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Old 9th Jul 2019, 3:59 pm   #1
G4YVM David
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Default I've just been offered...

A fully valves yaesu FTDX500 RADIO AND vfo which needs renovating. I need to collect it but I'm quite excited about the project
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Old 9th Jul 2019, 4:11 pm   #2
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Default Re: I've just been offered...

Don't get too excited. They run a pair of American TV 'Sweep Toobs" to an optimistic 200W

They weren't terribly reliable back in the day and you may have a lot of things to do in the HV department to keep it running.

An interesting set from late days of the valve era, sporting a few transistors.

Yaesu later went to 6146 devices... in trios in the FT102.

I think you've got an interesting set, but probably hard work to keep going.

David
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Old 9th Jul 2019, 5:06 pm   #3
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Default Re: I've just been offered...

Interesting comments

I ran the Yaesu equivalent, the FTDX560, back when it was a nearly new rig for some years and never had a single problem. Good and solid but of course the "500" is watts input!

I'm sure the smoothing caps will need renewing by now but would not expect too many other problems

73 Fred
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Old 10th Jul 2019, 6:03 pm   #4
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Default Re: I've just been offered...

Thanks.both.

Yes I understood the watts to be input, like the KW Atlanta.

Fingers crossed anyway
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Old 10th Jul 2019, 6:32 pm   #5
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Default Re: I've just been offered...

Speech processing was very often used with rigs when these were new, that must have given those output valves a hard time reducing their life.
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Old 10th Jul 2019, 8:13 pm   #6
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Default Re: I've just been offered...

Old Japanese ham-gear can be fun, but it's also likely to have a lot of elusive and annoying faults!

I've seen a few early Yaesu/Sommerkamp FT101s that have major heat-related issues (part-carbonised-round-valve-siocket PCBs for example, which are pretty much impossible to fix) and many of them have an equivalent to "that capacitor" between the driver and PA valves which if it fails can destroy the PA valves, the HT rectifiers and the mains-transformer in a flash (literally!).

They've often also been "got at" by either the CB crowd or people trying to get it to work on 6.6MHz - if you're lucky such modifications can be reversed but I've seen quite a few where the workmanship was definitely "It was Stevie Wonder, on board a ship in a storm, with a blowlamp" quality.

Finally, PA valves - the "TV Sweep Tubes" were generally matched-pairs/trios and not all manufacturers' versions had the same inter-electrode capacitance (remember these were never designed for RF use) so with some brands even if they're matched you can't get them to neutralise in some radios.
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Old 10th Jul 2019, 8:49 pm   #7
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Default Re: I've just been offered...

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Originally Posted by G6Tanuki View Post
They've often also been "got at" by either the CB crowd or people trying to get it to work on 6.6MHz - if you're lucky such modifications can be reversed but I've seen quite a few where the workmanship was definitely "It was Stevie Wonder, on board a ship in a storm, with a blowlamp" quality.
That made me laugh out loud. I was at a radio rally earlier in the year had there was a reasonably priced late FT-101 and I thought "hey I've never owned a classic rig". On interrogating the seller it had "some repairs" like most of his kit. In the PCB junk box on the same stand there were charred and burned corpses of bits of radios which had been clearly attacked by your elegant definition of poor workmanship so I noped my way out of there like a flash of lightning.

Some people should have been born without hands.
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Old 11th Jul 2019, 11:01 am   #8
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Default Re: I've just been offered...

In the 80’s I bought a second hand FT101ZD, it worked very well, never had the covers of it but was sold by a respected radio shop, presume it was original or had been correctly repaired. That used 6146B finals if I remember correctly.
Had it few years and sold it on.
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Old 11th Jul 2019, 11:29 am   #9
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Default Re: I've just been offered...

The 101ZD isn't a descendent of the rest of the 101 series, it's a derivative of the FT901DM, which gave it a flying start. Other than an unobtainable counter chip, they are an easily repairable radio.

Back in the days of the original FT101, licence powers were in input watts, with SSB as the newcomer getting PEP.

The cluedo misquote I've used for years is "It was the Marx brothers, in the kitchen, with the blowlamp"

David

My favourite Marx joke:
Vendor: "Do you want to buy some pornography?"
Groucho:: "No thanks, I ain't got a pornograph."
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Old 12th Jul 2019, 8:42 am   #10
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Originally Posted by Nuvistor View Post
Speech processing was very often used with rigs when these were new, that must have given those output valves a hard time reducing their life.
And on the cusp of total extinction, finding any is lengthy, difficult and at the end usually hugely expensive.

Indeed, RF processing was common and effective, reasonably safe bet that the valves in the subject radio are at least fairly hammered and possibly completely shot.

A bit of a challenge.

R.
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Old 12th Jul 2019, 8:52 pm   #11
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Default Re: I've just been offered...

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And on the cusp of total extinction, finding any is lengthy, difficult and at the end usually hugely expensive.
I guess it depends where and how hard you look?

2 suppliers plus eBay listings - 30 econds tops

73 Fred
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Old 13th Jul 2019, 9:19 am   #12
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Default Re: I've just been offered...

I think Harry Leeming G3LLL had a series on Yaesu radio in PW or one of the other radio mags. Worth looking out for those articles, his expertise with Yaesu radio is well known.
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Old 13th Jul 2019, 9:56 am   #13
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Default Re: I've just been offered...

Yes, Harry is the man and was Yaesu main dealer. G3LL Holdings?
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Old 13th Jul 2019, 10:51 am   #14
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Default Re: I've just been offered...

I seem to recall Harry did an article on converting old Yaesus to 6146Bs in his PW slot a few years back.

Cheers,

Colin.
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Old 13th Jul 2019, 1:12 pm   #15
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Default Re: I've just been offered...

Also, he does answer the email address given in PW.
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Old 14th Jul 2019, 9:21 am   #16
Richard - F4VPR
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dodgy-dxer View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard - F4VPR View Post
And on the cusp of total extinction, finding any is lengthy, difficult and at the end usually hugely expensive.
I guess it depends where and how hard you look?

2 suppliers plus eBay listings - 30 econds tops

73 Fred
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Maybe, but at £30 to £63 each plus about £15 postage they're not exactly cheap to put into a pre 1970 radio.

R.
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Old 14th Jul 2019, 8:09 pm   #17
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Default Re: I've just been offered...

This rig has found another home, despite the usual time wasters??
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Old 14th Jul 2019, 9:14 pm   #18
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Default Re: I've just been offered...

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This rig has found another home, despite the usual time wasters??
I'm minded to think that by doing this you've managed to dodge a bullet with your name on it.
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