Is there any hope for a Knight T-150A?

[KM1H]

I was given this along with a Halliscratchers SX-140 and have slowly been getting some ideas.

Ive made some mods to the RX and its not bad on AM now; I like the size of the little bugger.

The T-150 is also compact and light and the pair would fit into our Maine cottage quite well to be left there. It sure beats dragging the Viking I, 122VFO, and NC-240-D up there.

So what are the opinions about improving the Knight audio and whatever else it needs??

Carl
KM1H

[ka3zlr]

Well there's always Hope Carl,..

The VFO is Drifty, need a little werk there and some,..they Chirp...on CW..UM, Screen Mod for AM and there ya go So...that's what yer looking at, But with some time it can be Brought into some kinda shape..How much are you willing to do...OM...that's the question here...It's a squirrelly Box...some of em, just depends what you got there...

[VA3AEX]

Carl,
Can't help with the Knight (though have the matching receiver and while not the most sensitive, the Q multiplier works well).  What mods did you do on the SX-140?  I have one coming my way and understand they need a little work...  Also any ideas on what the matching speaker for the SX-140?

Alex
VA3AEX

[KM1H]

I think its the same speaker used on the SX-110 Alex, thats the one Im using anyway.

After recapping and aligning the set is rather sensitive 80-20M and it has all original Halli logo tubes. I didnt bother with 15-6M at this time.

The selectivity sucks and the regenerative IF/BFO is an obscene joke. So that all got removed and a 6BE6 installed in place of the 6AU6 1650 Kc IF with a 262 Kc output and a free running oscillator. There is a ton of room on top so a small vertical chassis holds a 6BA6 (from the old IF) IF and 3 IF cans from a couple of old tube auto radios. Also another 6BE6 as a product detector/BFO which is now tuned by a small variable on the panel where the BFO/regen pot was. AGC was rerouted to the new IF and the AM detector/audiochain was left alone for now. The audio needs a bit of low end boost.

All oscillators have regulated B+ and regulated DC filaments. The extra transformer load doesnt seem to bother it and it originally ran very cool. The low B+ the designers chose makes for a quiet radio but with enough gain. I used a 12.6VAC filament xfmr as a bucking xfmr to get the input down to 110-111VAC which keeps things even cooler.

Drift is much less than original and the IF skirts are comfortable for AM. Its still a pretty basic radio but a lot more enjoyable. Not quite a Drake 2B

I might play around with the RF and first mixer if I decide to try the higher bands but the next step is to improve the T-150A stability and the carrier control audio improved if possible. Havent really looked at it much yet and was looking for suggestions from others that have already been there.

Carl
KM1H