[Ron Ramirez]

So it seemed that I had replaced all of the set's paper capacitors which had been missed by a previous owner.

Or had I?

Hmmm...what could be inside this round can under the 6SJ7 tube?

   

Let's see if we can remove the round shield. Yes, it pulls right off with very little effort:

   

Surprise! Two more old .05 uF paper capacitors and a few other components.

It turned out to be easier than I thought it would be to replace these.

   

Now, having replaced the power cord and reattached the round shield under the 6SJ7 to cover those new components, let's hook up that restuffed twist-lock electrolytic can.

   

Looks MUCH better than that jury-rigged set of electrolytics...

more...

[Radioroslyn]

Some of the Super Pro sets have foil bypass caps inside the IF transformers.

[Ron Ramirez]

All done under the chassis.

   

Time to try it out.

I plugged it into my Variac and slowly brought it up.

By the time I reached 90 volts, I began to hear WHAS - 840 kc (Louisville, KY).

Yes! It's Alive!

   

Oh, wait. You want to actually hear it. Ok:

[Video: https://youtu.be/QjSGYQDsIN4]

This is the beginning of an English language broadcast at 7 pm EDT tonight in the 49 meter band. Unfortunately due to the fading, I could not identify the station.

The set definitely needs an alignment. And I'm still not happy that I have to turn the volume to max to get normal listening volume, even with all new capacitors and resistors and a few new tubes, and using a 4 ohm speaker. But at least I know it will be reliable now with its new components.

Tomorrow...I shall attempt alignment before I put it back into its cabinet.

Oh, by the way. What looks like a box of books to the left of the radio is actually a speaker! Debbie has had this box for a while - I think she bought it at Kutztown a year or two ago - and gave it to me. I removed its 8 ohm 6x9 speaker and temporarily installed my little 4 ohm 3x5 speaker using only one of the mounting studs. Parts Express sells a replacement 4 ohm 6x9 speaker for $8.95 plus shipping and I plan to get one to put into this speaker box.

Who needs a $50-75 or more Hammarlund speaker when this will work just as well?

[Ron Ramirez]

Didn't I see that you also bought a second communications receiver (or am I perhaps mistaken) ?

Yes, another Hammarlund, an HQ-180 which is the model I wanted to begin with. (Although I really do like this HQ-129-X.)

I mentioned it, with a photo, in August 2019 Finds and Losses. Click where it says August 2019 Finds and Losses; this link will take you to page 3 of that thread. Scroll to post #40. Despite a poor packing job by the seller, it arrived in fine shape and plays fairly well. It does have a few issues but it is in pretty good shape overall.

[Ron Ramirez]

Some of the Super Pro sets have foil bypass caps inside the IF transformers.

Terry, I checked and the HQ-129-X only has silver mica caps inside its IF transformers.

[Ron Ramirez]

Alignment was not an easy job. And without a sweep generator, I know I did not align the IF chain properly but I did the best that I could do with my limited alignment gear (Clough-Brengle signal gen, Hantek scope, and some hand tools). It did make a difference. The 5.7 - 10 mc band was way off track and it took several repeated attempts before I finally had it more or less correct.

While the set is more sensitive now, I still have to crank the volume control to get a good listening level. At least now, I do have to turn it down a bit on very strong stations such as local WITZ (990) and WHAS in Louisville (840). This is with the outdoor longwire.

I tried some tube rolling with a few 6H6, 6SN7 and 6V6 tubes but there was no improvement in loudness. Maybe this is the best that the HQ-129-X can do?

In any event, it appears to be ready for reinstallation into its cabinet. I may wait and touch up the RF alignment once more before I do that, however.

One of these days I will need to pull the chassis from the cabinet again and repaint the cabinet the proper color of dark gray. Not this year, though.

[Ron Ramirez]

I retouched the first band (0.54 to 1.32 mc, which is the lower portion of the AM band) and now it is dead on each frequency, or nearly so - as close as it is going to get, I think.

I also retouched the troublesome 5.7 to 10 mc band, which is the one I will likely use the most. Now I have WWV exactly at 10 on the dial, and the low end adjustment (6 mc) is probably as close to 6 as it is going to get. Just a hair off. I can live with that.

I have WWV set right at 10 on the 10 to 18 mc band also. I'lll revisit this band later, as well as the others I did not retouch (1.32 to 3.2 mc and 18 to 31 mc).

