Richard Knoppow wrote:

Looking at the schematic it appears that bands 1 and 2
have fixed padders in them. For Band-2 its C-11, a 2200 mmf
cap and probably one of the postage stamps. If this has
changed value it will throw off the band. I think this is
more likely than the coil having shifted. This is a common
value so a replacement should not be hard to find. I suggest
changing it before doing anything else.

Trying to follow your posts across the different forums.

The 38 is a plain jane AA5 with shortwave bands, Don't try to read too
much into it. Image rejection is so poor on the top band that it really
makes little difference as to how you tune it. You're welcome to try,
though.

On Apr 14, 6:38*pm, Bill M wrote:
Richard Knoppow wrote:
* * Looking at the schematic it appears that bands 1 and 2
have fixed padders in them. For Band-2 its C-11, a 2200 mmf
cap and probably one of the postage stamps. If this has
changed value it will throw off the band. I think this is
more likely than the coil having shifted. This is a common
value so a replacement should not be hard to find. I suggest
changing it before doing anything else.

Trying to follow your posts across the different forums.

The 38 is a plain jane AA5 with shortwave bands, *Don't try to read too
much into it. *Image rejection is so poor on the top band that it really
makes little difference as to how you tune it. *You're welcome to try,
though.

I'm glad you wrote because I mistook the band Paul was trying to
align. Its band -3 which does not have a padder. So, if nothing else
seems wrong the coil may need tweeking.
I am pretty sure all the bands on the S-38 series tune with the
LO above the signal frequency. One can always try it below. If that's
wrong it won't track properly.
I don't think it has any image rejection at the upper part of
the top band:-)

Richard Knoppow
WB6KBL

"Richard Knoppow" wrote in message
...
On Apr 14, 6:38 pm, Bill M wrote:
Richard Knoppow wrote:
Looking at the schematic it appears that bands 1 and 2
have fixed padders in them. For Band-2 its C-11, a 2200 mmf
cap and probably one of the postage stamps. If this has
changed value it will throw off the band. I think this is
more likely than the coil having shifted. This is a common
value so a replacement should not be hard to find. I suggest
changing it before doing anything else.

Trying to follow your posts across the different forums.

The 38 is a plain jane AA5 with shortwave bands, Don't try to read too
much into it. Image rejection is so poor on the top band that it really
makes little difference as to how you tune it. You're welcome to try,
though.

I'm glad you wrote because I mistook the band Paul was trying to
align. Its band -3 which does not have a padder. So, if nothing else
seems wrong the coil may need tweeking.
I am pretty sure all the bands on the S-38 series tune with the
LO above the signal frequency. One can always try it below. If that's
wrong it won't track properly.
I don't think it has any image rejection at the upper part of
the top band:-)

Richard Knoppow
WB6KBL


Gentlemen,
A point of clarification:

Band 2 is the problematic band. It covers 1.650 to 5 MHz. The 5MHz is the
oscillator set point. The padder is to be set at 1.8MHz and does not even
come close with the difference at the 5MHz Osc Trimmer error. This band is
aligned after the 455 IF, BFO and two higher bands are aligned. After this
band is the standard broadcast band.

The padder C11 on band 2 is a variable cap with a postage stamp (domino) in
parallel. I disconnected this parallel cap in hopes of raising the overall
oscillator frequency to align to 5MHz with no success. It barely made a
difference (no big surprise here).

The other bands align properly starting with Band 4, 13.5 - 32 MHz,
band 3, 5 - 14.5 MHz and last
band 1 broadcast.

I will also check C9 (2700 or 3000pf) in series with the tuning gang on a
hunch. It may have some low end affects. I did not attempt to calculate
the low end cut off point (collage was too long ago). The band spread has
been set to Zero in accordance to the alignment procedure page 15-62.

I did use carbon composition resistors in front of the first IF for Rs 1, 2,
3, 20 & 21.

