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Vintage Amateur and Military Radio Amateur/military receivers and transmitters, morse, and any other related vintage comms equipment.

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Old 11th Jan 2018, 11:39 am   #81
PsychMan
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Default Re: AR88 Restoration.

That's right David, this is an early model with an early serial number - according to Henry of the www.radioblvd.com site. It was part of the appeal when I saw it for sale having done a fair bit of reading about them.

I did manage to get some SSB on band 3 for the first time, which was very satisfying after spending so much time on getting this receiver to work. Much more still to do!
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Old 7th Feb 2018, 12:39 pm   #82
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Default Re: AR88 Restoration.

Apologies for lack of updates, my lashed up long wire came down recently and I haven't had chance to sort it. It was a poor antenna anyway so I might need something better to continue testing. Magnetic loop as discussed here would be ideal but is another project in itself

I did find that the SSB I thought I heard must have been distant AM radio beat noting through . When I experimented further I was unsure of the content I was hearing, so switched to Rec Mod and still heard it. So now unsure of SSB reception. I'd made a little gimmick capacitor and experimented there, but given my antenna is now down and lots on the go I will need to sort that first
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Old 7th Feb 2018, 12:47 pm   #83
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Default Re: AR88 Restoration.

I don't know your level of experience, but you'll find plenty of SSB signals in the 80 metre Amateur Band between 3.5 and 3.8 MHz. Listen for a "Donald Duck" sound when set to AM.
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Old 7th Feb 2018, 1:14 pm   #84
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Default Re: AR88 Restoration.

Thanks the tip Graham! I was listening on that band, but this is the first time I've had anything capable of receiving amateur radio, so very new for me. Ill try as you say when the antenna is sorted.

I plan to get licensed at some point, for now Id just like to do some shortwave listening. My local radio club broadcast on these bands so It would be nice to listen in before I pop along and join
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Old 7th Feb 2018, 2:29 pm   #85
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Default Re: AR88 Restoration.

Use selectivity 2 and 'REC MOD', tune for strongest donald duck quacking.
Wind down the RF gain to quite low, wind up AF gain to full. Switch AGC to 'MAN' and 'REC CW' ...now advance the RF gain until you start to hear sounds.

Turning the BFO control will give you a frequency shift effect. You should find somewhere where the speech starts to make sense. Fine tune the BFO control to get the most natural tone to the voice.

With an AR88, you can't use AGC with the BFO on (REC CW) because the AGC sees the BFO signal and backs off the AGC. So you have to do manual gain.

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Old 7th Feb 2018, 3:36 pm   #86
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Default Re: AR88 Restoration.

I was using manual mode with AF gain on max and controlling with RF gain, but I was in CW mode, rather than looking for some Donald Duck first

Will try in the order you state David, cheers!
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Old 9th Feb 2018, 5:30 pm   #87
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Default Re: AR88 Restoration.

I got the antenna back up but am currently plagued by what sounds like man made noise, so not possible to hear very much on these frequencies, will need to experiment some more with this or perhaps build myself a loop and amp.

The Gary tempest one David shared on the home brew forum looks very good
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Old 11th Apr 2018, 9:12 pm   #88
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Default Re: AR88 Restoration.

Just wanted to say I AM coming back to this. In the end I opted to go for a Wellbrook loop, and while I am awaiting delivery of that I'm continuing another project.

Hope to be back in a few weeks on the AR88
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Old 12th Apr 2018, 10:47 am   #89
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Default Re: AR88 Restoration.

Re SSB reception: David's suggested method is very good, have listened with the AVC active before which worked to some degree, but with the AVC in manual it works much better.

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