Imabug's journey into electronics and amateur radio as AB4UG and VA6BUG
Boat anchor radios and gear
Over the last few years, two more Hammarlund radios got added to the boat anchor collection.
Now, in addition to my first Hammarlund HQ-100, there’s an HQ-110 and an HQ-170.
I haven’t looked in either of them or tested them out yet. The HQ-100 is still on the workbench waiting for me to get back to.
I guess I have a Hammarlund collection now. Hadn’t intended to start one. They just kind of fell into my lap. Not sure what I’ll do with them yet.
The HQ-100 manual conveniently provides a table of the voltages you should be seeing at the tube pins. After replacing three of the tubes in the HQ-100, I went through and checked all the tube pin voltages and ended up replacing two more tubes (the 6BE6 and 6AL5 tubes). I didn’t have a spare 6AL5 tube on hand, but I discovered the VoltOhmyst VOM I acquired a while back also happened to use a 6AL5 tube. After pulling it out of the VoltOhmyst and putting it into the HQ-100, all the voltages at the tube pins matched the voltages in the table.
Unfortunately, I’m still not hearing any static or audio from the radio, so there’s more work to be done. The realignment procedure described in the manual calls for a 455 kHz signal source, so the next task will be to get one set up.
Update 02-Apr-2023: Since I had them on hand, I replaced the 6C4, 6BZ6, OB2, and 5Y3GT tubes. Now the only tube that hasn’t been replaced is the 6AQ5.
The HQ-100 has some new Class X2/Y1 capacitors across the AC input, a polarized two-prong power cord, a new multi-section can capacitor from Hayseed Hamfest, and now three “new” tubes.
After spending a few days checking over things, I put the front panel and knobs back on, plugged the radio in and was greeted with some warm glowing lights.
The two lamps behind the frequency dial indicator both came on, and a nice warm red glow was coming from most of the tubes. Three of them (a 12AX7 and two 6BA6s) were dark though. Fortunately I had acquired all the tubes I needed for the HQ-100 at past hamfests. After replacing the three tube and applying power again, all the tubes were lighting up!
Next step will be to attach a speaker and antenna and see how well, if at all, the radio receives.
At long last, the Hammarlund HQ-100 I picked up a few years ago is finally getting some time and attention on the workbench.
After a bit of cleaning outside, it was time to dig in and see what was going on. Removing the knobs and four slightly rusty screws let me remove the front panel to see if the band spread tuning dial could be fixed.
Turns out the frequency indicator dials (the large white disks) are connected to the tuning dial knob by friction fit. Turning the knob makes the indicator dials turn, and the shaft those dials are attached to are connected to the variable capacitors that do the tuning. The band spread dial was free-spinning because there wasn’t enough friction between the indicator dial and the tuning knob. While I was trying to figure out how to fix it, I discovered the nut at the back end of the tuning shaft was loose, and tightening that up made the tuning knob work again.
The other big issue I came across while looking around was a burnt capacitor across the AC input.
Not a good thing to see. I clipped the toasted capacitor out as well as the old two-prong non-polarized plug. I’ll see about wiring in a new three-prong plug and maybe a fuse as well.
Haven’t seen any other obvious component issues yet. There’s a multi-section electrolytic can capacitor that probably should be replaced, but there aren’t any signs of leakage.
One of the items in the KB4NNM (SK) collection that was donated to the club earlier this year was an Atlas 210X 5-band HF radio mounted in a 220-CS AC console. The console allows the radio to be operated off mains power, provides a speaker and VOX capabilities.
It’s a pretty nice looking setup. Until I did a bit of research on the radio, I didn’t realize that the radio and console were separate items. Turns out, the radio just slides into the console, and connects using some 1/4″ plugs and a banana jack-like connector for the antenna.
Sounds like the radio works, although the speaker produces a buzzing noise (60Hz hum I think) even when the radio’s AF gain is turned all the way down. Turning some of the dials and switches produces some static-y noises, so it sounds like those will need some cleaning. Haven’t had a look inside the radio yet. That will be later.
This seems like it might be a nice radio to use in the club room.