I will try all the suggestions today. I spoke with the owner yesterday. He
wound up in the hospital with a chainsaw gouge in his leg. He and another
were at our ham club cutting trees and had an accident. I want to get this
chassis working great for him. Your help is helpful.

As always, thanks for all the input!

Paul P.

Paul P wrote:



Band 2 is the problematic band. It covers 1.650 to 5 MHz. The 5MHz is
the oscillator set point. The padder is to be set at 1.8MHz and does
not even come close with the difference at the 5MHz Osc Trimmer error.
This band is aligned after the 455 IF, BFO and two higher bands are
aligned. After this band is the standard broadcast band.

The padder C11 on band 2 is a variable cap with a postage stamp (domino)
in parallel. I disconnected this parallel cap in hopes of raising the
overall oscillator frequency to align to 5MHz with no success. It
barely made a difference (no big surprise here).

The other bands align properly starting with Band 4, 13.5 - 32 MHz,
band 3, 5 - 14.5 MHz and last
band 1 broadcast.

Are you able to get the 5Mc point set ok?

Sometimes the solution is to fudge on the dial pointer alignment and
see if the other 3 bands can line up. However, if they are spot on now
that might not be the direction to go.

-Bill

"Bill M" wrote in message
...
Paul P wrote:



Band 2 is the problematic band. It covers 1.650 to 5 MHz. The 5MHz is
the oscillator set point. The padder is to be set at 1.8MHz and does not
even come close with the difference at the 5MHz Osc Trimmer error. This
band is aligned after the 455 IF, BFO and two higher bands are aligned.
After this band is the standard broadcast band.

The padder C11 on band 2 is a variable cap with a postage stamp (domino)
in parallel. I disconnected this parallel cap in hopes of raising the
overall oscillator frequency to align to 5MHz with no success. It barely
made a difference (no big surprise here).

The other bands align properly starting with Band 4, 13.5 - 32 MHz,
band 3, 5 - 14.5 MHz and last
band 1 broadcast.

Are you able to get the 5Mc point set ok?

Sometimes the solution is to fudge on the dial pointer alignment and see
if the other 3 bands can line up. However, if they are spot on now that
might not be the direction to go.

-Bill

I have done this before on other chassis. This chassis has hard stops at
the dial scale extremes. Moving the pointer will throw the pointer off
where it will not cover the band scale edge. This would be unacceptable on
this chassis.

I can not get the 5Mc aligned. It is fairly far off uniformly across the
whole band. All other bands are dead on the marks.

I am Climbing The Stairway to Heaven (the shop/shack) at this time. I will
report back later.

Thanks Bill,
Paul P.

Paul P wrote:



I can not get the 5Mc aligned. It is fairly far off uniformly across
the whole band. All other bands are dead on the marks.

Ah, ok. Now I'm on board.
No point in fussing with the padder yet, then. Things may fall into
place once you get the top end of the band right.

Just for grins, will the oscillator tune to the lower side (4545)? I
don't *think* it should be that way but ya never know.

-Bill

"Bill M" wrote in message
...
Paul P wrote:



Band 2 is the problematic band. It covers 1.650 to 5 MHz. The 5MHz is
the oscillator set point. The padder is to be set at 1.8MHz and does
not even come close with the difference at the 5MHz Osc Trimmer error.
This band is aligned after the 455 IF, BFO and two higher bands are
aligned. After this band is the standard broadcast band.

The padder C11 on band 2 is a variable cap with a postage stamp (domino)
in parallel. I disconnected this parallel cap in hopes of raising the
overall oscillator frequency to align to 5MHz with no success. It
barely made a difference (no big surprise here).

The other bands align properly starting with Band 4, 13.5 - 32 MHz,
band 3, 5 - 14.5 MHz and last
band 1 broadcast.

Are you able to get the 5Mc point set ok?

Sometimes the solution is to fudge on the dial pointer alignment and
see if the other 3 bands can line up. However, if they are spot on now
that might not be the direction to go.

