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Re: New to me FT-101B
Today was a big day for the radio and I.?
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I can NOW adjust to 50 milliamps idle driver current. THIS IS HUGE for me!?
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And the radio will tune up on 80 (hot) 40, 20, 15, and 10A.?
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The power out seems to not be all that linear across the spectrum. I don't have exact PO levels but they were a bit over the place. I am surmising that tuning will make the difference here. ?I will need to wait for a couple crystals and my RF Signal Generator (Pony Express Ponies are slow walkers apparently.). It should now be here by the end of the week.
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Once again, when that gets here the alignment will be made and hopefully that will bring the power levels more in line with each other.?
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I'M STOKED! ? ?I could put this on the air right now... Not gonna, but I could! ? ?ping.....ping.....ping....... happy dance.?
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Butch - KA?WWT |
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Re: New to me FT-101B
Tom,
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Nowhere do I see where he sets the idle driver current to 50 ma initially. My hope is that passes muster first, then I can go through with the other adjustments. The steps in the manual won’t be a hard thing for me to do. And honestly, this rig can stand the actual run through of some of those procedures based on my inspection and swap of components that are slightly different in value than their original components.?
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Regards,?
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Butch - KA?WWT |
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Re: New to me FT-101B
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On 2 Feb 2025, at 19:20, Butchie_T - KA?WWT via groups.io <ka0wwt@...> wrote:
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Re: New to me FT-101B
E-PIFFIANY
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Installed currently in 10D: crystal is 32.5200
Installed currently in 11: crystal is 32.020
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10D should be 35.5200
11 should be 33.020?
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33.020 and 32.520. Translates to 26.000 and 26.500 MHZ
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So I will be buying ?35.520 and 33.020 crystals..........
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OK, that was fun...... : - )?
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Butch - KA?WWT |
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Re: New to me FT-101B
? Take a look at this link. The author is a highly respected 101 service guy for Yaesu in Great Britain and is a wealth of wisdom. I resuscitated my post CB, golden screwdrivered ft101b using this instrument- free process. ?Roger provides some critical warnings that are worth reading. ?His alignment process worked like a charm!! |
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Re: New to me FT-101B
I have everything back together and all is working....almost all working.?
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Band 10D is deaf. It does not hear the internal 100 or 25KHz generated tone. I have not begun to perform an alignment as I am still waiting on my RF Signal Generator. But all other bands can hear the internal tone with a signal strength of anywhere from S7 to 10 over S9. I believe that bodes well for me.
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I have been cooking three tubes that I am not worried if they die on me, just to see if all is well with that circuitry. And it is. Both amp tubes and the driver are glowing very sweetly orange.
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The RF gen should be here Tuesday and then I will start down the road of the alignments per chapter 7. ?
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However, I am happy to entertain suggestions as to where to focus for the 10D issue, if it truly is an issue. My hunch is within the band switch and the tuner section associated with 10D. I have not dug into this yes as I just discovered this today.
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Regards,
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Butch - KA?WWT |
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Re: New to me FT-101B
I finished up all the parts replacements (caps, resistors) on my FT-101B today.Throughout the past week or so, I powered up the rig twice for a smoke test and both time it passed with no burn marks noted!!
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I just ordered NOS driver and finals tubes. This rig came with the original tubes but I just do not want to use them up. So, I have Sylvania matched finals and Sylvania driver tube on their way. I made the cap swap in anticipation of this change.
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I have an RF and AF sig generator on their way and I already have an oscilloscope for the neutralization steps for the tubes and whatever else I will need it for.?
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I am reading over all the alignment steps in chapter 7 while I wait for the next shipment of stuff to get here.
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This is where I am sure I will have boatloads of questions. ?My hope is that what I have done so far has remedied the bias adjustment problem I first discovered back when I started looking into this rig.?
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It would not adjust down to 60ma. I’ll find out very soon if that is still a problem.?
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And then the q’s will start.
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Note: If there is something I should do special or different as I go through the aligning and such, please weigh in here. I am thankful for the help so far and will greatly appreciate any assistance from all here as I go through the next phase of getting this rig back on the air.?
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Cheers,?
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Butch - KA?WWT |
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Re: New to me FT-101B
The electrolytic caps I bought from a dealer on eBay that specialized in the kits for the FT series radios.
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The particular resistor you mentioned, I purchased from Mouser Electronics, along with the mica capacitors.
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The crystals I bought mine from this eBay dealer. They are Yaesu crystals so I took a leap of faith that they were ok to get.
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No trimmer capacitors yet, so I’ll have to wait until I get to a point to where I need them first.
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As for contact cleaner. Ok, that just stinks, BUT. I also get that the US is a bit more lax when it comes to these things too.
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Can you buy a product called TARN-X in Peru??? ?This works great on wafer switch contacts that you can see and get to. As for potentiometers and cleaners….it may be cheaper for you to just buy a replacement pot and even that may seem problematic.?
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Regards,?
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Butch - KA?WWT |
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Re: New to me FT-101B
I got through the toughest part, for me anyway, of the electrolytic cap change today. The power cap’s, are finally done. It was a challenge to come up with how to get the wires soldered to the new tangs on the caps. They are very much smaller than their counterparts. I ended up using a couple of connector posts that I modified to fit over the smaller tines of the caps. I was able to crimp the connector posts to the cap tines and then solder the wires onto the extended connector posts.
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I received the mylar caps I was missing today and will get them installed tomorrow. I have 4 electrolytic caps to replace and that will be all of them.?
Then it will be onto the mica caps that are the badies. I’m about ~12 total caps and power resistors away from having that all done.?
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I will begin cleaning the mode switch wafer switches this week after the caps are done. Slow and steady has been the mantra and over documenting and picture taking along the way has been very helpful for me to be getting through this.?
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A desoldering station has been a saving grace for this entire adventure. No doubt about that.
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My true hope is that once all is done here in a week or two’s time. And the eventual power up and tune up go much better than the first time. ?If/when it does, then the work really begins and that is the aligning and tuning. That part scares me more than what I am doing now TBH.
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Cheers,?
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Butch - KA?WWT |
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Re: New to me FT-101B
I just finished (sorta, 3 to go) the cap replacement on all the removable boards. The worst of all was the cap in the 1180 module. But, I got it.?
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I decided I was gonna find out sooner or later, so sooner it was. I hooked up the rig to my antenna (removed the accessory plug first), it hears and no smoke. While that is certainly not an end-all be-all result. It was certainly a confidence test for the rig and me!
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I still have the power cap's to replace and now onto that and the caps in the main chassis. ?
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Other than that.....I'm having fun.
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Cheers,?
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Butch - KA?WWT |
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Re: New to me FT-101B
Good luck.
On Saturday 11 January 2025 at 07:00:08 am AEDT, Butchie_T - KA?WWT via groups.io <ka0wwt@...> wrote:
Well, I finally have all the initial parts to begin the process of the resurrection of my FT-101B. The Heathkit VTVM will be here today and I will get that inspected, cleaned up, and working....hopefully today.
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My layout of all the parts separated into bags with the card identifiers I am replacing is shown here. This resurrection process starts this weekend.?
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Cheers,?
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Butch - KA?WWT
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Butchie_T - KA?WWT
STEPHEN WIDDETT
Tom ai4th