RE: [drakelist] R-4B bandswitch lubrication
EricJ [EMAIL PROTECTED] made an utterance to the drakelist gang -- Can't say that I know more, but I agree with you about spraying old wafer switches. No telling what these new products will do to them. I use a product called Rid-Ox which is pretty much the same thing as deoxit. It's in a spray can, but I just spray a tiny amount in the lid and clean the metal contacts with a good quality Q-tip that doesn't leave cotton fuzz in its wake. Works very nice. The Rid-Ox also has a lubricant in it that leaves a protective film and the switches rotate nice and smooth. I'm not recommending Rid-Ox over deoxit. I'm just putting another vote in for applying the material only to the metal. Eric KE6US www.ke6us.com -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ron Wagner Sent: Saturday, January 07, 2006 4:26 PM To: Keith Hamilton Cc: drakelist@www.zerobeat.net; recipient list not shown: Subject: Re: [drakelist] R-4B bandswitch lubrication Ron Wagner [EMAIL PROTECTED] made an utterance to the drakelist gang -- Keith, I would guess that you got moisture on the wafer material (should just be on the metal). That swells the wafer material. I would wait a week or so before going further. I was lucky enough have the cleaner I used (years ago) to dry out of the wafers. I am not sure if DeOxit will do the same, but I have never used spray cleaners since. I have a needle dropper bottle of deoxit and carefully apply it only to the metal. Someone else may know more. If so please advise for all to learn. 73, Ron Visit my astronomy home page. http://www.dma.org/~wagner Amateur Radio Station: WD8SBB - Ron and KB8NRP - Joann On Sat, 7 Jan 2006, Keith Hamilton wrote: Keith Hamilton [EMAIL PROTECTED] made an utterance to the drakelist gang -- I was recently cleaning up my new R-4B and I used DeoxIT on the bandswitch contacts. My bandswitch is now rather hard to turn. I assume I -- Submissions:drakelist@www.zerobeat.net Unsubscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] - unsubscribe drakelist in body Hopelessly Lost:[EMAIL PROTECTED] - help in body of message Zerobeat Web Page: www.zerobeat.net - sponsored by www.tlchost.net -- -- Submissions:drakelist@www.zerobeat.net Unsubscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] - unsubscribe drakelist in body Hopelessly Lost:[EMAIL PROTECTED] - help in body of message Zerobeat Web Page: www.zerobeat.net - sponsored by www.tlchost.net --
RE: [drakelist] cleaning copper
Yeah, I agree. There are a lot of factors involved. I mentioned in my first post when speculating why my SW-54 is in such better shape that it could be where the rigs were kept all these hears, regional factors, how the chassis was treated before plating, and lots of other things. I suspect the Drake engineers who spec'd the copper plating process were not considering how the rig would look 40+ years later. Eric KE6US www.ke6us.com From: Dennis Monticelli [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 7:37 PMTo: EricJCc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; drakelist@www.zerobeat.netSubject: Re: [drakelist] cleaning copper Silver is corroded by airborne sulphur and that is what the anti-tarnish products attempt to block. Copper can corrode by simple exposure to air or moisture as well as sulphur...once the lacquer coating gives out or allows passage via the pinholes. Accelerated corrosion is a possibility if an electrolyte of sorts forms between the steel and the copper plating following a breakdown of the lacquer and copper.. So an anti-tarnish product targetted at silver only addresses part of the copper problem in our Drakes. Just keeping the air in our shacks dry is probably the best thing we can do for them.Denny AE6C On 1/4/06, EricJ [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: "EricJ" [EMAIL PROTECTED] made an utterance to the drakelist gang--Possibly. Obviously, it is not possible to seal up the rig. My reasoning was that the inside of the rig is going to be close to dead air when the rig iscold allowing that air to be more saturated with the chemistry involved.When the rig is on, the heated air will rise and any contamination in the shack will not remain in the enclosure long enough to do any damage. Wecould go round and round on this, but I figured it's worth the try...andit's free.It might even be possible to figure out what is needed to grab the sulfur and other contaminants out of the air. Maybe a chunk of something moreaggressive than a wimpy little paper strip would be needed. I don't know.I'd be interested to know why all three of my Drake rigs have much more corrosion than my much older SW-54 receiver. Maybe the SW-54 spent most ofits life packed away in a sealed trunk. Or maybe it lived in a less pollutedregion of the country for most of its life. Or maybe the copper plating was higher quality or thicker. Or maybe the underlying steel chassis was treatedin some different way first.I enjoyed hearing about the chrome plated DX-100. Before reading that I hadgiven momentary thought to how one might carefully remove all the components from, say, a 2-B and having it replated. Maybe when restored 2-Bs are goingfor a couple of $kilobucks on