On Sun, 14 Jan 2007 10:40:25 -0600, "William Becks"
wrote:

Has anyone on this group had any experience in performing maintenance on a
General Radio Type 1606A RF Bridge? The "Reactance" capacitor on my 1606A
is a bit intermittent (noisy) when tuning the bridge after initial balance
in order to make a measurement. The bridge is in nearly mint condition and
probably suffers from lack of regular use more than anything. I am hesitant
to jump in and apply standard electrical cleaning chemicals without
obtaining some advice from those of you that have experience with this
bridge and that may have had to clean a noisy variable cap in one of these
units.

Any recommendations would be appreciated including any suggestions on where
to send such an instrument repair and calibration service. Sorry for asking
these questions here, but I know that more than a few of you either have a
1606A/B or may have had one at one time or another.

Thank you,

Bill

William G. Becks, WA8WG

Hi Bill,

I've used my 1606, both A and B for many years, the A since 1968. I've found
that when the unit has been unused for several weeks, all the controls become a
little scratchy. But what works for me is just a little back-and-forth twisting
cleans whatever surfaces were dirty, and scratchiness disappears without needing
to apply any lubricant.

Walt, W2DU