Chuck, I followed you procedure and was able to pull it back to within
11 Khz, then the knob quit turning (was turning to the left). I had
the radio on 15,000 Khz. Turn the cal knob all the way to the left and
all the way to the right and was not able to hear the tone. Then I
turned the cal knob back to 14,089 and could hear it, but that's when
the knob quit turning. What does this mean?

Reggie wrote:
Chuck, I followed you procedure and was able to pull it back to within
11 Khz, then the knob quit turning (was turning to the left). I had
the radio on 15,000 Khz. Turn the cal knob all the way to the left and
all the way to the right and was not able to hear the tone. Then I
turned the cal knob back to 14,089 and could hear it, but that's when
the knob quit turning. What does this mean?

Hi Reggie,

There are a couple of possibilities, the voltage source for the varicap
that is adjusted by the calibrate knob could have drifted, or the shaft
coupling that goes between the tuning cap and the counter shaft could have
been set incorrectly. To check for proper fine tuning operation, it should
shift the receiver frequency a total of 8KHz when you turn it from one end
to the other.

It is easy to adjust the shaft coupling. It has two set screws, one goes into
a brass shaft, and the other presses on a phenolic sleeve that goes around
the capacitor shaft.

Here is the proceedu

1) measure the RF voltage out of the 2nd VFO output on rear panel, is should
be 250mv
2) connect a frequency counter to the 2nd VFO output on rear panel. Set the
KHz dial to 1000KHz (up at the high end) The counter should read 3.6MHz

3) set the 2nd VFO to 0000KHz, and the counter should read 4.6MHz+/- 500Hz.
If it doesn't, adjust trimmer C4 for correct frequency.
4) set the 2nd VFO to 1000KHz, and adjust the mechanical coupling for 3.6MHz.

5) repeat steps 2-4 until the ends match. When they do, check each 100KHz
point for correctness. If they are wrong, the tabs on the main tuning
cap will need tweaking (DON'T DO THIS UNLESS YOU ARE REALLY SERIOUS!!).

6) check that the VFO varies from 0 to 8KHz when you adjust the fine tuning
control.


OK, that is the official factory sanctioned alignment instruction for the
VFO. Before you do any of it, check with a freq. counter to see what the 2nd VFO
frequencies are at 1000KHz, and 0000KHz. If you are lucky, they will both be
off by the same amount in the the same direction. If this is true, you just
need to slip the capacitor's shaft coupling. Don't go nuts on tightening the
set screw, it only needs to be snug.

Just out of curiosity, have you tried the BFO check position to see if your
BFO tuning knob is really at zero when its pointer shows zero? The BFO can
tune +/-15KHz.

-Chuck

Chuck Harris wrote:

[snip really, really good stuff]

OK, that is the official factory sanctioned alignment instruction for the
VFO. Before you do any of it, check with a freq. counter to see what the 2nd VFO
frequencies are at 1000KHz, and 0000KHz. If you are lucky, they will both be
off by the same amount in the the same direction. If this is true, you just
need to slip the capacitor's shaft coupling. Don't go nuts on tightening the
set screw, it only needs to be snug.

Just out of curiosity, have you tried the BFO check position to see if your
BFO tuning knob is really at zero when its pointer shows zero? The BFO can
tune +/-15KHz.

Thanks _very_ much. Now I have a handle on getting my 6217E tweaked back
into shape. It would be really good if I could come by a set of the cables
for all the finicky little modules.

Mine's just Really Deaf over most bands, but works sort-of OK on 7 MHz.
I haven't ripped into it, as much out of laziness as out of fear-and-
trembling. I would like to get it going one of these days.

--
Mike Andrews W5EGO 5WPM
Extra
Tired old sysadmin working on his code speed

Mike Andrews wrote:
Chuck Harris wrote:

[snip really, really good stuff]


OK, that is the official factory sanctioned alignment instruction for the
VFO. Before you do any of it, check with a freq. counter to see what the 2nd VFO
frequencies are at 1000KHz, and 0000KHz. If you are lucky, they will both be
off by the same amount in the the same direction. If this is true, you just
need to slip the capacitor's shaft coupling. Don't go nuts on tightening the
set screw, it only needs to be snug.


Just out of curiosity, have you tried the BFO check position to see if your
BFO tuning knob is really at zero when its pointer shows zero? The BFO can
tune +/-15KHz.


Thanks _very_ much. Now I have a handle on getting my 6217E tweaked back
into shape. It would be really good if I could come by a set of the cables
for all the finicky little modules.

Mine's just Really Deaf over most bands,

To check its sensitivity, put the receiver preselector in the "WB" position.
In that position, all frequencies are exactly the same. There is no band
switching in a 6217E. The MHz dial just tunes a VFO that is used for both
the first conversion, and then is mixed down to do the second conversion too.
The MHz dial's VFO's imprecision gets exactly cancelled out do to this trick.

