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SB-101 Power on & Alignment

I know I’ll probably have more work to do on this rig before I put it on the air, but I wanted to know what I’m dealing with and see if there was any hidden damage from the exceedingly poor packing and delivery job done by FedEx. The power supply was apparently recently done, since it has a new board that essentially replaced all of the “guts” and is wearing a “HP-23D” marking – the sign of an updated power supply. I went ahead and plugged everything in, using my own SP-23 speaker since the SB-600 doesn’t have a plug on the end of the cable yet. I switched the power on and held my breath… and then let it out. No smoke, no screaming, all the pilot lamps came on. After half a minute or so I heard the very welcome sound of static from the speaker – the radio is alive!

Not seeing any obvious signs of distress, I checked the meter positions. High voltage was at 800 V as it should be, no other meter indications. I started going through the receiver alignment steps. A lot of the coild took some adjusting, though not a lot. I did find one “problem child”; the coils for the 28.5 and 29.0 MHz bands would not adjust, and it felt like there was something loose under the coil cover. I decided to leave it and come back to that later.

Toward the end of the process I turned the function switch to CAL and located the very strong calibration signal. No indication from the S meter, which I was able to fix by cleaning and eventually re-soldering the meter zero pot. With that fixed I got S9 +20 as expected. Switching to 40 meters, though, required significant retuning to find the marker signal. Hmmm. LMO? Something else? I made a note to chase that down and moved on.

Eventually I connected a random piece of wire a few feet long to the antenna jack and looked for a signal. 20 meters around the FT8 frequency is almost always a safe bet during the day, and so it was. I could hear some CW and FT8 as I tuned across the lower end of 20. Oddly, I guess it didn’t occur to me to switch to USB and move higher to listen to some SSB. Hmm.

After doing some more research and seeing a message thread on QRZ.com regarding crystals drifting as they age, I checked the heterodyne oscillator on each band. All are within .5 or .6 kHz of the expected frequency, with the exception of 40 and 80 meters. The 40 meter crystal is about 1.2 kHz low; I can live with that – though I may try a little series capacitance to “pull” it back closer to spec. 80 meters, however, is off by over 12 kHz. Of course a 12.395 MHz crystal is nearly impossible to find now. I did make contact with Steve, KW4H on QRZ, and he’s very graciously sending me one that’s closer to spec and can be pulled back on frequency.

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SB-101 Tuning Dial

One reason some people go for the HW-101 over the SB-101/102 is the SB series’ rather more complicated tuning dial indicator. It’s a pretty involved mechanism. The main tuning knob turns a little pinch wheel, which drives a small diameter aluminum ring attached to the 100 kHz acrylic main tuning dial. Kind of a simpler (no doubt cheaper at the time) reduction drive than using a Vernier. I think the reduction is about 8:1, give or take.

On the back of the main tuning dial is a spiral groove. There is a sliding pointer above the main dial that indicates the 100 kHz segment you’re in. So, each revolution of the main dial moves the pointer by one division, so you get pretty good resolution across 500 kHz of the band. That pointer is moved by a pivoting arm with a little nylon follower, a tiny nylon pin that rides in the spiral groove of the main indicator dial.

As you can see, the main dial has quite a bit of cracking radiating from the aluminum hub. One of the cracks goes all the way to the edge, running through approximately the 75 marking. The rest are more limited, but cracks never sleep. Also, the pin on the follower for the sliding pointer is broken off. So, there are two major problems to address. The minor issues include a bent skirt on the main tuning knob, and a bent pinch wheel for the tuning dial.

Of course none of these parts are in production any longer, and no new reproductions are being made either. I haven’t seen any for sale on eBay. The only source of parts, I suppose, would be other radios in the series to part out – and hope that they’re better, not worse. Rather than try to scrounge replacements, I decided to repair what I have. If I’m successful, the only thing I don’t think I can really fix is the cosmetic crack through the dial. If I get everything working, and mechanically sound enough to remain working, I can live with that. At some point I guess a new overlay could be made for the tuning dial, since it’s opaque. There are pilot lamps on either side to illuminate the dial, but it’s not backlit.

