I have been working on two projects.? I acquired a EF Johnson Viking II that was at some point used in a high school station. It had a bat handled switch mounted on the front panel upper right corner to lower the power down to 75 watts for a NOVICE operator at the school.? The three power supply tubes were missing and one 6146 had a loose plate cap as well as with one of the 807 modulator tubes.? All the internal parts for the most part were original.? The cabinet paint was not in good shape either.? That was the starting point for the transmitter.? So far I have painted the lower cabinet panel with copper paint, and plugged the holes in the front panel and primed it.? It's ready to have the top gray portion painted.? (All the lettering has been masked with pin strip tape.)? I plan to paint the top and bottom of the front panel with matched gray and maroon paint.? Plus paint the cabinet with matched maroon paint.? I had Sherwin-Williams match these three paints for me.? I'll be using the PREVAL spray system to apply the paint. ? While doing the above, I have acquired all the resistors and capacitors needed to re-furbish the electronics.? I did repair the two tubes with loose plate caps using muffler cement.? The tubes that were in the transmitter test out good on my TV-7 tube tester.? But, I have spares if needed.? I'll also be applying lithium grease to the detente portion of the rotary switches and applying conductive grease to the roller inductor roller.? I've already cleaned up the dust on the chassis and cleaned and lubricated the audio pot.? Most likely will clean switch contacts with De-oxide cleaner too and oil the variable capacitor bearings.? I've acquired the needed coax to replace the RF output and VFO input coax cables as the originals look to be in bad shape. ? The chassis cleaned up very nicely.? I also picked up a couple new bat handle switches to replace the badly corroded originals.? I most likely will repaint the five transformer bell housings once the restoration is complete.? When finished, this transmitter should look very nice and work like new!
Besides this, I have been restoring a Hallicrafters SX-71 to match and go along with the Viking II.? When I was a 14 year old kid back in 1953 I think every other General Class license holder or above used a Viking II and SX 71.? Or at least it seemed that way.? They were a very very popular combination.? So far I have replaced all but two resistors and all the paper and electrolytic caps in the receiver.? I had to remove the front panel and re-string the main slide rule dial too.? That is where I am with it right now.? I don't trust the silver mica caps in the IF transformers, so I think replacing the caps after removing the IF cans will be my next step.? Then a re-alignment.
I'll also replace the line cords with three wire ones and will be using a 2000 watt variac to run these units on 115 volt mains. (My line voltage here is close to 125 volts.)? In the mean time, I'll be looking for a? Johnson 122 VFO for the Viking II.? When finished,? I should have a very nice working 70 year old station. I'm really looking forward to using this station set up.? If anyone has a reasonably priced Johnson 122 VFO with nice front panel let me know.? I'd be interested in it.? Some time ago I refurbished a Johnson TR switch, so it should go nicely with the pair too.? It's a lot of work, but enjoyable.? I'm just slowly doing one thing at a time.? Eventually I'll be done and can enjoy using the pair.
Lee, w0vt/w5drc
w5drc@...