The answer to your sensitivity problem is very probably a pair of burned out
germanium transistors in the RF preamp unit. This happens all the time to this
receiver. Try and get the original type, NTE's replacement works, but it isn't
quite as sensitive. It MUST be a germanium!

The receiver has a gas discharge tube and a fuse in the antenna circuit, but
the RF transistors are so sensitive that they pop anyway.

-Chuck

Is this the 6217 that sold a week or two ago on Ebay? If yes, that
seller claimed the receiver was in good condition and working
properly. It does sound like you need to learn the subtleties of
operating the RA6217, but on the other hand if this is the same item
that was representetd as being in good shape, perhaps the seller
should be drawn into the conversation?!?


On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 19:21:28 +0000 (UTC), (Mike
Andrews) wrote:

Chuck Harris wrote:

[snip really, really good stuff]

OK, that is the official factory sanctioned alignment instruction for the
VFO. Before you do any of it, check with a freq. counter to see what the 2nd VFO
frequencies are at 1000KHz, and 0000KHz. If you are lucky, they will both be
off by the same amount in the the same direction. If this is true, you just
need to slip the capacitor's shaft coupling. Don't go nuts on tightening the
set screw, it only needs to be snug.

Just out of curiosity, have you tried the BFO check position to see if your
BFO tuning knob is really at zero when its pointer shows zero? The BFO can
tune +/-15KHz.

Thanks _very_ much. Now I have a handle on getting my 6217E tweaked back
into shape. It would be really good if I could come by a set of the cables
for all the finicky little modules.

Mine's just Really Deaf over most bands, but works sort-of OK on 7 MHz.
I haven't ripped into it, as much out of laziness as out of fear-and-
trembling. I would like to get it going one of these days.

dmt wrote:
Is this the 6217 that sold a week or two ago on Ebay? If yes, that
seller claimed the receiver was in good condition and working
properly. It does sound like you need to learn the subtleties of
operating the RA6217, but on the other hand if this is the same item
that was representetd as being in good shape, perhaps the seller
should be drawn into the conversation?!?

Oh, no; I've had this one for ... 3 or 4 years now, and just haven't dug
into it, what with losing a wife to MS, getting married again, moving the
new wife and The Boy and The Dog and The Cats in. I've done well to get my
General and Extra and scoop out a place for the R-390.

I bought it (the 6217E) as-is, and that's what I got. I've had
considerable time to fiddle with it, and done a fair amount of fiddling,
but it just isn't all that happy a receiver.

Pointers to the NTE replacements, or (even better) to the original Ge input
transistors will be very greatly appreciated indeed.

--
Mike Andrews, W5EGO

Tired old sysadmin

Mike, I he may have been talking about the one I have...and yes...it's
the one that was on ebay a couple of weeks ago. I'm giving the guy a
heads up.

Mike, I he may have been talking about the one I have...and yes...it's
the one that was on ebay a couple of weeks ago. I'm giving the guy a
heads up.

Good, glad to hear all is ok w/ your receiver, and hope your family
life is getting settled again.
No offense meant at the other buyer/seller either, just thought you
might have another source of info there. Apparently that unit is in
good shape too...good!


On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 14:51:40 +0000 (UTC), (Mike
Andrews) wrote:

dmt wrote:
Is this the 6217 that sold a week or two ago on Ebay? If yes, that
seller claimed the receiver was in good condition and working
properly. It does sound like you need to learn the subtleties of
operating the RA6217, but on the other hand if this is the same item
that was representetd as being in good shape, perhaps the seller
should be drawn into the conversation?!?

Oh, no; I've had this one for ... 3 or 4 years now, and just haven't dug
into it, what with losing a wife to MS, getting married again, moving the
new wife and The Boy and The Dog and The Cats in. I've done well to get my
General and Extra and scoop out a place for the R-390.

I bought it (the 6217E) as-is, and that's what I got. I've had
considerable time to fiddle with it, and done a fair amount of fiddling,
but it just isn't all that happy a receiver.

Pointers to the NTE replacements, or (even better) to the original Ge input
transistors will be very greatly appreciated indeed.

dmt wrote:
Good, glad to hear all is ok w/ your receiver, and hope your family
life is getting settled again.
No offense meant at the other buyer/seller either, just thought you
might have another source of info there. Apparently that unit is in
good shape too...good!

The Really Good News is that the 2 transistors in the RF amp appear, from
the schematic and parts list, to be 2N23478, and Dan's Small Parts carries
them for $0.75 each. I haven't looked into the radio itself, and need to do
that before I order, just to see that's really there.

It'll be a bit before I go much farther on this, as I'm having multiple
attacks of Real Life[1] and don't have bench space or time to open the
6217E up. Maybe I won't need to learn American Sign Language to understand
what's coming out of the 6217E. And yes, that's a joke: the XYL and I have
a deal. She passes Element 1, and then I learn ASL and pass the ASL exam.

[1] Life is what happens to you while you're making other plans.

--
Mike Andrews, W5EGO

Tired old sysadmin