"Rick (W-A-one-R-K-T)" wrote in message
news

I have a line on an old Hammarlund HX-50 transmitter in unknown condition
(been sitting on the shelf for years).

It would be a nice match to my HQ-180A.

General consensus with old radios like that, particularly transmitters, is
that the first thing one should do is replace the old electrolytic and
paper capacitors.

Replacing paper caps, electrolytics, and out of spec' or stressed resistors
is part of doing a restoration.


My question is, what's the worst that's likely to happen if one doesn't do
that? Bring it up on a variac, a capacitor blows, makes magic smoke
happen, XYL gets really upset :-), and the fuse blows.

It sounds like you want to hear you should take the easy way out.

Some have said you can blow the power transformer but wouldn't the fuse
blow first (unless the power transformer was ready to go anyway)?

Are you a gambler? You're bias supply could fail and take out the final
tubes;
the transformer could fail; cleaning the mess after the electrolytics
explode is always fun.

And, you can't reform the caps using a variac... There's no cathode emission
from the rectifiers until the AC supply is above a certain voltage.


General question... which is the best website for information on restoring
old radios? (I know I can google on "restoring old radios" but I'm
looking for opinions on the best from among the few hundred thousand hits
that are likely to come up.)

Thanks...


Try Phil Nelson' site:

www.antiqueradio.org