Welcome to the Ham Radio section of my equipment collection.
As with my test gear addiction, when a desired (older) radio comes along for the right price,
i can't resist. One of the reasons may be that i could not afford them when they were brand
new, but badly wanted one.
I also like the challenge of fixing things and since i have the right test gear it's a welcome
deviation from my day job which is rather simple electronics, barely covering a few kHz.
Some of the radio projects below got stalled, usually because of paying jobs hitting the
bench and then something else gets in the way.
None of them is really abandoned, they just waiting for their time slot ...-)
Probably the most relevant example of radios i wanted when i was a kid is the Icom IC211
At the club station we only had some clunky 1950s gear but my mentor (sk) had one of those
computer powered space ships. Digital display and working every time you turn it on ....wow !
His HF outfit was a bit older but no less desirable, even nowadays, a Collins KWM2 and a
Heathkit SB220, together with a huge antenna tower in the back garden.
For a 14 year old kid, thats pretty impressive and i still remember that very day i finally got
hooked and decided to get a license.
Even having some reasonable electronics knowledge (at least for a kid at that age), the
learning curve was pretty steep. But with his endless patience, explaining resonance and
impedance matching over and over again, it worked out and in 1977, i passed the test first
time.
Antennas
Apart from a Discone and a shortened CB 5/8 for 10m, i don't use any commercial antennas.
I am a big fan of wire antennas and balanced feed lines, hence to good selection of tuners.
I do have a nice VHF/UHF log-peridic, but it's appearance would draw too much attention
once being on the roof.
It's mainly used on a tripod for EMC measuremts, also have an R+S DP21 Measuring Dipole
for the same purpose.
Amplifiers
Nothing brand specific, just some generic waffle ....
Since the UK power limit has just been uplifted to 1kW PEP (that is at the antenna feed point !),
It's already noticeable that Amplifier prices have started going through the roof over here.
I do have a few serious projects in the queue, still collecting parts for it, so watch this space.
Another project is modifying some 2.2 GHz Doherty pallets for 2.4GHz, just got a few more parts
delivered,
AOR
AR-240 2m FM Handheld Transceiver
Probably not many of these left in original condition since there were dozens of mods proposed
in it's days, even complete synthesizer replacement boards.
Mine is, apart from the (fix mounted) battery being replaced a few times, still in original condition.
Unsure if this was the AOR answer or the predecessor of the Icom IC-2E, there were quite some
similarities between the two. The AOR was introduced in 1979. TX power is 1.5W
I can't remember exactly when i got it, certainly well before 1990 and being well used at the time.
For today's standards, it's a bit clunky with those scroll wheels and the filters are a bit wide for
the current channel spacing, so it lives in the drawer, remembering me of the good old days when
145MHz was really busy and only one common tone was required to key up any repeater ....
AR-5000 Communications Receiver
Advertised as as "DC to daylight" receiver in it's days, surely a bit over ambitious when covering
"only" 2600MHz, i think that's a pretty long way to go for reaching daylight frequencies ...:-)
Nevertheless, this is an excellent All Mode receiver, hence the used market is tight and expensive.
Remote control via RS232 port, either by manufacturer's software or something else, the protocol
is quite well documented.
Bought one of these brand new in the early 90s, sold it about 5 years later because i desperately
needed some money, missed it ever since until i came across another one some 10 years later.
Good ones still fetching in the region of $700+ and i did not pay much less that time.
The "A" version going up to 3GHz is even more expensive.
I really like it's versatility, may it recordinng your own modulation, scanning for something,
confirming/disproving hamonics, listening to AM/FM radio or the local repeater, you name.it.
And all this on a fingertip by my remote control software.
One of the antenna ports is almost always connected to a discone.
AR-5000+3 Communications Receiver
Essentially the same as the non "+3", with newer firmware and synchronous AM, maybe some
other features which i probably never going to use.
This one was a steal, popped up on fleabay as faulty and i snapped it up minutes after the
advert was published.
Turned out someone was in it, trying to sucessfully destroy the aux board at the back, probably
with a roofing torch. After repairing af few missing tracks and molten wires, it worked just fine.
Like my other one, also controlled by my own remote software but mainly used for bench work with
the Hung Chang or Marconi 2370 spectrum analyzer connected to the IF output instead of an
SDU 5500 wich i also have but a spectrum analyzer is simply the better tool.
SDU-5000
Bought because i thought it may be useful, but the display is rather small and any of my
spectrum analyzers does a much better job.
Result is that this thing was just collecting dust for years and now has a display issue.
Thinking of fixing and selling on....
SDU-5500
Pretty much the same story as for the SDU-5000, it's much better but still not practical for
my needs..
I think it's going for sale soon.
