Will HG-10 work with Viking II?

[K7NCR]

Hi!
While I look for a Johnson VFO-122 that does not cost TWICE what the Viking II went for, I picked up a Heathkit HG-10(B?) VFO for a reasonable $50. Will it drive the Viking II? Yes or no, when and if I find a Johnson VFO, I know I can sell or swap it for something else and not get hurt. I'm just about done with the NC-300. Found 3 tubes substituted incorrectly! Plays well now. I just have to get the correct chain for the dial drum cord. And paint the cabinet. Looking forward to moving it off the bench and starting on the Viking! Our club, fvarc.org and I are sponsoring the MT QSO party next weekend. Hope to see some of my friends from here on the air. I'll be AM and vintage SSB with the Apache and SB-10. It's a real laid back good fun time! 
73! Norm K7NCR

[WQ9E]

The HG-10 should have no problem driving your Viking 2 except perhaps on 160 meters; I haven't looked at my HG-10 set for 80 meters to see if the oscillator is actually running on 160 or if the fundamental is on 80.  But on 80-10 you should have sufficient drive for the V-2.

Sometimes you can find the Knightkit VFO's for far less than the Johnson (or even Heathkits) of the same era.  I have a couple of the Knightkit units and when set for 80 meters they do provide plenty of output on their 160 meter fundamental frequency.

73, Rodger WQ9E

[K1MVP]

You should have no problem,--I had an HG-10 that I drove my Viking 1 with a while back.
The HG-10 is a good VFO,--it also has a buffer stage, which the 122 does not have.
You are right as far as getting a 122 for a "reasonable" cost,--it seems ya have to pay almost
as much for one as the transmitter itself.

Although the same holds true if you buy a DX-60, DX-40, etc, A VF-1 or even a decent Knight
VFO will end up costing almost as much as the rig itself.(priced crystals lately?)
Good luck finding a 122(for a decent price) that is,--in the interim, the HG-10 will do just
fine, and you might even consider painting the cabinet a maroon to match the Viking 2.

                                         73, K1MVP

P.S, I think you will have to swap a couple of terminal connections inside the VFO to use
       it with cathode keying,---otherwise it might be set up for grid block keying for use
       with a DX-60.
                                                             
 

[K7NCR]

Painting, yeah,, The paint on the Viking is black, no doubt about it. I will probably start with the National cabinet. Black wrinkle for now, and a color coat overspray in correct colors later. The HG-10B needs paint as well, may do the same, black for now, correct coat later. I even have an extra set of viking knobs that may look "swell" on the VFO. Black paint and Viking knobs, with that irresistible rolling drum dial. Wowsers!
Now my Mohawk is pitching a fit. I had it on over a couple of days, and went out to the shack, and it blew it's fuse. I isolated the audio trans, the B+ to the rf front end. No luck. Found the diode rectifier replacements had 1 shorted out. No telling what problems that caused! No chance I would find it as easy as the short in the Apache! Oh, well.
73 for now!
Norm K7NCR

[k4kyv]

If VFO's and xtals are getting that expensive,  maybe it's time to start rolling our own.  It's not that difficult to build a VFO from scratch, either tube or solid state, that would be much more stable than any of the 50's-60's era Heathkits, 122's, Knightkits, Globes, etc.

I have recently purchased several xtals off the AM Swap list on the Reflector, averaging $10-$15 apiece.  Adjusted for the incredible shrinking dollar(ette), that was far less than what I paid for my old 3714 kHz novice xtal back in 1959.  Sure wish I had never got rid of that one, now that it would be on a legal AM frequency.

[K1MVP]

If VFO's and xtals are getting that expensive,  maybe it's time to start rolling our own.  It's not that difficult to build a VFO from scratch, either tube or solid state, that would be much more stable than any of the 50's-60's era Heathkits, 122's, Knightkits, Globes, etc.

Don,
Thats the only way to "beat the system",--I refuse to pay much more than 50 to 75 bucks for a VFO.
I just recently "gutted" an HW-101 for parts, and used the VFO box as a foundation for a "new" VFO.
Stripped "insides" of the VFO and built my own 6AH6 circuit, at a desIgn frequency of 160 meters which
gives a real clean output, and than I  "double" to 80 meters, and "quadruple" to 40, for use with
my tube rigs.

I do have a 122 and Knight VFO, but this homebrew one is actually "cleaner" and gives more output
tham my commercial ones.

