I'd say thats way too high. My $.02 anyway.
Don't be embarrased to ask to see under the chassis.
I've seen a number of rigs that looked super nice
on the outside/top of the chassis that were a horror
underneath.

Check all bands and look for intermittent switches.
Sometimes all thats needed is a good cleaning.
Other times the wafers can be cracked, or just
plain worn out.

Lots of these around. If you see anything that looks
funny, be patient and find the right one for you.

Steve

On Sun, 18 Mar 2007, Steve wrote:

I'd say thats way too high. My $.02 anyway.
Don't be embarrased to ask to see under the chassis.
I've seen a number of rigs that looked super nice
on the outside/top of the chassis that were a horror
underneath.

Here is another item to look for: the old style first "printed circuits".
What they did was mold a network of resistors and capacitors into a molded
"chip" and it hangs there, suspended in mid-air, and they don't make those
any more. I had an HQ-170 that had one of those and you could not find out
what was in that network because the manual just showed it as a box with
leads coming out. If it goes bad, then you would have to guess what was in
it. Examine the manual to see if there is a "black box" square in the
schematic that does not tell you what is inside. So, if it craps out, you
might be up the creek.

Check all bands and look for intermittent switches.

And, scratchy-noisy pots, too!

Sometimes all thats needed is a good cleaning.
Other times the wafers can be cracked, or just
plain worn out.

Lots of these around. If you see anything that looks
funny, be patient and find the right one for you.

Steve

Straydog wrote:

SNIPPED


Here is another item to look for: the old style first "printed
circuits". What they did was mold a network of resistors and capacitors
into a molded "chip" and it hangs there, suspended in mid-air, and they
don't make those any more. I had an HQ-170 that had one of those and you
could not find out what was in that network because the manual just
showed it as a box with leads coming out. If it goes bad, then you would
have to guess what was in it. Examine the manual to see if there is a
"black box" square in the schematic that does not tell you what is
inside. So, if it craps out, you might be up the creek.


SNIPPED

The HQ-145 I just finished refurbishing has two of those circuits in it. One is
the AVC/AGC network; the other is interstage coupling for the audio output.

The schematics for both are shown within the field of the basic receiver schematic.

The schematic for the HQ-180 at the BAMA site shows the parameters inside the
hybrid.

/s/ DD, W1MCE

The self contained circuits containing resistors and capacitors were often
used in the audio chain of receivers. Many schematics show the contents of
the integrated circuit at the side of the schematic - but if not, it is easy
to go to any tube design handbook and reverse engineer the components. As I
recall, all of the RCA tube handbooks contain the elementary design data
needed to determine how the chip should have been constructed.

Certainly not rocket science.

Colin K7FM