ebay I'll consider it. For 150 bucks, itseasier to just use the receiver and not look inside the cabinet too much. EricKE6USwww.ke6us.com-Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ]Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 9:11 AMTo: EricJCc: drakelist@www.zerobeat.netSubject: RE: [drakelist] cleaning copperOn Tue, 3 Jan 2006, EricJ wrote: "EricJ" [EMAIL PROTECTED] made an utterance to the drakelist gang -- 3M also makes some anti-tarnish strips. These are paper impregnated with a chemical that are meant to be stuck in the drawer with jewelry or whatever you are protecting. I'm going to tape one inside one of the receivers and see if I can tell any difference after 6 months or so. If it does something useful, I'll tape one in all the copper chassisrigs.Those strips may not work so well unless you seal the rig in an air-tight bag.A friend of mine makes jewelry out of silver and she puts those stripsin little ziploc bags for the reasons we're talking about here.But if you don't keep the bag closed the strips don't help :-(hope this helps..--73 Jason N1SUhttp://n1su.com/--Submissions: drakelist@www.zerobeat.netUnsubscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] - unsubscribe drakelist in bodyHopelessly Lost: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - help in body of messageZerobeat Web Page:www.zerobeat.net - sponsored by www.tlchost.net--
RE: [drakelist] cleaning copper
EricJ [EMAIL PROTECTED] made an utterance to the drakelist gang -- 3M's Tarni-Shield for Copper Brass (they also make one for silver) gets very high marks as a safe, non-abrasive cleaner. It also leaves a protective coat that prevents tarnish for a few months. I tried it on my National SW-54 first which was much cleaner and more tarnish-free (and much older too) than my Drakes. It doesn't do anything to the corroded areas which is not surprising since it is basically iron rust coming through. But it does a nice job of cleaning the copper without damage. It is far easier to apply and easier to clean off than Flitz. I have no concerns about using the product and hope to clean my 2-B, 2-C and 2-NT with it soon. It also worked well on IF cans and tube shields. 3M also makes some anti-tarnish strips. These are paper impregnated with a chemical that are meant to be stuck in the drawer with jewelry or whatever you are protecting. I'm going to tape one inside one of the receivers and see if I can tell any difference after 6 months or so. If it does something useful, I'll tape one in all the copper chassis rigs. I live in a major metro area and could not find Tarni-Shield ANYWHERE. I found Tarnish-X, but I think it is abrasive like Brasso which gives me uncomfortable flashbacks to my military days. I found the best price on the Internet at: https://secure.visi.com/marshawhitney/order/index.php It was delivered in just a few days and included the Anti-Tarnish strips free. This stuff isn't cheap, but it should last long enough that the next generation can clean up the rig you leave them. Always a pleasure to recommend a vendor that just does what they promise to do. The drawing of Martha Whitney on the web site looks like my gramma, but I have no connection to them. Eric KE6US www.ke6us.com -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jason Buchanan Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 1:55 PM To: drakelist@www.zerobeat.net Subject: [drakelist] cleaning copper Jason Buchanan [EMAIL PROTECTED] made an utterance to the drakelist gang -- hi, I have the urge to clean my R-4B copper and get the dust and grime off of it and was wondering the best way to go about this. There's some corrosion here and there but the majority of it is clean. Before I go rubbing around on it the wrong way could someone point me in the right direction of the right way? I read the article on w4bhfn's site for cleaning corrosion with flitz but I am not quite up to that task yet - I just want to clean the layer of age off of the areas that are clean. thanks! -- 73 Jason N1SU Jason Buchanan - Boxboro, MA Website: http://n1su.com/ -- Submissions:drakelist@www.zerobeat.net Unsubscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] - unsubscribe drakelist in body Hopelessly Lost:[EMAIL PROTECTED] - help in body of message Zerobeat Web Page: www.zerobeat.net - sponsored by www.tlchost.net -- -- Submissions:drakelist@www.zerobeat.net Unsubscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] - unsubscribe drakelist in body Hopelessly Lost:[EMAIL PROTECTED] - help in body of message Zerobeat Web Page: www.zerobeat.net - sponsored by www.tlchost.net --
RE: [drakelist] 2-NT Sidetone