-Bill

Should not have to fudge anything. The top and bottom bands are good so the
Oscillator is good. The 5 mc band is off so there is a bad part connected
to the band switch. Fix or replace. Fudging always makes more problems.

I had an S-120 growing up
http://image08.webshots.com/8/8/80/8...3yhLWvj_fs.jpg
and later, S-38E for show.
http://www.woulfeman.com/Radio%20Hallicrafters.jpg
I was SWL long before I got around to the ham ticket.

Should not have to fudge anything. The top and bottom bands are good so
the
Oscillator is good. The 5 mc band is off so there is a bad part connected
to the band switch. Fix or replace. Fudging always makes more problems.

I had an S-120 growing up
http://image08.webshots.com/8/8/80/8...3yhLWvj_fs.jpg
and later, S-38E for show.
http://www.woulfeman.com/Radio%20Hallicrafters.jpg
I was SWL long before I got around to the ham ticket.


JB was the closest. After fussing with it for another two hours I started
tracing the padders on each band. What I found was very curios.

There was a rather original looking wire connected from the band 2 osc
trimmer (coil lug 20, see schematic) to one of the antenna coils (tab O on
the wafer switch). Why that was put there? I have not a clue. Once I
disconnected the trimmer side of the wire the oscillator snapped back into
alignment range. It tweaked in at both the 5Mc and 1.8Mc alignment points
dead nuts on.

I desoldered the switch side of the jumper (tab O). The joint looked rather
factory and not owner installed. Curious. The Trimmer side (coil lug 20)
was definitely messed with (short lead and burned insulation).

Ham owned gear. It's like a box of chocolates. Ya never know what you will
find.

Thanks to all for the comments. They did help focus me on the band 2
circuit.

Paul P.

Paul P wrote:

There was a rather original looking wire connected from the band 2 osc
trimmer (coil lug 20, see schematic) to one of the antenna coils (tab O
on the wafer switch). Why that was put there? I have not a clue. Once
I disconnected the trimmer side of the wire the oscillator snapped back
into alignment range. It tweaked in at both the 5Mc and 1.8Mc alignment
points dead nuts on.

Amazing! Kudos for finding it.

-Bill

"Paul P" REMOVE paul @ REMOVE ppinyot . REMOVEcom wrote in
message news
Should not have to fudge anything. The top and bottom
bands are good so the
Oscillator is good. The 5 mc band is off so there is a
bad part connected
to the band switch. Fix or replace. Fudging always
makes more problems.

I had an S-120 growing up
http://image08.webshots.com/8/8/80/8...3yhLWvj_fs.jpg
and later, S-38E for show.
http://www.woulfeman.com/Radio%20Hallicrafters.jpg
I was SWL long before I got around to the ham ticket.


JB was the closest. After fussing with it for another two
hours I started tracing the padders on each band. What I
found was very curios.

There was a rather original looking wire connected from
the band 2 osc trimmer (coil lug 20, see schematic) to one
of the antenna coils (tab O on the wafer switch). Why
that was put there? I have not a clue. Once I
disconnected the trimmer side of the wire the oscillator
snapped back into alignment range. It tweaked in at both
the 5Mc and 1.8Mc alignment points dead nuts on.

I desoldered the switch side of the jumper (tab O). The
joint looked rather factory and not owner installed.
Curious. The Trimmer side (coil lug 20) was definitely
messed with (short lead and burned insulation).

Ham owned gear. It's like a box of chocolates. Ya never
know what you will find.

Thanks to all for the comments. They did help focus me on
the band 2 circuit.

Paul P.

Congratulations!!! I was about to post another answer
because I find that only the S-38 had a padder on this band,
the S-38A and B have just the 2200 uuf fixed padder.
As you say, who knows what that person thought they were
doing.
If the owner plays around with chain saws I can
understand why you wanted to please him.


--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL