Collins 32S-1 help



I have a 32S-1 that has been sitting for about 30 years, turned on
occasionally in hopes of keeping the capacitors happy but never set
to actually transmit. The PA plate current was a bit high (perhaps
70ma) so I adjusted the bias; maybe this was a mistake. When I
tried to tune it up there was no signal.

The BFO, VFO, and HF crystal oscillators were on frequency and most
of the voltages I checked seemed reasonable. The tone oscillator,
however, was not... oscillating. The tube (V11B) appeared to be
conducting, pulling down the plate voltage. I tried a different
tube still in the socket extender and it worked; however, it did not
work with the extender removed. I suspect the cathode bypass capacitor
(C6B). I put the extender back for the time being.

With the tone oscillator oscillating the exciter tuning was giving me
a nice response on the PA grid current and I was getting > 100W into
a dummy load. Unfortunately I got a little carried away and probably
spent too much time tweaking the response. There was a blue flash
and the line fuse opened. With the fuse replaced I still get output
but the PA grid current is weird. It may go negative or it may go off
the scale (seemingly randomly) when I switch to tune. It doesn't seem
to depend strongly on the exciter tuning. I'm thinking I overheated
one or both of the PA tubes and some element warped and shorted.

If nothing is obvious on visual inspection of the PA tubes would it be
reasonable to try with one at a time removed?

Dan Lanciani
ddl@danlan.*com
.



Relevant Pages

  • Re: Very high input impedance high voltage meter???
    ... it indicates a bad tube in the ... > oscillator which must be replaced to insure low distortion in the ... get too far off, the oscillator will be prone to distortion, and hum. ... > rectifier tube whose output is filtered by a couple of 10 uF capacitors ...
    (sci.electronics.repair)
  • Re: Collins 32S-1 help
    ... occasionally in hopes of keeping the capacitors happy but never set ... The PA plate current was a bit high (perhaps ... The tube appeared to be ... With the tone oscillator oscillating the exciter tuning was giving me ...
    (rec.radio.amateur.boatanchors)
  • Re: FA: MOPA 2-Tube Transmitter Instant Junkbox parts assortment
    ... oscillator, running on 7038 and 22 out of 23 of them oscillated. ... I notice in the tube manual, ARRL handbook 1966, that it ... So I built another stage next to the oscillator and a little pi ... Only got 3 watts. ...
    (rec.radio.amateur.homebrew)
  • Re: Colpitts - Negitave resistance help
    ... >how the negitave resistance is combined with what components to be able to ... I find negative resistance to be a helpful indicator of circuit ... Helpful for calculation for the two capacitors to be equal. ... inductance free oscillator for overtone crystals. ...
    (sci.electronics.design)
  • Re: Cold cathode touch buttons.
    ... Before solid state electronics the button was tied to the tank circuit of a small vacuum tube Class-C oscillator. ... When a finger touches the button it acts as an antenna, picking up a number of signals including EM waves at the power line frequency. ... The touch plate is connected to the circuitry by a chain of high value resistors, and when the pad is touched the circuitry detects the tiny current flow to ground through the person touching the button. ...
    (sci.engr.lighting)