Bencher
Bencher BY-1 Iambic Paddle
At least it was sold to me as a Bencher and it does (sort of) look like a BY-1 but it isn't one.
It looks more like a model engineer's piece of work, trying to copy a BY-1.
Tell tales are crude contact point screws, no chrome just plain brass, no Bencher label and
green paddles. It works ok but feels somehow soft, lacking precision, can't really explain it.
My Kent paddles are certainly much better.
BNOS
UK compamy, making (or re-badging, don;t know) a variety of radio accesories.
Now dissolved, info and manuals are not exactly easy to find
BNOS Linear Amplifier
Recenyly came to me as a BNOS CP-100 2m amplifier, faulty for pennies as usual
I don't think it's BNOS as their outer design looks quite different and CP-100
is not a designation the used for their PAs
After having a quick look inside, i'd say it's looking more like HF or 50MHz.
Quite possible it's just another CB splatter box.
Need to find some time and will post an update here.
BNOS AT50-6-250, 6dB, 250W Attenuator
Heavy unit, well built, the 250W rating seems to be real as this was commercial equipment.
Bought used around 2012, works just fine.
CTE International
Unsure if they still trading, but even back in the days, mainly known for CB radio gear.
A300 Solid State HF Power Amplifier
Advertised as an all band 150W HF amplifier, but not much different to the usual Zetagi & Co
CB radio splatter generators. No filters, not even a low pass.
With 7 to 8W input it makes around 100W output, staying below makes it much cleaner.
Purchased in the 1980s to beef up my (then) 10W TS120V for mobile/portable operation.
Still have it, but not used for many years.
For home, i've built a grid driven PL519 sweep tube arrangement with a transformerless mains
rectifier/doubler delivering 600V DC to the anodes, peaking silly current and eating tubes but
those were dirt cheap then, not $50 a pop as nowadays. I don't have it anymore.
It was in fact a neat design, only 3 tubes, very small and probably worth a brief design review.
Drake
I am quite certain that not many Hams need an explanation who R.L. Drake was.
Sadly, that's a bygone era, like so many other good products of that time.
A T-4XC and maybe an L7 are still on my wish list ....
Drake CW 75 Electronic Keyer
This is the external keyer for the TR7 lineup.
Works fine, just needed a good clean
Drake MN 2700 Antenna Tuner
works, apart from a good clean, no further work has been required.
Drake MS7
The matching speaker for the TR7 lineup,
works, just nneded a good clean, nothing more to say about
Drake PS7 Power supply
Matchin powe supply for the TR7 lineup.
Works, fan quite noisy, also needed a thorough clean
Drake R-4C HF Receiver
The last evolution of the "4" series, less tubes, more semiconductors, still a useful receiver
and together with a T-4XC (which i don't have).a nice vintage HF setup.
I was not really looking for one of these, literally stumbled over it by looking through a pile
of house clearance jumble, the price was right, so it followed me home.
Also a Palstar 20A power supply, that worked just fine.
Front panel looks really good, all knobs present, not much wrong with the appearance..
It's alive, receiver was a bit quiet, reseating the tubes helped. Someone forced the VFO knob
over the end stop causing the frequency dial reading wrong.
It does need some love, but certainly a keeper.
Drake TR7A HF Transceiver
Probably one of the best performing radios in my collection. The receiver is simply amazing.
General coverage RX, TX on Ham bands only, never looked into 5Mhz with this one as i have
many other radios covering that band out of the box.
Got it for a reasonable price together with all my other Drake gear (except the R-4C),.the FT 726,
some worthless (and dead) 2m FM radios and some other bits and bobs.
Just another one of these "accidents" of being at the right place at the right time ...
Around mid 2019, pretty much in the hot phase of my house move, i visited a customer and had a
casual chat with one of the engineers. Turnerd out his late father was a radio ham and he still got
a few boxes full of radio gear sitting in his garage which he now wants to part with.
After a quick look at some pictures on his phone, i made him an offer and he accepted it
As everything else, the TR7A sufferd quite a bit from sitting in that damp garage, far too long.
Moldy smell and slight corrosion was just the beginning, switches and plugs/contacts needed some
attention, too.
Once powered up, the receiver appeared to be completely dead, no noise at all.
Well, it was not a receiver issue, the rig was just stuck on transmit all the time. Took me a while to
realize as i did not really pay attention to the transmit LED.
After looking through manual and other paperwork it became obvious that the radio must have had
a lightning strike as relevant original Drake parts were ordered and mostly fitted, but it very likely
never worked again thereafter. At least we have a starting point.....
To narrow down the fault, i simply disconnected the transmit signal from the backplane and voila ...
we are on receive. turned out to be some faulty components on the sequencer board, can't remember
which, but it's all on video.
