I always add an inrush limiter to the vintage gear. An ounce of prevention... you know.
Jeep K3HVG
On 04/18/2025 5:53 PM EDT don Root <drootofallevil@...> wrote:
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Very good Richard, but what all did you manage to receive, and how did it sound??? Good luck
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I had fun this morning. I started up my 1952 Hallicrafters S-40B receiver today, very carefully. I first cleaned the controls, then plugged in the receiver with my Variac and Dim-Bulb-Tester in line. Slowly brought the voltage up listening for hum, watching for smoke. There was a very slight 60 Hz hum at the beginning but that went away.
It's working on 80 volts right now. I thought it best not to bring it up to 110 VAC, the standard household voltage that was common in the 1950s. Here at the house I have 122 VAC. I left it running for over an hour, nothing bad happened.
So given that, I'll go ahead and replace all the capacitors (ordered Harbach) check for out of tolerance resistors, etc. Clean it up. It's really dirty, which is actually a good thing, tells you no one was inside messing around. It looks to all original.
I'll bet this is the first time it has run in decades. Just goes to show you they built (made in the USA) really good stuff back then, built for the long haul, repairable, to last many generations.
73, Richard AG5M
On Sunday, April 6, 2025 at 03:04:45 PM PDT, Richard AG5M via groups.io <ag5m@...> wrote:
Hello all, this being my first post here.? I recently acquired a Hallicrafters S40-B receiver from a dear friend who went SK.? I had promised to restore it for him, so even though he is gone, I'll keep my promise.? From the looks of it it's all original with no one ever having been inside it, unused for unknown amount of time.? Manufactured Nov. 17, 1952.? Even had the original manual in it.? So what you see is 1952 dirt and a lot of old paper caps, etc.? I'm an old timer, licensed in 1963, so tube rigs are not new to me.? I have not plugged it in yet, and yes, I know all about Dim-Bulb-Testers, Variacs, etc.? I have analog and digital meters, AF and RF generators, O'Scope, tube testers, etc.? Just looking for some up front advice from anyone who has been down this path before with this or similar Hallicrafters receivers, what to watch out for, anything special to think about?? Thank you, 73, Richard AG5M
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don??? va3drl