I began by getting everything taken apart and taking some measurements. The spiral groove seems to be around .060 or so; a .050 pin rides perfectly in it. After taking stock of what I have around and doing a little web research, I decided to try fabricating a new pin. I ended up chucking an M2 metric screw in a drill (a stack of nuts lets the drill chuck grip it) and turn it while filing the tip in a sort of ghetto lathe kind of arrangement. A little bench metal lathe would really have come in handy here. I’d have preferred to just fabricate the whole thing out of Delrin or something. Anyway, turned it down to around .050 – .055 until it was a smooth fit in the groove, and smoothed the pin as best I could. I drilled a slightly undersized hole through the nylon bit and secured the whole thing to the pivot arm with the pin sticking through the nylon. Honestly it would have been a lot easier to just use a few washers and a nut on the screw.

I used some water-thin acrylic glue and brushed it on each of the cracks, front and back, to try to seal them us as well as I can. I used Tamiya model glue but there are other brands that would work well. Not CA glue, actual solvent model glue. Anyway, I also glued the broken hub pieces back in place and clamped them while they dried, just for mote support and stability. Gluing the big crack left a mess on the front of the dial, so I used Micromesh pads followed by Novus plastic polish to clean that up and leave the dial face smooth and polished. I also used Novus on the fan-shaped index line piece, as it was pretty well scuffed. It’s not perfect, but I think it looks pretty good for a 50-plus year old piece of plastic.

Now on to reassembly…

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Heathkit SB-101 received

I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Back when I was first getting interested in ham radio, one of the things I loved doing was drooling over the latest Heathkit catalog. Years before I began I was lusting after the H-8 microcomputer, the ham gear was the stuff of dreams. I’d have loved to have a nice SB series station. I eventually bought a slightly used HW-16, but the SB-401/301 or the SB-101 – or especially the SB-104 – those were the ticket.

Of course by the time I could actually afford anything, Heathkit had stopped making ham radio kits. The old rigs faded into the sunset as new, solid-state equipment took over.

So now I’m older, not flat broke, and the gear is of course comparatively a lot cheaper. I’ve had and used and enjoyed several solid-state rigs, and in fact still own a Kenwood TS-850S. Not exactly super modern, but far removed from tubes and mechanical dials. I do find joy in operating the old HW-16, though, and got to thinking about something a little more capable but of similar vintage.

To make a long story short, yesterday Fedex delivered a badly mangled box containing a mercifully well cushioned SB-101 CW/SSB transceiver, a matching SB-600 station speaker, and the HP-23 power supply that provides the various voltages needed by the tube equipment. It’s been in storage for decades, is pretty grungy, and has a few minor mechanical issues – all of which I knew or expected when I bought it. The plan is to do a complete restoration. Electrical, mechanical, cosmetic – which, fortunately, seems like it will be the easiest part; the cabinets and paint seem to be in great shape. The SB-101 is extensively documented not only in the Heathkit assembly manual – which of course I got with the gear – but by countless hams and magazine articles since. If there’s a little tweak or fix to get it running at peak performance, that information is easy to find.

I didn’t get detailed “Before” pictures, but I did pull some from the eBay listing that show the condition. “Decent but grubby” I think captures the cosmetics.

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Front end sheet metal work

The left front fender is beyond saving, at least for me. Too much rust and damage from previous “repair” work done in the worst way imaginable. Sheet metal had been tacked over the top of a big rusted-out hole with no attempt to either remove the bad metal or stop the rust, then it had been covered up with filler, The nose of the fender was also rusted out, so I’m not going to even try. The fender will contribute its sound sheet metal to my welding learning curve; I’ll chop it up and teach myself to butt, lap, and rosette weld with it. The jusry is out on the right fender, but it will likely go to the scrap yard as well.