After more switch and contact cleaning, we had a somehow working TX as well.
RX works pretty much ok now, but TX still needs attention as power is down a fair bit, suspecting
some issue with the band filters. Will come back on that at some time.
Part of the repair footage is in the Ham Radio playlist of my Youtube channel, more in the queue
Heathkit
Heath Cantenna 1kW Dummy load
Essential a 50 Ohm carbon resistor in a 5 liter paint can, filled with some oil.
The 1kW rating is very short term, i think the resistor is only good for 100W in free air, at best
Bought in the 1980s as a kit, filled it with 20W50 engine oil which is still the very same.
Noticed a slight upward drift over the years, now reading almost 54 Ohm, still good enough.
Icom
My favourite brand, perhaps because of my first umpression (see intro), so it just happened that
i like their older radios.
My very first radio was an Icom IC215, purchased brand spanking new in 1977, that was all i could
barely afford at the time.
IC211E 2m All Mode Transceiver
Some 35 years later that kid, meanwhile a grown-up, finally got his much desired IC211E .. :-)
By today's standards, this radio is rather deaf and has a pretty noisy synthesizer.
Nevertheless, it reflects the most up to date radio design at the time.
This one came cheap and dead, ...you may have guessed it.
Standard faults, swollen boards, VCO trimmers, bad caps, contact issues, the full list.
Fixed most of it to get it working but lately, the VFO became a bit unstable when cold, seems
to be temperature related.
Needs to be looked at when time allows.
IC215 2m FM Transceiver
My very first radio, bought brand new in 1977 and still have it.
A friend with rich parents had an FT221, definitely out of reach for me at the time.
At some time, i've have added a pot to vary the output power and removed
the battery box inlay to fit bigger cells, apart from that, it's in stock condition
It still works, but no 2m repeater around here, so it's just a piece of nostalgia.
IC251E 2m All Mode Transceiver
The smaller brother of the IC211, this one came with a Mutek front end.
Acquired in 2021, cheap an faulty.
Someone messed around inside and the Mutek board was wired backwards.
Got it working but the plastic of the front panel is so brittle that most of the screw
studs just pulverised.
Looking for a parts donor, not desperate.
IC271E 2m All Mode Transceiver
A step forward from the older designs, using the same battery powered RAM bord as
the HF rigs (745,751, etc)
Acquired in 2013, cheap and faulty.
Had dead RAM batterty, VCO trimmers bad, low TX output.
Still faulty as i don't really need it, don't do much on 2m and the TS 770 works just fine.
IC745 HF All Mode Transceiver
Bought from Radioworld UK as faulty, must have been around 2014.
Has AM and FM transmit (i think AM was optional) but not the electronic keyer option.
Had a loose VFO encoder which requires taking the front panel off to tighten the nut,
also no RX which turned out to be some broken tracks on one of the boards.
This was before I took videos, so don't remember everything, but i certainly spent a
fair amount of time going over it.
Not sure if i replaced the VCO trimmers, but it's quite likely that i did it once open.
It works just fine ever sincer and is at least as good as the 751A
What i really like on this one is the variable AGC time and variable noise blanker,
much better than on the 751.
IC751 HF All Mode Transceiver
Another fleabay find, i think it was in early 2021, this is the non "A" model.
Pretty dirty, some light corrosion, so clearly stored in damp conditions, but it was
cheap, so worth buying even it would be a basket case.
It first needed a good clean ads it was stinking very moldy.
It powered up and works in principle but some of the bands are not working at all,
indicating VFO trimmer issues.
Used it occasionally on 80 and 40m, butr since 20m does not work, it needs to be
fixed.
It actually sitting on the bench right now, being the next job as i want it fully working
IC751A HF All Mode Transceiver
This was my first decent HF radio (after the TS120V), bought used around 1986.
It served me well over the years, changed the RAM board to the Italian one.
Currently having issues with the DC-DC converter for the dislay, looks like the
transformer is bad as it eats transistors and draws more current than it should.
Replacing caps did not help, so looks like a bigger job.
This radio turns up in some of my videos, one is about some TX buzz.
Currently using the IC745 instead.
Kent
Kenwood
TR-9000 2m All mode Transceiver
This one came with the Drake lot, apart from a good clean, no further work was required.
Probably going to use it as an SSB exciter for my QO-100 system ideas i have in the queue
TS 130V HF Transceiver 10W
My very first HF radio was TS120V, bought in the early 1980s essentially the same as the 130V
minus WARC bands. Some years later i acquired an Icom IC751A and sold the TS 120V.
This one (TS130V) came to me as a lucky find, perhaps some 20 years ago as i wanted
a smaller low power rig to carry around when going on holiday.
