Help - S20R main dial string set up

[w2gez]

Help,

I have a nice S-20-R but the main dial cord needs to be restrung.  Does anyone have a PDF of the way to string up the dial.  The fine tunning dial is still ok.   Thanks for any help.  Once fixed I will spin it from 3.885 to 1.885 and back again, yaaaaa.

Mike W2GEZ
 

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

Mike,
      I don't have the dial stringing diagram handy, but I do have a S20R with a working dialstring you're welcome to look at and copy from. Let me know if you would like to come over to look at it.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

"... the finest receiver ever made."

[w2gez]

Super Joe, that will be my Christmas present !   I am recaping it also.   I kind of like the fact the selectivity sucks, the buck shot at times gives it a sound only a mother could love.   

[k7yoo]

The Rx that introduced me to ham radio
still have it.
One of the memories I have is when I was 5 years old listening to the airplanes droning away on the SW bands. They were MUX stations of course, but I always thought it was a B-29 on some mission. I could never figure out why the pilots never said anything.
Skip

[The Slab Bacon]

A few years ago, Ken (W2DTC) bought an S20R and restored it. He said that he "wanted to hear 75 meter fone exactly the way that Irb listened to it". After using it for a couple of hours he was complaining about how much of a P.O.S. it was!! He hated that thing so badly that he dumped it immediatly afterward!!

                                                                         The Slab Bacon

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

A few years ago, Ken (W2DTC) bought an S20R and restored it. He said that he "wanted to hear 75 meter fone exactly the way that Irb listened to it". After using it for a couple of hours he was complaining about how much of a P.O.S. it was!! He hated that thing so badly that he dumped it immediatly afterward!!

                                                                         The Slab Bacon

That's quite a message!

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

"... the finest receiver ever made."

Steve,
        I asked Irb one time, the reason he chose to listen through a S20R over the other receivers he had. His response was that he thought it had good "fidelity", and his father liked the S20R too. I guess that makes a S20R a good family receiver - hi!

I think the real reason why he liked the S20R was because it's as broad as a barn door. You can hear everything within at least 10KC or so of your tuned frequency. If Irb was on 3885, and you called CQ on 3875, he'd always come back to you on the frequency you were transmitting on.

He'd always be listening for others, and was glad to render assistance with a audio check. I can remember well the time he told me my audio well, wasn't "SPARKLING" Joe, it's just not sparkling. He did however like the super restricted audio out of my Stancor 110CM, (812 X 2X 6V6) a hyellowy cathode modulated transmitter from 1940. Go figger?

Cathode Mod-You-Later,
                                Joe N3IBX

[Tom WA3KLR]

I visited Irb 9 months before he died.  So I listened to THE S20R, not just A S20R, and I was surprised at the good audio.  No wonder he stuck with it.  Broad as a barn door  though as Joe said, but probably what Irb wanted also.

_._

[Tom WA3KLR]

Originally a S20R was given to the Richardts by a neighbor, Irb told me.  That started the ball rolling. 

Free beer and free food usually taste good, etc...

[w2gez]

Cool.   I would like to see the S20R Joe for stringing the main dial around Christmas time.   I saw two in operation, one at a field day in 1972 and one when I visited Irb's QTH maybe a few weeks prior to him joining the Silent Key or Mic club.  I only went there like two times but I had a camera and got a video of it in service, all lit up and W3EGC screaming his CQ.  It is a real peace of cinema work, similar I suppose to the Rocky Horror Show or the like.   The audio actually sounded fine, I just forget if it was just prior to or after we shot a dear with a 45.   Oh well, these are the days.

 

[N3DRB The Derb]

Joe,

i had that exact transmitter for years. they didnt bypass something in the rig they should have and thats why it sounds bad. I'll have to look into it. once you do that, it sounds not so bad. heres my station at that time with my HB rig. the stancor is the grey box  but you knew that.

I'm trying to remember what the hell they did not bypass. I only found it becuase I have the cathode modulation handbook and noticed that very circuit in the book had this cap in here, and the stancor didnt. i'm thinking it was like a .5uf across the cathode resistor or some such. Lemme see i I can find the book. Hope I didn't throw it away.