There is evidence of old collision damage on the right front. The radiator support showed signs of having been creased and pulled back out, by way of a line of small holes apparently drilled to use a dent puller. It was rusty and bent. I decided to replace it with new. Likewise the right front fender apron had rust holes under the battery as well as some old collision damage. I decided to replace that along with the radiator support. A few days of drilling out spot welds with a spot weld cutter and I had the support loose and separated from both aprons, then got the right front apron out. Removing the front crossmember took longer, as there are a LOT of spot welds. Many are in places I can’t get to with a drill, so I used a cutting wheel on the angle grinder to cut loose everything I could. Drill, grind, cut, chisel, repeat. Long story short, it’s out. Then I found one of the strut rod supports is damaged as well, but I think I can probably straighten it out. The damage is more cosmetic than anything.

With the old sheet metal out of the way I started test fitting the new parts. The radiator support fits fine, but I’m wishing I’d bought a different part. NPD sells the support and crossmember as separate parts or already welded together. I bought the pre-welded assembly, thinking it was less welding that I’d have to do. If I’d seen how things went together, I’d have bought the pieces separately. I’ll likely end up buying a spot welder anyway, and that would have been a better way of assembling this stuff. As it is there’s a tab on the support that needs to be welded to the frame rail, but it’s covered by the crossmember so there’s no way to get in there and spot weld it. I’ll need to make some exposed seam welds for that. Not a big deal, but if I were doing it again I’d do it differently.

The fender apron seems to be about 3/16″ too far forward. I looked at my options for fixing that. I could probably just leave it as is; the misalignment is small enough that I’m pretty sure I could adjust the position of the fender to compensate. I don’t want to do that; it just seems like begging for problems later on. I don’t want to try to re-form the flange all the way down that apron. On the back end of the apron I think I can just oval out the bolt holes for the outer shock cover and move the whole part back the 3/16.

For now I’m going to get the parts lined up correctly, finish dry-fitting them, and leave them off. It will make getting the transmission and front end parts out easier. I want to get everything cleaned up as much as possible before starting to weld, just so I know everything that needs to be done.

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Updates on the Mustang

I’ve been doing some work on the Mustang lately. I spent a week or two cleaning up and rearranging things in the garage to get more room to work on the two projects there – my airplane, and the Mustang. Now I can get to much of the car without needing to move things around. It’s far from perfect, but it’s quite a bit better than things have been for a while. With some time and some space to work, I started assessing the scope and severity of the issues that need to be fixed.

I think I’m adopting a new strategy for the car. I’ve been reluctant to really get into the project due to the enormity of the task list. Floor pans, trunk floor, quarters, wheel houses, on and on and on. But if I do nothing, then nothing gets done. The engine is ready to go in. I think I’m going to just start from the front and work my way back. With the car done from the front seats forward I’ll be able to drive it, which will give me a lot more flexibility. Accordingly I decided to:

  • Fix the front end sheet metal
  • Clean up the engine compartment
  • Pull and rebuild the transmission
  • Pull and rebuild the power steering components
  • Overhaul the front suspension
  • Install the front disc brake conversion upgrade
  • Fix the perforated firewall
  • Fix the floor pan welds
  • Drop in the engine and transmission

At that point I can drop in a seat and drive the car. I like the idea of being able to drive it, if only to make it much easier to move it around, for example to back it into the garage to work on the rear half of the car.

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Flying again!

I haven’t flown since late July of 2022, for a variety of reasons. Yesterday (10/1) I met one of my partners and flew 1.1 hours. We left Millard (KMLE), flew toward Scribner (KSCB), decided halfway there that visibility wasn’t encouraging in that direction, and diverted to Wahoo (KAHQ), I did a full-stop landing at Wahoo, taxied back, took off, and returned to Millard. There was just enough gusting crosswind at both airports to make things interesting.

Obviously I’m rusty. It took a few minutes to get comfortable again, and it will take a few hours of flying time before I’m proficient, but I think I’m on the way back to flying again.

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Making my own pipe tobacco – results

I was looking back through some old posts and found a few mentioning issues with pipes, especially bent pipes, “gurgling” as moisture accumulated in the pipe while smoking. I’d tried drying the tobacco, smoking slower, and so on. Some pipes still seemed to have problems.

