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The BC-459-A found at the dump, is a bare aluminum Western Electric. It has been
already modified, the plug was already changed, a key jack put in the back, and a bunch of wiring mods which are incomprehensible to me. It is missing the 1629, the 1626, and the Xtal. I have since picked up another BC-459 (black) which seems to be internally unmodified and complete with all tubes and Xtal (8870 KC), although it is missing the bottom plate and the cover. It is a black, but It notice the case parts from the bare aluminum one would fit to this black one. I was also given an old homebrew power supply which still works and was apparently built to the specs that are described in the ARRL article about converting the Arc 5 for Novice use. This power supply has a male octal plug with wiring that exactly corresponds to this article, eg. it has the 12.6 V filament and a 6.3 V filament as well as all the B+ voltages as per the article. Yes this is the article which describes how to make an outboard crystal controlled oscillator with 6AG7 tube and which then plugs into the Xtal socket of the Arc 5. The modification is such that the Arc 5 can be put back to VFO operation simply by removing this outboard novice xtal unit and putting back the original Xtal. The wiring in this first BC-459 is a mess and has been hacked up, It was going to use this unit for parts, at least use the bottom plate and the case, even though it is bare aluminum and the better unit I have is black. The better unit, as stated, seems to be internally unmodified, so doing the mods in this article would be more straight forward. However, having now posted to this forum and having received the various suggestions, I am wondering what the best path might be here. First off, I do not understand how one would use the original plug in the back since I have never seen an original male fitting available anywhere. Secondly, I am wondering what kind of other power supply one would use to keep everything in its original context. In short I am wondering what is the best, and most practical way to get this thing operating. The only information on converstion that I have at this point is the the article which appears on the ARRL site "Coverting Surplus Transmitter for Novice Use" even though I was not going to build the outboard xtal unit as suggested. I would be interested in seeing other, perhaps superior, methods for putting this gear to use. Really, how bad is this particular article and its mod suggestions? It has been suggested that the addition of some regulation on the oscillator voltage would solve the problem of chirp/drift etc. I would be interested in the type of mods and power supplies that you are all using which have proven successful before I proceed any further. I am assuming there are plenty of these units preserved as museum pieces already, I was more interested in using it without necessarily turning the shack into a complete ww2 cockpit. Bill, K6TAJ David Stinson wrote: zeno wrote: I have already decided not to worry about keeping this thing "original", eg. will be putting in a new power plug, key jack, and coax connector etc.... It is certainly your radio and you can do as you wish, but I urge you to reconsider; this isn't a old Craig CB rig or and Eico 753. This radio has historic significance. Extensive modification is needless and will turn your historic relic into a junkbox nothing. You can get the rig on the air with a good signal without drilling a single hole or chopping out anything. It's as simple as disconnecting one wire and adjusting one relay contact. If you need pins to fit the power connector on the back, send me your address and I'll send you some. Moreover, if you do the butchery to put the filiments on 12 volts AC, you are defeating part of the engineering solution designed to keep the rigs stable. My rigs are original design and work great with good power out and little or no chirp. First- throw out ALL those "conversion" articles from the 50s, 60s and 70s. The first ones were written by people who knew nothing about getting these rigs going and the rest just parroted what the first wrote. I can't tell you how many rigs went from "war relic" to "trash can" because of some conversion "author." The rigs are NOT TVI machines, chirp factories, harmonic generators or any of the other myths you've heard. These were born out of people flailing around blindly without any understanding of how the rig was designed to work. I have lots of information on how to get these going with little work and no irreversable mods. I'm headed to work. If anyone cares to read them, I will post them when I get home this evening. 73 DE Dave Stinson AB5S |
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