Mouser carries Vishay-Sprague Atoms. They seem to be the same high
quality they originally were. Much larger for better heat dissipation
than the miniatures too.
I hadn't considered drilling new holes in the board to use radial caps,
but I think I'd be inclined to have spliced one of the leads on a radial
cap so it could routed to the original holes.
73, Jerry, K0CQ
On 1/2/2011 12:28 AM, Joe Roberts wrote:
> On 1/1/2011 6:37 PM, Andrew Moore wrote:
>>> those TT PTO rigs are "the new boatanchors"
>> My ears hurt when I heard "boatanchor" and Corsair II used in the same
>> sentence, but it's probably true.
>
> Perhaps the word "classic" is more accurate than "boatanchor"...they are
> not that heavy after all.
>
> Back in the 80s, I was replacing Sprague Atoms, Cornell-Dubilier
> "Beavers," Tiny Chiefs, Bumble Bees, and the like in 50s-60s rigs. Of
> course, it really helped performance. Well, we are at the same degree of
> historical remove from PTO Ten Tecs! Time flies, eh?
>
> I don't think the yellow IC caps and the mini Elnas in old Ten Tecs are
> any more age-proof than the antique parts in tube rigs and they are
> probably even less long-lived than say a Sprague Atom or Mallory twist
> lock cap. Those big old suckers held up well.
>
> In any case, when freshened up a bit with modern parts, the analog Ten
> Tecs (and I'll count in Omni V here) are absolutely wonderful radios and
> I sit there with a stupid grin on my face every time I fire one up. Lots
> of character, easy and natural to operate, and just work so good.
>
> Ten-Tec made some fantastic great user-oriented ham rigs back in the
> analog days. Then and now, most people don't realize how good they were
> and still are.
>
> My experience recapping old Ten Tecs (and similar era JA rigs) is a
> night and day difference. Not subtle at all and very much worth the $20
> in caps and a few hours labor.
>
> To those who wisely state "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," I say a)
> Where's the fun in that? and b)Most of these 30 year old radios are more
> broke--or at least worn out--than appearances suggest.
>
> I encourage owners of Omnis and Tritons to go for it. Start with the
> 1000uf across the power connector and the AF board. Six caps. If you
> like that, try the IF board. Six caps. And so on...
>
> One other thing, since many of the caps in these rigs are axial and all
> you're gonna find in fresh, high grade caps is radial form factor, I
> drilled new holes for radial mounting. In many cases, I found I could
> make a shorter run to the ground traces when drilling a new hole for
> radials than I could with the axial lead caps. Think it through and you
> will find this to be a neat and efficient approach. The axial holes are
> still there if you ever need them.
>
> Good luck,
> Joe N5KAT
>
>
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