Happy New Year!

 I'll be among the legions of those who will go to bed early. Just getting too old to stay up as late as I used to.

Been very windy here, and the fence on the North side of the backyard has come loose from the rotted posts it was attached to. Looks like we'll be getting together with our neighbors to split the cost of getting it replaced. The fence is the original one from the late 1970's when the houses were built. Our previous neighbor and I replaced a few of the old posts, but several of the others have since rotted away at ground level, and now the fence panels are loose. I rigged them up with some paracord and some "MILSPEC" antenna stakes, but it's time to rebuild that section of fence.

Been cold, too, with the low last night in the high teens, and very dry. We've had two light dustings of snow, and about 1/4" of rain since Halloween way below normal. Looks like the Great Push to get the snowblower serviced has kept the snow away.

Be safe, checketh thy six regularly, and hope 2025 will be what we need.

Merry Christmas - He Is Born -

I'd like to wish my friends here a very Merry Christmas, and a very Happy New Year.

We'll be having our Christmas Dinner with family and friends tomorrow, but tonight is a small gathering for our Christmas Tradition of Sloppy Joes, French Fries, and the ritual tearing of wrapping paper.

No, we haven't had any snow this year, but we might have 40* and raining for Christmas Day.

Peace to all.....

The Fisher Saga Continues - Act III -

 Been working on this post since right after Thanksgiving. I'm making very good progress on the Fisher, and will most likely power it up this weekend.

I have to admit that this receiver needed more work than I expected. It showed signs of being repaired at least twice before, and while the work was of acceptable quality, two of the transistors were a substitute type with different specs. Then I found the under-rated capacitors. A couple of them were open, ten or so were leaky, some showed signs of heat distress, and one appeared to have lost a very tiny amount of dielectric fluid.

Oh, and there were two resistors that had lost their smoke.

I managed to get the tuning mechanism back together, and restrung the dial cord. This had been hanging over my head since I started working on it. The service manual diagram didn't match what was in the receiver, so I used my "Before" photos to see how the gears on the main tuning capacitor fit together, along with a tabbed thrust washer, and how the dial cord was strung. This started when the shaft that goes into the main tuning capacitor came out in my hand and dropped two small parts out as I was trying to diagnose why the tuning was so sloppy. The OEM dial cord was stiff, dried out, and brittle. It made the tuning feel "gritty". AND the tuning mechanism is not documented, with the drawing in the Service Manual not matching how the receiver was built.

 

 

 And now that the front panel and knobs are cleaned and back on it, it's starting to look like a receiver again....

Among other non-documented changes were four capacitors on the Power Amp Board, along with two resistors and a capacitor attached to it, and two small inductors on the bottom of the Power Amp Board. Took a while to trace those parts out, figure out why there were there, and make notations on the schematic.

ALL of the electrolytic capacitors on the Power Supply, Power Amp, Preamp/Tone, Equalization and FM/MPX boards have been replaced. Eleven aluminum electrolytic capacitors in the FM Multiplex section were replaced with tantalum electrolytic capacitors for improved frequency response and stability, and six more on the Tone and EQ boards were changed for the same reasons.

These had failed and were very "leaky".

And while these still appeared to be OK, how many of them are on the edge of failure after 40-some years?

The gooey looking stuff on one end of the larger capacitors is NOT leaking electrolyte. It's a glue used in assembly to keep larger, heavier parts from coming loose before the board is soldered. It's also used in high-vibration environments to keep the parts moving around and cracking their soldered connections to the board.

ALL the wire wrap connections were inspected, and soldered. There were a half dozen that were coming unwrapped, and most of them showed signs of distress.

All the controls and switches were cleaned and lubed with DeoxIT D5 or Fader F5, as appropriate.

All panel lamps were replaced. Yes, I could have replaced them with LED's, but that would involve making a little Rectifier/Filter board as the lamps are fed with 8 Volts AC.

So stay tuned, kids for Act-IV..... The Power Amplifier Autopsy.....

I greatly appreciate my friend's patience and understanding in this. We never really discussed what "Fixing It" can entail. I sympathize with him, as I have numerous friends who had the I Went For A Brake Job, ANNND...experience.

Yes, there will be an Epilogue, probably called something like "Testing And Delivery"...

Big Fisher Saga Post Coming Soon!

 Rolling right along on it, and should be able to power it up this week!

Stay tuned.....