No paper caps in an HQ-145. That is supposed to make life easy.

Any receiver should be fused with the appropriate fuse, since even with new
electrolytics, the rectifier can short out.

Colin K7FM

You also need to examine your sense of humor level. It appear to be
low.
I have a great sense of humor at the appropriate time, not when asking
a question and getting the old "USENET" rant. I expected more out of
him, and I was wrong.


How could you possibly interpret that as a rant? I was laughing all the way
though it.
I've seen the movie Colin, and only recently have I been able to slow down
on purchases....although an NCX-5 is looking more and more interesting.

Dale W4OP

Bob,

Take it from someone WHO KNOWS...

RECAP YOUR HQ-145 - even if it only has the one can.

I carelessly took the lazy way out on a similar piece. If and when the cap
finally shorts you may not even have enough time to jump from the chair to
grab the power cord out from the wall before the transformer is fried to a
crisp.

It's awfully cheap insurance. And, by the way...make sure you fuse the
HQ-145 BUT DON'T DEPEND ON IT FOR PROTECTION. Mine was fused, too and the
fuse didn't pop until the moment that I removed the plug from the
wall.Fusing only ensures that power will be removed eventually...NOT that
the transformer will be protected from total damage.

Smokey

I repaired an HQ-145 that I picked up for a song. There was a bad RF choke
in it.
Anyway I decided not to touch the caps- why fix it if it aint broke and like
Colin I have a long list of radios to repair or build. It is one of the few
times I have never replaced the old PS caps in a restoration job.

I did not touch any discs, although I do replace all wax caps. I was
surprised that a spot check of resistors showed them all right on the money

Anyway 2 weeks after I get it all buttoned up the PS caps went. no damage
just a nice loud hum

ARRRGGH

Do like the radio

--
Carl
WA1KPD
Visit My Boatanchor Collection at
http://home.comcast.net/~chnord/wa1kpd.html

"Steve" wrote in message
...
Bob,
I think someone was having a bad day...maybe
a pile of radios fell of the bench onto his foot. ;-)

The only danger of not replacing the filter caps is that
it'll short and fry your power transformer. Add an appropriate
size fuse, which is a good idea for any old radio anyway.
Replace the filter when it finally dies.
Thats what I usually do unless its a high end radio.
Steve

"Count Floyd" wrote in
message news:BJ4mQCBKg9HM-pn2-cd6dyv21uSd2@localhost...
I have heard that there are very few electrolytic capacitors in this
machine, as most of them are ceramic disk. The only ones are in a can
on the chassis. If the radio is working well as original, would it be
better to just leave well enough alone? I always try to live by the
maxim: If it ain't broke.....
Thanks,
Bob Grimes
--

Carl WA1KPD wrote:
I repaired an HQ-145 that I picked up for a song. There was a bad RF choke
in it.
Anyway I decided not to touch the caps- why fix it if it aint broke and like
Colin I have a long list of radios to repair or build. It is one of the few
times I have never replaced the old PS caps in a restoration job.

I did not touch any discs, although I do replace all wax caps. I was
surprised that a spot check of resistors showed them all right on the money

Anyway 2 weeks after I get it all buttoned up the PS caps went. no damage
just a nice loud hum

Did you reform the electrolytic capacitors before you ran it for the 2 weeks,
or did you just plug it in and turn it on?

-Chuck

RECAP YOUR HQ-145 - even if it only has the one can.

Amen. I don't know why so many people are too lazy -- or is it just too
stubborn -- to replace those ancient electrolytics.

After you have burned up an expensive and/or "unobtanium" power transformer,
you'll see what I'm talking about.

Been there, done that :-(

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

Phil Nelson wrote:
RECAP YOUR HQ-145 - even if it only has the one can.

Amen. I don't know why so many people are too lazy -- or is it just too
stubborn -- to replace those ancient electrolytics.

After you have burned up an expensive and/or "unobtanium" power
transformer, you'll see what I'm talking about.

Turning the radio on without reforming the cap is indeed laziness.

Bringing the radio up slowly with a variac, is less lazy, but still
fraught with problems... most folks won't go as slowly as you really
need to go (about 8 hours from 50% to 100% power with a close eye on
input current.) for success.

But if you can reform the cap (and if you do it out of circuit with
a current limiting resistor it is obvious when you are successful),
it will be just as good as when it was new.

New multi-section electrolytic capacitors are not always available today.
Some values exist because of the guitar-amp crowd, but in general they
are more purely unobtainium than power transformers (check out Hammond).

Why replace it if it reforms ok?

-Chuck