[VHFcontesting] Something entirely different

[David Olean]

Thanks to all who provided assistance in figuring out the old Tecraft 
transmitter.  Gene, W3ZZ found an old review in a 1956 QST!! The old slugs 
in  the coils had changed value and needed some tweaking. The mult chain was 
supposed to be 24-72-144 and then straight thru in the 6360 stage. I got the 
24 MHz coil back on freq, then decided to use the second stage at 48 instead 
of  the 72 it originally was.I now have 7.5 watts out with 260 vdc and the 
original tubes. Now it just needs some tube checking. It should do about 10 
watts with everything working perfectly. I have an 8.000 MHz FT-243 xtal and 
it comes out on 144.013. It won't be long until the DX is rolling in! I need 
a better xtal up in  the AM band somewhere. I found an 8007 kHz crystal but 
a pin is broken off. I can swap holders and maybe grind the crystal up a few 
khz to where I want it. Man this is fun!

Dave K1WHS

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Olean" <k1whs at metrocast.net>
To: <vhfcontesting at contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2008 2:43 PM
Subject: [VHFcontesting] Something entirely different


>I started out my ham "career" with a Tecraft 10 watt output 144 MHz 
>transmitter. It used a 6360 PA. I think the model # was TR-20. I lost track 
>of it over the years, but then found it again a few years ago!  A VHFer in 
>Western New York, WB2BYP, had it and he said he bought it from my brother 
>years ago. He was selling it to clean out his shack and gave it back to me. 
>Anyway, it has been sitting in a corner gathering dust but I recently fired 
>it up but am having trouble with it. I am afraid that the coil slugs have 
>aged so much that it does not tune properly anymore. To make matters worse, 
>my old grdi dip oscillator is missing its 100-250 MHz coil.  Does anyone 
>remember the multiplication factors on this guy? It has a 6AU6 oscillator, 
>a 5763 buffer, a 5763 multiplier and a straight thru 6360 push pull PA. I 
>thought it went to 24 MHz in the 6AU6, then tripled to 72 MHz in the first 
>5763, followed by a 5763 doubler to 144 at the 6360 grid. My problem is 
>that the first 5763 has 48
>  MHz output, and the 2nd 5763 tunes with the plates fully meshed, The 6360 
> gets drive, but the butterfly cap plates are fully meshed and I see about 
> 300 milliwatts output. It obviously is having some problems. I sure wish I 
> had my grid dip meter working. Before I tear into it, I wanted the correct 
> info on the stage mult factors. Anyone have any data or recollections?  My 
> next quest will be to get WAS on 144 AM. (Only kidding!) I do want to put 
> it on the air and run it with the same old yagi just for kicks. This 
> proves that I am now a certified old coot.
>
> Dave K1WHS
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