Frankly, I never did understand why sidetones were that high or why most are still not adjustable. I can't actually remember preferring to listen to CW at a higher pitch even when I was young so I'm not sure why sidetones have traditionally been so high. Eric KE6US www.ke6us.com From: Mike Williams [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2005 2:57 PMTo: EricJ; '[EMAIL PROTECTED] Zerobeat. Net'Subject: Re: [drakelist] 2-NT Sidetone Hey Eric, some of us youngsters prefer the 600 Hz tones too! Mike W4DL - Original Message - From: EricJ To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED] Zerobeat. Net' Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2005 1:39 AM Subject: [drakelist] 2-NT Sidetone I recently acquired a 2-NT to go with my 2-B and 2-C. I work CW exclusively so it has all the features I care about (except a VFO. hi). When this rig was new, I was 24 years old. My young ears had no problem with the 1 kc sidetone that many commercial rigs including the 2-NT use. Now almost 40 years later I can'dt that that screeching sidetone. I've set the offset on my QRP rigs for about 600 Hz, and I prefer my sidetone to be around that also. A quick look at the schematic shows that increaseing C43, C44 and C45 would decrease the frequency. Using Spectrogram I measured the original sidetone at 966 Hz. An 0.005 uf cap in parallel with these 3 caps brought it down to 650 Hz.Close enough.I didn't have any on hand, but 0.0056 might have put it on the money. I soldered the caps on the back side of the PCB. It's much easier and they can be easily removed if you want to reverse the mod to sell the rig. A lot of older hams have found that a lower offset or sidetone is more comfortable. Some even go to 500 Hz or so. This mod is easy to do on the 2-NT and something comparable could probably be done on other rigs. There are photograps of the mod and my "2-Line" station at: http://www.ke6us/boatanchors.htm Eric KE6US www.ke6us.com
[drakelist] 2-NT Sidetone
I recently acquired a 2-NT to go with my 2-B and 2-C. I work CW exclusively so it has all the features I care about (except a VFO. hi). When this rig was new, I was 24 years old. My young ears had no problem with the 1 kc sidetone that many commercial rigs including the 2-NT use. Now almost 40 years later I can'dt that that screeching sidetone. I've set the offset on my QRP rigs for about 600 Hz, and I prefer my sidetone to be around that also. A quick look at the schematic shows that increaseing C43, C44 and C45 would decrease the frequency. Using Spectrogram I measured the original sidetone at 966 Hz. An 0.005 uf cap in parallel with these 3 caps brought it down to 650 Hz.Close enough.I didn't have any on hand, but 0.0056 might have put it on the money. I soldered the caps on the back side of the PCB. It's much easier and they can be easily removed if you want to reverse the mod to sell the rig. A lot of older hams have found that a lower offset or sidetone is more comfortable. Some even go to 500 Hz or so. This mod is easy to do on the 2-NT and something comparable could probably be done on other rigs. There are photograps of the mod and my "2-Line" station at: http://www.ke6us/boatanchors.htm Eric KE6US www.ke6us.com
RE: [drakelist] TR-7 transmit audio saga
EricJ [EMAIL PROTECTED] made an utterance to the drakelist gang -- Aftermarket consists of third party manufacturers in the accessory market. I think it originated in the autmobile market. Automobiles were manufactured by OEMs or Original Equipment Manufacturers. Those who made parts and accessories for a vehicle who were not the OEM were considered to be in the aftermarket...I suppose meaning the market for goods sold AFTER the vehicle sale. In the context of this group, it would be stuff for your Drake that was not manufactured by Drake. Footswitch is a switch operated by your foot. I don't know what it is in metric. Eric KE6US www.ke6us.com -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of G3SJJ Sent: Monday, December 12, 2005 2:41 PM To: drake Subject: RE: [drakelist] TR-7 transmit audio saga G3SJJ [EMAIL PROTECTED] made an utterance to the drakelist gang -- Wow, is that an Americanism?? What is an aftermarket footswitch? Chris G3SJJ -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Craig Roberts Sent: 12 December 2005 15:59 To: drake Subject: [drakelist] TR-7 transmit audio saga Craig Roberts [EMAIL PROTECTED] made an utterance to the drakelist gang The problem was traced to my aftermarket PTT footswitch with unshielded leads. -- Submissions:drakelist@www.zerobeat.net Unsubscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] - unsubscribe drakelist in body Hopelessly Lost:[EMAIL PROTECTED] - help in body of message Zerobeat Web Page: www.zerobeat.net - sponsored by www.tlchost.net -- -- Submissions:drakelist@www.zerobeat.net Unsubscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] - unsubscribe drakelist in body Hopelessly Lost:[EMAIL PROTECTED] - help in body of message Zerobeat Web Page: www.zerobeat.net - sponsored by www.tlchost.net --
[drakelist] WTB: Drake 2-NT or T-4X
EricJ [EMAIL PROTECTED] made an utterance to the drakelist gang -- I just received a 2-B that I bought on e-bay and sure would like to get a 2-NT to go with it. I'd consider a T-4X if it is affordable for me. I only operate CW, but a VFO rig would be nice. I want to try to get everything up and running by Straight Key Night. The TX is the final piece of the puzzle. Please send condition and price offlist. 73 Eric KE6US www.ke6us.com -- Submissions:drakelist@www.zerobeat.net Unsubscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] - unsubscribe drakelist in body Hopelessly Lost:[EMAIL PROTECTED] - help in body of message Zerobeat Web Page: www.zerobeat.net - sponsored by www.tlchost.net --
