: Heathkit IG-102

Back on the workbench is the Heathkit IG-102 signal generator I acquired a few years ago.

Heathkit IG-102 signal generator
Heathkit IG-102 signal generator

The last time the signal generator was on the bench was to have a new power cord and BNC connectors installed.

This time, I’ll replace that big orange capacitor with something newer (along with any other components that look like they need replacing).  The signal generator doesn’t seem to be putting anything out at the BNC connectors anymore, so that will be another thing I’ll check.

Heathkit IG-102 20 uF capacitor
Heathkit IG-102 20 uF capacitor