                                             73, K1MVP    

[K7NCR]

Some good news, anyway..
Troubleshooting the Mohawk, and replaced the 2 solid state rectifiers. Then Isolated the B+ from the filter cap. Still shorted. Uh oh! Then disconnected the choke. Still shorted! Bad Trans? Then I got to checking the diode ratings. The bad ones and my replacements where marginal for this voltage. My new ones (from my junk box) had shorted also! DUH!! With the proper replacements, it works FB again! And as an added bonus, when I resoldered all the audio trans wires back on, I must have fixed a bad connection, 'cause I now have TONS of volume. Go figure!
About a home brew, any good schematics or articles avail. to share here? I was thinking there is room in the viking cabinet for an internal VFO. It wouldn't be original, but would make a clean looking transmitter.
Anyhow, great discussion here! Keep it up!
73! Norm K7NCR

[AF9J]

Hi Norm,

With the heat, and lack of cooling vents in the Viker (the venting, is from the top), I'm not so sure I'd put an internal VFO in mine, unless it's a very compact solid state design.  You don't want to add to the significant amount of heat that's already in the cabinet, by putting a tube VFO in there.  BTW, ER has a short article on using a modern transceiver in CW mode, at QRP power levels as an alternative to the traditional VFO (I know a ham who happens to be working on doing this with his Viking 2 - he's going to use his Kenwood TS-450 for the VFO).  It's an intriguing concept - you use the very stable VFO that almost all modern transceivers have, and also have the advantage of an accurate transmit freq. readout.  Another alternative VFO, is the Heathkit VF-1.  I got mine relatively cheap ($50 - it was miscategorized on ePay by the seller, so the bidding price was kept low), and it works fine with my Viker.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[K1DEU]

Works well with most any transmitter and is more stable with less warm up drift than the Johnson VFO's.

Most VFO's have a 160, 40 and 40- output for multiplication to 160 through 10 + 11 in the 1957 up era.

The HG-10 Heathkit VFO (mate to the Heathkit DX-60 80-10 meter transmitter) as is only outs on 80 and 40 with nothing on 160. Thanks to another tip from Uncle Peter W1VZR one day on 75 M, all I had to do was find a red ferrite slug to replace the original slug in the 80 meter coil. Yes I shook my head, but knowing the Master I went looking and found a slug and tried it. Well it worked and Now I had 160 Meter fundamental output !   Ok I believed this, but next ? I set out to trim and pad expecting to get out a big mess of small caps, Nope. The dial trims and pads right on without changing parts except replacing the slug. So it's a little weird, for I have to divide the 80 meter dial in half mentally for 160 Meters but so what ! What started the HG-10B mod was that I added 160 Meters to my DX-60 first. The bandswitch goes one click CCW of 80M on the DX-60. Its great fun to QSO folks on 160 with my HG-10 and DX-60 driving my SB-220 to 1500 Watts PeP. http://hamelectronics.com/k1deu/pages/ham/transmitters/am/images/dx-60_01.jpg  and
http://hamelectronics.com/k1deu/pages/ham/transmitters/am/images/dx-60_02.jpg
http://hamelectronics.com/k1deu/pages/ham/transmitters/pages/sb220/heath_sb220.htm
    The HG-10 VFO is one of my favorites to add a tiny power transformer internally and line cord to. Leaving filament power on 24/7 and having an built in PS with the 125 VAC and 6.3 VAC transformer equals extremely stable operation with no warm up drift.   73, John K1DEU

[k4kyv]

From what you are saying (and as I seem to recall), the HG-10 VFO actually oscillates on 160, but the stock output frequency is 3.5-4.0 mHz by doubling?

[k7yoo]

If you want a 122 I have a spare that I would trade for the Heath VFO. I am going to repackage it in a homebrew project anyway, so I could care less whether I use a WRL, Heath , or EFJ
Skip
K7YOO

[K7NCR]

Skip:
Yes, please send or post pictures. normsclassicradio@yahoo.com
Norm K7NCR

[K1DEU]

From what you are saying (and as I seem to recall), the HG-10 VFO actually oscillates on 160, but the stock output frequency is 3.5-4.0 mHz by doubling?

Hi Don; No the original output is only on 80 and 40 Direct. Changing the 80 Meter coil slug to red marked ferrite really works, taking the coil with original trimming cap values down to 1.750-2.00 with 80 meter marking calibration. John