I tested the Drake several more times today, and it mostly did the same thing — operated for about 4 minutes before crapping out on me. I tried several times this evening to listen to the rig and it didn't operate like it had — it didn't operate properly at first, it was acting already like it had crapped out.
I was busy today and did not dig out the tube tester. I'll do that tomorrow and then see what that shows. Its clearly either the VFO or a mixer circuit, though I'm beginning to believe this won't be something as easy as a tube. I may wind up shipping it off for repair — or send it back to the eBay food chain. I would like to use the thing, but spending more money on it just doesn't appeal to me. I guess this is why the “good” ones sell for four times what I paid for this one!
The Drake R4A gets generally very good marks, actually better than the R4C because it comes with all the filtering. When the receiver is operating, I can tell you that it doesn't impress me … yet. I think there's additional work to be done, mostly an alignment I would guess. First, I'll check the tubes.
YAESU REDUX. After rehabbing my latest FT-757GX and determining its a keeper, I decided to turn my attention to FT-757GX no. 2. This one is in excellent exterior shape, but has a few problems. First, the alignment is off some because you have to change the IF shift knobs to the right or left to make the LSB/USB sound correct. Otherwise each setting sounds tinny. An alignment shoudl fix that.
This particular 757GX had a severe problem with the encoder. It wasn't locked up, it was torn up. The brass bushing where the sticky VFO problem originates was busted; the VFO knob wobbled like crazy, and the encoder flopped inside the unit, making the displayed frequency hop crazily up and down as you tried to tune it.
On the Yaesu Fox Tango yahoo group I found a guy who fixed this identical thing with a screw-on bushing that basicallyadds a bushing to the shaft as part of the nut assembly you screw on it. It's hard to imagine, the important thing is that it worked.
This FT-757GX also had a problem with keying the rig via CW. The rear CW jack didn't work. The keyer didn't seem to work. The only way you could key the rig in CW mode was to use the MOX button — not a good way to send CW.
Tonight while using the rig I realized the keying problem was a simple fix — apparently the ground on the stereo 1/4-inch cw key jack is open. By providing chassis ground to the plug, the keyer and the keying worked beautifully! I'm not sure why ground is missing from the cw jack, and I don't think I want to tear into the rig to find it.
Another issue with this rig is that the temperature sensor for the cooling fan has been replaced or bypassed with a toggle switch to control the cooling fan. I would rather the fan operate automatically.
The reason I'm running this rig is to reacquaint myself with these issues so I can send it off for repair. The alignment shouldn't be a big issue. I would like the missing ground properly fixed (I'll jury rig it for now), and if at all possible, the fan control circuit restored.
FT-757GX no. 3 is the roughest looking one. It seems to work ok (needs alignment), but the problem it has is the fan. The fan runs all the time, and its noisy as heck. I had the radio apart to look at it, and when you remove the screws to open the two halves of the case, the noise disappears! I thought perhaps the fan was going bad, but it isn't the fan, its some sort of mechanical problem. I can live with the fan running, just not so loudly. Anyway, once I have No. 2 repaired I may take a closer look at No. 3. Or send it back into the eBay food chain.
It's late and the shower awaits me.
73 es GN … de KY4Z … dit dit …