Since I’ve been blending my own pipe tobacco using home-grown and unadulterated whole leaf tobacco, this “problem” has been largely nonexistent. I have come to the conclusion that the propylene glycol and possibly other humectants – glycerin and so on – that are used in virtually all commercial pipe tobacco blends to control moisture and prevent mold – are the reason. I don’t use any of that, nor do I add flavored “toppings” or heavy casing to my tobacco leaf. At most I’ll mist the leaf with some decent quality bourbon or something as I blend it, which seems to really improve some blends. I do not, however, add any humectants, which allows me to get the resulting mixture as dry as needed for proper smoking.

I’ll still get some occasional moisture in the pipe, especially if I’m smoking more quickly or if the blend is a bit more moist than usual. Some pipes are more prone to it than others. I have not, however, had any problems with excessive gurgling since starting to smoke my own blends. Plus, I know exactly what is and is not in my tobacco. I’m happy with that. I still have several jars of various commercial blended tobacco, but I’m not buying more – though I might be tempted into a tin or two of Escudo some day.

I’ve also started to broaden my horizons a little. I recently bought small quantities of tobacco leaf that I haven’t tried before, specifically some Burley and Maryland 609, which is commonly used as a cigar filler. I’d avoided burley blends because the commercial ones I’d tried I generally did not like, but I just mixed up a little burley, flue cured VA, and some Virginia Cavendish I’d cooked up in 2023. It’s not bad, and deserves further exploration, I think. Maybe a little of something else, some Oriental or Perique or Latakia might give it a little more complexity and make it really enjoyable.

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New flints for the win

A while back I was looking for a nice lighter for my pipes. There’s a rabbit hole you can go deep into! It’s amazing how much money a person can spend on a lighter. Eventually I picked up two of them. One is a silver plated ST DuPont Ligne 1, French made and really nice. The other is a gold plated Dunhill Rollagas, also quite nice. Good examples of these used vintage lighters can go for as much as several hundred dollars each. I got both pretty cheap, since both were supposedly non-working. The DuPont just needed some cleaning and it seemed to work fine. The Dunhill needed a complete rebuild of the gas valve and seals, but the rebuild kits are not expensive and it was a couple hours of fairly interesting and enjoyable work. It works fine now also.

Both, however, were finicky and difficult to light. I was using standard Zippo or Ronson flints, and it took enough work to get them to light that I eventually set them both aside and bought an inexpensive butane pipe lighter with piezo ignition. It works, it’s just not fancy. The other day I decided to either fix the two nice ones or sell them – or maybe both.

I ordered a package of genuine Dunhill flints for the Rollagas. Both it and the DuPont take a 3 mm diameter, fairly soft flint. The Zippo flints used by nearly all lighters are 2.5 mm and made of a pretty hard compound. I figured I’d spend the few dollars required to get the correct flints and see if that fixed the ignition issues. Well… yes. Yes, it did, and quite nicely. Both lighters now light perfectly on the first try, every single time. The new flints produce an impressive amount of spark that lights the gas instantly. I have both lighters equipped with “pipe flame” nozzles, meaning the flame goes sideways instead of straight up to make it easier to light a pipe or cigar than a standard cigarette flame.

Yes, the flints were $15 for a package of 9, instead of a couple bucks for a hundred or two – which would be more than I’d use in a lifetime, even if I were a heavy smoker. These will likely last me years anyway, and if I decide to sell either or both lighters I can now say with confidence that they are completely working as they should. I like the DuPont a little better from the standpoint of looks, feel, and style, but the Dunhill’s slimmer profile makes it a bit easier to use. The Dunhill is a bit more worn, though, with the gold plating quite thin in spots. Regardless, they’re both working well enough now that I’ll start using them again.

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Shelving the TS-850S – for now.

I have come to the conclusion that the RF board in the TS-850 is toast. After several repairs, it’s still deaf as a post. There has obviously been some damage to the components on the bottom of the board near the signal entry point from the antenna – at least. I don’t know what else might be damaged. I’ve looked for a replacement. I find a number of boards on eBay, but about 2/3 of them show the exact same sort of burns in the same area of the board, so I would expect them to be bad as well.