In spite of what seems to be limitations in its audio capability, I'm liking this rig more and more. If only I had had this when I was in my mid to late teens...I can only imagine how many more QSL cards I might have collected from foreign SW stations...

Back then, I did my DXing on a Hallicrafters S-38D I bought from an elderly neighbor. It did pretty good for what it was, I think. I used its BFO to tune in hams on SSB for the first time. This was around 1975 or so.

[Paul Philco322]

In 75 the SW band was hot, not to mention AM DXing, lot less stray RF. 

Enjoy. 

Paul

[Simon Wa3uay]

We are at the end of solar cycle 24, which means 80 and 40 meters are pretty good, not so much the higher frequency’s.

[Ron Ramirez]

Yes Paul, no computers, no internet, no internet of things, no switching power supplies. (How did we ever get along without today's modern conveniences?)

RF interference was prevalent from other things though, although they usually didn't wipe out the entire AM band as some of today's things can do.

Lots of SW broadcasters in 1975. Most of the big ones have moved to the internet or disappeared entirely.

I've noticed that on this rig, I can tune in signals in the 41 meter band and even the 49 meter band before the sun has set - around 6:30 to 7 pm EDT.

And WA3UAY, I noticed that there wasn't much in the 25 meter band in the early evening, not that I expected much that late. And the 19 meter band? Too late for that in early evening.

[Simon Wa3uay]

Yes, 19 meters (20 meter ham band) is pretty much silent, except for contests, and much of that is local. but things will be looking up sunspot wise (they say), and the high bands will come back to peak in 5-1/2 years, then go back down. makes it interesting!

[Ron Ramirez]

What happened to the posts about radio beacons?

Moved into their own thread:

https://www.philcoradio.com/phorum/showt...?tid=20420

[Ron Ramirez]

Okay!

So I wanted to have a proper 6x9 speaker in the speaker box Debbie had given me. It needed to be very low impedance (3.2 or 4 ohms). The box had a speaker in it originally, but it was 8 ohms.

I removed that speaker.

Today, a replacement arrived from Parts Express.

https://www.parts-express.com/grs-69as-4...m--292-459

4 ohms!

One problem, though - that extra thick plastic gasket kept me from being able to mount the speaker in the cabinet! The thickness of that gasket would not allow the mounting studs to protrude through to the back of the speaker enough to mount the nuts which hold the speaker in place.

So I decided to try to remove the gasket.

Working very carefully, I was able to pry it off successfully without damaging the cone surround. Then I could easily mount the speaker in the box.

Now, with this 4 ohm 6x9 speaker, the Hammarlund has plenty of volume. Yes, now I can actually turn down the volume on strong stations. WRMI in the 31m band is coming in LOUD and clear right now as I type this. And I'm not using my outdoor longwire either - I'm using my short (approx. 20 foot) indoor wire antenna which is strung along the ceiling here in the basement.

[Ron Ramirez]

Epilog

This evening, while you lucky guys were enjoying yourselves at the Basin Street Hotel in beautiful downtown Kutztown, I was going over the HQ-129-X's RF alignment for a second time. Now, I think it is as good as it can be. It is now back in its cabinet.

The Hammarlund HQ-129-X is an amazingly sensitive radio and with my outdoor longwire antenna, picks up lots of signals from the 31m band on down. And it is absolutely incredible on AM. This weekend, I'll see for myself what it will do on the higher frequency bands in the daytime.

The last two radio restorations I have done have been very satisfying. Prior to this Hammarlund, I did electronic restoration on an RCA C15-3 console. I didn't write about it here, but I posted some info about it at ARF mainly because I had bought the radio from Vince Milone (radiopicker on ARF) at the May 2018 Kutztown meet and I wanted him to see what I had done with the radio. The C15-3 is an amazing performer in its own right, and has the audio system to back it up as well. What the Hammarlund may be lacking in its audio section, however, is more than compensated for with its very sensitive RF and IF sections.

Yes, I think I'm going to enjoy listening to SW again with this Hammarlund...even though there are not as many international broadcasters on the air these days as there were in ye olden days when I was a teenager and was collecting QSL cards with my little Hallicrafters S-38D.

I am very pleased to have picked up this Hammarlund at Radiofest. I'm glad I brought it home. It was well worth the $75 I paid for it.

[EdHolland]

That is great Ron. Have some fun spinning those dials

For good audio, the hams running AM on 160 and 80 meters are hard to beat. Further up the dial, (if you are not already familiar) check out https://short-wave.info/ for station schedules and frequencies to try. 

Cheers

Ed