K5LYN/Lynn:
Lynn checked in on the KWM2. His 30L1 decided to go south this week. Maybe the malady that has been affecting my station has spread to Lynn as well. None the less, Lynn put out a dandy 100 watt signal and collected a bunch of check-ins acting as net control south. Once again thanks to Lynn.

KK4BU/Tom:
Was his first time check-in from South Carolina. He was using the Drake TR 7 which sounded just great. Keep coming back Tom so we all can get to know you better.

K0TNP/Don:
Don, a long time regular was using a HW 12. One of those rigs he got from me. He said this radio had never been on the air because of a soldering short installed during the building of the kit. What a thrill, the first and only guy to operate this 30 plus year old radio. He is also restoring a NC 98 which he says it works very well for foreign broadcast. Best 73 Don.

N4OZI/Allen:
Allen showed off his CE 200 V and Drake R4 combination. There must be a lot more Central Electronics around than I would have ever thought. You fellas just keep turning up more and more of it. Allen just scored a major pile of iron, including a GSB 100, Viking II with VFO, Collins 51J4, and a Johnson Viking Valiant. Hope it all works Tom. Thanks.

W0JOY/Allen: Allen, from six miles down the road joined us today also. He has a Drake C Line, a 75A4 and a Swan 500. These are all tens - Museum quality. Allen is the fellow who first got me into ham radio and is currently working on new antennas to better show off those fine sounding old radios. Good to hear you Al and really enjoyed the eyeball later in the day.

K4FMX/Gary:
Gary joined us on a Kenwood; but, we forgave him because he is an old timer and he is tuning up his old station, a 20A and a home brew 813 amplifier. I might be mistaken but I think he said it had 3 813's in the thing. What a brute! Come on back Gary and play it for us.

K9BEN/Ben:
Ben from Florida was using a Swan 500 CX with a G5RV antenna. Nice signal. The Swan sounded very nice and there must be something to those G5RV's. I don't understand, when I put up an antenna with twelve times as much wire, why all too often they work no better than those G5RV's. Thanks Ben.

N4OSJ/Greg:
Greg was running his CE 200 V today. Good signal from the magic loop. Don't mess with it, leave it tangled up in the tree. Greg is a former Nebraskian who wised up and left the winters behind. See ya Greg.

K5HPJ/John:
Boy it's been a long time since John checked in. Was wondering where you've been; but, turns out you've been working weekends and amassing more wealth. Tsk tsk. John was using a TS 520 but he has also checked in with, among other things, a Galaxy 5 MKII, (which is a lot like an F-15, two hours of use and 156 hours of maintenance) a CE 20 A and a Ten Tec argonaut. Good hearing you again.

W5WP/Dave:
Dave was using a Hurricane. Good sounding rig. He is also working on a HT 41 and is converting the hard to find 7094's to 572B's. I just happen to have the sheet for that mod so will send it your way Dave. Thanks for stopping by.

K4BOV/Stu:
Stu was running his faithful 800 watt Swan 350 today. Why am I not surprised. Once again Stu is responsible for getting this web site going and also providing an endless supply of technical help to those of us who are technical muddlers. See you Stu.

K7RON/Ron:
Ron was also playing a mighty fine sounding Swan. The 600 T & R Twins. They are pretty rare but Ron has three of them. What a superb scrounger. Ron has also been working a lot of Sundays so hasn't made it often lately; but, always glad to hear him.

KC5RR/Gary:
Gary checked in with one of his endless array of Drakes. Today it was the TR 4 and a 5/8 wave vertical. Gary has fixed up an awful lot of Drakes and would be a good one to contact if you are having a problem with your Drake.

W4FMS/Frank:
From Fort Lauderdale, got in at the end of the net with his recently restored CE's 20 A and 600L. He would be a good one to get 20 A advice because he just wrestled his back to health and it is probably all still fresh on his mind. What's the next project Frank?

NK5T/Mac:
I don't know how I got Mac at the end of my page because he was second to check in. Who knows. Mac was playing his HT 32 and his SX 101A. He just solved a drift problem on the SX101; so, if you're having a problem there give Mac some serious bugging. He was just getting settled in his easy chair when he realized W6LRG, Don, wasn't around to call the Heathkit net. Thus, he was stuck. Have to postpone that nap Mac. Take care.

From the operating position of Net Control - WB0SNF/Andy:

That was the extent of the net for this week.

I managed to get my Galaxy 5 MKII working like a top this week and was planning on using it, but wouldn't you know it quit about 11:00 this morning. Oscillator wasn't working, no voltage, the regulator had quit. This was the second time it has happened. Once about ten years ago. Put in new regulator, worked about two minutes and quit again. I have had a lot of similar experiences with this radio.

When I first bought it, it looked really nice but didn't do much else. After a lot of peering and sniffing, I noticed that the 6GX6 Oscillator/Product Detector tube was black and the 6GK6 PA driver was really, really, really bright. The two are strung in series and there was a short in the filament wire before it got to the 6GX6; so, the 6GK6 was getting the full 12 volts. I couldn't find the short in the wiring loom, about the size of an Oscar Meyer wiener and containing at least 4000 ft of wire; so, I just clipped the wire off and bypassed it. Bingo, the radio played just great except no AGC. Replaced the AGC controlled tubes and I swear the AGC is better than any radio I have ever seen.

Had a great time playing the radio. However, after using it for a while, the audio gain for the speech amplifier started dropping to about nothing. Plenty of CW but not much sideband. Turned out that two 270K resistors had gone high and weren't supplying the speech transistors enough volts to get the job done. These two resistors are located on the bottom of a board on the back wall of the radio. Now, in spite of the massive amount of wire they used in the Galaxy, they left zero extra wire on this board so you could not pull it out a little and work on it. Damn. After much twisting, jerking , prying and copious quantities of colorful language, I discovered a big plate that unscrewed on the back and gave me total access to the back of the board. Wish I had noticed that sooner. Double damn. Replaced those resistors with one watters and once again it was a great radio---for a couple more hours.

See you next week de Andy

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