Needed minor work and a good clean, never any issues since i have it.
Currently hooked up the 6m transverter
TS 130S HF Transceiver 100W
The big brother if the 130V, apart from 100W output, pretty much thre same thing.
This one came from ebay around 2012 and was in pretty good condition.
Never had any issues, it just works.
It's amazing how much beating and abuse these old rsadios can take.
This one is used mobile when on holiday and gets banged around quite a bit,
I think there is a video on my channell showing the usual setup with a tuner and fiberglass mast.
TS 770 2m/70cm All Mode Transceiver
Had one of these on loan during the 1980s and loved it but obviously had to give it back at
some time.
Around 2006, this one turned ob on fleabay, deaf receiver, no TX power on both bands and cheap,
so i bought it.
Can't remeber all the issues, but what i do remember is something with RX/TX switching and a
screwdriver expert had been fiddling with pretty much any filter and pot he could find, so it needed a
foull blown realignment.
During the repair, i also did the "pling" mod and replaced the 70cm connector with and N socket.
It's working fine ever since, usually tuned to the local 70cm repeater
MFJ
Cheap and cheerful radio accessories, power ratings rather questionable, you get what you pay for.
MFJ 949E 300W Antenna Tuner
Also marked "De Luxe Versa Tuner II", some came under the Vectronics brand, but it's exactly the
same thing.
I do have two of those, one is grey with thicker metal, one is black with thinner sheet metal.
I assume the grey one is an older design before they cost-optimised it.
They work ok, but both having occasional contact issues with the coil switch., just a poor design.
MFJ 989C 3kW Antenna Tuner
Typical for MFJ, that 3kW rating is PEP PA DC input, i wonder if it really will survive even 1kW PEP RF
Apart from that, is a reasonable tuner with the usual MFJ design flaws, mostlyy due to cost savings.
I use it with a doublet, fed by 450 Ohm ladder line directly into the shack, no coax on the output at all.
Rexon
Rexon RL 402 UHF FM Transceiver
Simple old style hand held FM radio, RX 420-460MHz TX 430-440MHz, output up to 5W in 3 steps.
Purchased new a long time ago, nowadays i only use it occcasionally.
Rohde & Schwarz
RD1/60 Dummy Load, 1kW, 600 Mhz
This is exactlty what you need for the just increased UK TX power limit (400W before, now 1kW)
Commercial air/oil cooled dummy load. good for 1kW all day long, 2kW for 5 seconds.
Also has a -40dB output, so it's essentially a 1kW attenuator.
This one is the 60 Ohm version (was sort of R+S standard at the time), but who cares, return loss
is still around 21dB + cable, if a PA can't handle that it's unfit for purpose anyway,
Obviosly, it has the "trans gender" Dezfix connector, quite handy as there is only one style both
ways but quite hard to find nowadays, luckily, i've got a few N adaptors.
I own it for decades, but hardly ever used it as it is pretty big and heavy (about 45 kg).
It is still sitting in storage as the good old Heathkit Cantenna was good enough for our 400W
power limit. But now the time has come to find a place for it in the attic, right above the lab.
Tokyo Hi Power
Japanese manufacturer of fine radio equipment, rarely turning up for sale and if so, rather pricey.
I would stay clear of blown up solid state PAs, the transistors are silly expensive and hard to find.
HX-650 6m Transverter
Nice little 28-50 MHz transverter, 50W output if i remember correctly.
Had it hooked up to the TS-130V, but don't do much on 6m, may change once i get my antennas
sorted out.
Yaesu / Sommerkamp
FL-2100 HF amplifier
This is the non WARC version, good for about 600W PEP on the lower bands
Arrived dead and cheap as always.
Repaired the rectifier board, did some updates and invested in a set of new 572B tubes
(Golden Dragon from China) , it works ok, but there is still a lot of room for improvement
Repair video is in the Ham radio playlist
FL-2277
essentially the same as the FL-2100, rebranded as Sommerkamp.
This is my parts donor, thinking of rebuilding from ground up it with some GI-7 tubes
FT-726R
This one came with the Drake lot, dirty, moldy and in very poor state.
Initially dead, replaced some resistors and caps, now sort-of working but display very dim,
verified to be a VFD issue, that mean it needs replacing.
Output power low and receiver deaf. Also the transparent cover over meters and swithch is
missing.
Don't want to give up on it, but it has very low priority
Yaesu TS280DX, 2m FM Handheld Transceiver
Actually the same thing as an Alan CT-152, no idea who rebranded here..
Nice little 2W handheld which can also receive AM
RX range is 80 to 160M|Hz, not sure where it all transmits, i've only ever used it on 145.
Purchased new some some decades ago.
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