At this point I’m shelving the project. After an extended absence from ham radio I’m not even entirely sure I’ll want to get back on the air. From what I can tell, there doesn’t seem to be nearly the amount of non-contest CW traffic that there once was. I have no interest in contest style exchanges of nothing but call signs and bogus signal reports for POTA, SOTA, or whatever QSO party is going on. I haven’t seen any PSK31. RTTY might be interesting, but FT8 is of no interest to me. If I’m getting on the air, it’s to rag chew or at least have a little human to human interaction with the radio as the means, not the end, and preferably no computer required. I’ll get on the air with my FT-817ND and the old Heathkit HW-16 and see whether I want to pursue fixing the 850 or getting something more modern.

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TS-850S attenuator

With the display fixed, I set out to do some alignment and adjustment on the TS-850. One thing I encountered was an issue with the attenuator. The 850 has two front panel buttons to switch in 6 and 12 dB attenuators, or both for 18 dB. One thing I had noticed was that the 6 dB attenuator seemed to work, but any time the 12 dB attenuator was switched in it completely killed the signal. Looking at the schematic, the only thing I could spot as a cause for that would be resistor R3 being open. I decided to pull the RF board and investigate.

With both attenuators off, relays K1 and K2 are both actuated. The signal from the antenna passes through K1 and K2, bypassing resistors R1 and R3. When the 6 dB attenuator is switched on, K1 de-energizes and puts a 6 dB resistive divider (R1/R2) in the signal path. The same method is used for the 12 dB attenuator (R3/4), activated by dropping relay K2.

Once I got the RF board out, the bottom of the board plainly showed that I was not the first one here. Portions of the board underneath the attenuator section were scorched, some SMT resistors were missing, and a 1/4 W resistor was soldered in place of R1. There were signs that some other components were damaged as well. I unsoldered and removed the “rework” resistor and found it to be the wrong value. Oddly, the board doesn’t match the diagrams I found in the service manual I found on line — a couple of the resistors have been replaced with pairs of resistors in parallel. That added some additional challenge to the process as I figured out the changes.

Eventually I found that something had damaged both R1 and R3. I found 1/8 W resistors of the correct values (51 and 150 Ohms – I had 50 and 150, close enough) in my parts stock. With those soldered in place of the defective SMT parts, I put it all back together and powered the rig back up, and got… nothing. Static. My little Elecraft XG2 signal generator was pushing 50 mV into the antenna jack, and the rig couldn’t hear a thing. I fed the signal directly to L3 and was able to hear it – weakly. So, back out comes the RF board.

Some probing with the DMM found a near dead short (1.4 Ohms) from the tail end of the attenuator at K2 to ground. Obviously that was a problem. Eventually I found capacitor C3, a little 100 pF SMT part, shorted. I removed it from the board and re-tested – now I can clearly hear the signal from the XG2, AND both the 6 and 12 dB attenuators work as they should. I don’t have a replacement for C3, but it’s part of a low-pass filter that I’m not terribly worried about right at the moment. I’ll pick up a 100 pF cap and replace it at my next opportunity. I also don’t know why it failed in the middle of a repair. It obviously wasn’t shorted before I started troubleshooting this issue, as I was able to receive signals off the air. All I can figure is that maybe it was physically damaged but not completely failed, and the probing or heat from the nearby soldering iron did it in. No matter – capacitors are cheap.

Now, on to the next issue — the S meter. It doesn’t “S”. Even with a 50 mV signal, there’s no reading on the meter; I’ll have to go through the alignment steps again to see if I can figure that out. Unfortunately that part of the procedure calls for a more capable signal generator than what I have. I should be able to get in the ballpark with the XG2. The service manual calls for 6 dB and 32 dB – or 1 uV and 40 uV. The XG2 will generate signals on 80, 40, and 20 meters at 1 or 50 uV. I should be able to set the S meter to read pretty close, assuming I don’t run into some OTHER issue that requires ripping the radio apart again.