Hello to all here. I'm Butch - KA?WWT and have recently purchased an FT-101B (SN: SC119507) along with the YC-601B Digital Display.?
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The rig has been 'on the shelf' for a great deal of time but was well taken care of before that and during that time. It has the original tubes in it and still has the glue/paint/whatever on all of the screws in the boards. I don't believe anything was ever done to this rig after the initial purchase from the looks of it.?
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Fast forward to now, I attempted to do an initial tune up on her and I am not able to get the idle current reading down to the 60 milliamps according to the initial tune. And that is with the Bias adjust VR2 turned all the way to minimum. Best I can get is around 150ma. So, that is where I have stopped and am now pouring over any and all documentation I can find. Thing is, I am not finding what is probably right in front of me.
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And now I am here reaching out for some guidance. Is this a driver tube problem? An adjustment on a trimmer cap that I am not seeing?
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My intention is to get this rig back on the air and will certainly make it a project to do just that. I have not cleaned or reseated anything as of yet, I have some contact cleaner coming and it should be here this week.
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From my list of things to do at this point:
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0. Inspect as much of the rig I can see, upper and lower for any cracked caps or any other potential damage. (I have not seen any of that topside at all.)?
1. Remove and inspect all boards, clean contacts and connectors.
2. Clean all switches with cleaner.
3. Clean wafer switches with either erasers or contact cleaner (incrementally and not a mad wash of everything).
4. Change all the electrolytic caps.
5. Change out C13 and C131 with newer better caps.
6. Put it all back together and smoke test it.?
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All this will take me a bit of time but I intend to put in the work. I have the service manual as well as the instruction manual and I am not afraid to use them. Yep, I am well versed (albeit very rusty working on electronics), in this sort of stuff but it will be a relearning experience for me. I am happy to see a schematic that I can easily recognize parts again. Right now, all I have are a couple of volt meters. I will have to borrow an O'scope but I know where one is.?
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My ask of the community here is, can you recommend some additional steps I can do now or during that I may have not considered initially??
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The receive on the rig is good on some bands and could be better. on others. The preselector is scratchy when I move it through its ranges. Is that something I can fix, if so, how??
All the knobs need some cleaner of some sort or another. They are all scratchy to some degree. I expect the contact cleaner and exercising them to work those bugs out.?
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Here are a couple of pictures of the rig. I posted on the FoxTango site as well a few days back.?
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I greatly appreciate any help or guidance from anyone here and thank you in advance.?
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Regards,?
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Butch - KA?WWT
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Butchie_T - KA?WWT