OK, the 2X4-400 rig is out of the truck and in the shack safe.

[N3DRB The Derb]

I gotta recover from muscling it inside.    I'll get some pictures in the morning.

[k4kyv]

You forgot the little variac.  I found it sitting on the operator desk the next morning.

[N3DRB The Derb]

I think I might have left some small iron I had in a pile inside too.  Put it in a box marked "Derb". maybe I can get back down in the fall and we can play some radio in the evening time. I'd like to see the Gates in action. Thats a massive transmitter. Bet it sounds great.

I got the rig out of the bed of the truck just in time. 30 minutes after it was thunder-storming and coming down in buckets. It would have been soaked I think. But I got it in.

pretty nice construction on the RF deck. the whole thing needs a lot of cleaning, but I'm good at that kinda stuff and I like to do it.

[k4kyv]

the whole thing needs a lot of cleaning, but I'm good at that kinda stuff and I like to do it.

Me too, but unfortunately whenever I work on a project I end up spending more time looking for stuff that I had in my hand just 5 minutes before, and trying to keep track of my tools and small parts while I am using them, than doing useful work.  That eventually gets frustrating and takes a lot of the pleasure out of it.

I'll look for the other stuff, but I didn't see anything lying around except the variac.

[N3DRB The Derb]

pix of the various items. Look mom, matching 48" BUD racks!

rf deck is dirty....so after removal of water sensitive things, it will get a nice ride in the dish washer.

The RAO-7 got a first cleaning just to get the surface dirt off.

notice that WA5QPY has his call on all the meters. way cool.

some more pix later after a bit lot of cleaning.

[W2PFY]

Yo Derb, what  cha gonna do with that?

[WBear2GCR]

Derb,

Just a thought after looking at the pix... the sockets are flush mounted. You might want to remount them on short <1" standoffs below the chassis so that you can pressurize the chassis under the sockets (there is a cut out below the loading coil, so a partition may be needed) and blow air up from under the pins over the envelope.

If you go to QRZ and look up my call there is a link to my Henry Linear project (yet unfinished, I may add) where I show how I made chimney's for the 4-400 type tube out of glass mayonaise jars... I think there is a thread on here somewhere that someone else tells how to temper the glass to reduce the possibility of cracking using a kitchen oven too.

One useful trick when pressurizing a chassis that will be rack mounted, or otherwise not stand-alone is to use a bit of flexible tubing (vacuum cleaner, drain, pool, drainage, vinyl, etc.. - depending on the diameter and flex needed) run to a larger than usual blower that is run at slower than usual speed to pipe the air into the chassis. Running the large centrifugal blower at a slowish speed maintains the needed pressure and flow but keeps the noise to a whisper! It also make the point of input a little easier since there is no blower sticking out the side top or back...

Also, you may want to find another blocking cap than the TV doorknob...

Otherwise, a fine bit of chassis there!

Did you also get a PS with it??

Modulator??

A bumper sticker from Tennessee saying "I Visited KYV"??  

              _-_-bear

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Never thought I'd see that day I'd have....'rack envy', but those black Bud racks are sweeet! Fo-Fo-Hunnert deck looks quite stout and well built as well. Pull and wrinkle the front panel, put the goodies back in, you should be cooking with gas in no time, Derb. The return of the STRAP! (strap)   

[W3SLK]

I be having some front panels that are black krinkle and have the meter holes already cut.

[N3DRB The Derb]

here's the 4-400 screen and filament supplies built into a all in one metering deck. he custom made meter scales that have his callsign on them. pretty cool. like the nameplate too.

[WA1GFZ]

Derb don't submount the tubes. and the sockets should have spring fingers on the 4 socket bolts grounding the tube base ring. The tube needs air to flow through the socket holes through the tube base. Down load a copy Eimac "care and feeding of power grid tubes" and get it from the source.
The plate tune cap is a long way from the tube.

[N3DRB The Derb]

Yeah there are some things I see that I do not dig. Thats one of them. I also do not like his plate choke and his method of locating the fil transformer on another deck and running 2ft long leads to the sockets. Gay. 

I have enough parts to where I could build 2 nice new wrinkled RF decks with 1 4-400 each. I have an exact copy of that national tuning cap as well.

I'll decide after I run it thru the dishwasher.

a single 4-400 with 2250 volts on it modded by 810's is not exactly a wimpy transmitter. One for 160, one for 80~10.

Then I still have 6 HK257b's and a another modulator to play with. 

one of the 4-400's pictured. has 'yo-144' scribed on the internal shield.

[k3zrf]

Nice bowl of standoff insulators you have there Tim!

[W3SLK]

Dave said:

Nice bowl of standoff insulators you have there Tim!

They're great ice breakers at parties!!

[k4kyv]

Dave said:

Nice bowl of standoff insulators you have there Tim!

Bowl inlulators?



Which reminds me, the Dolly Parton in London concert special that I watched on PBS this evening was great!

They're great ice breakers at parties!!

That's an understatement.

[N3DRB The Derb]

those are brand new with the hardware and the cork padding. I got them offa ebay for 15 bucks total price.

I dont care what anyone says, for some very certain things ebay rox hard. Thats 55 new cone insulators.

For building items, ebay can be a cheap and good source.

[W2PFY]

To me, eBay is a daily ham fest without the personalities. Expensive? Yes, but things that were thought lost forever sometimes can be found there.

[N3DRB The Derb]

My judge is : what would I pay for it if I saw it at a hamfest? I bid up to that point n no more. its when you get into a bidding war that things get expensive.

i'd never find 55 brand new unused cone insulators at a fester. I'd find dirty used ones with no hardware or rusty hardware at best, and I'd have to drive there and then schlep around hopin I'd find some.

This is the kind of stuff where ebay wins. I paid 27 cents for each insulator. 

[K1JJ]

Derb,

 Can't wait to hear the BJB slamming down a 4-400 class C PLATE modulated mawl. Oughta be glorious to hear a big black rack from you again. I think this late fall will be a big time for 75M AM - and possibly 40M too.

I'm down and still working on rebuilding all the antennas here and should be completed by late fall.  Looking forward to coast-to-coast court activity with a new pair of 75M delta loops, switchable NE/SW at 190' high. It features a remote-controlled vacuum variable on the tower for tuning the reflector for max f-b on the fly. First time I've had an integrated switchable directional array in a long time.


With your new mawl I KNOW you'll have a choke chain on those mud ducks, caw mawn.  When do you estimate it will be on the air?


T

[N3DRB The Derb]

well, I've got to lay the foundation down first. I am moving one of my edsal workbenches over to my wife's area, I dont need 2 anymore and she needs one. I am seriously space challenged - there's not enough room to walk around in there much less build stuff. this is kinda the key issue right now - there's just no space to start to do anything.

I still have to get the 2 100# plate transformers off the floor that we bought from Skip. All this stuff is so dirty, all needs cleaned and spiffed. Then when I get the space I need, I got a lot of decisions to make about the best use of all the tubes decks and iron I have. I'm gonna need help from the hive mind here as how to go.

both the big racks need good wheels put on first - the one I got from TN needs some minor rust work on the bottom, hen good wheels...all things that have to be done before I can actually start building and putting decks into the racks. It's a very big pain in the scrote but it has to be done first. I have to be able to roll the racks around to make space.

Answer to ur question: I'm not sure yet. All the very unglamorous work that goes into adding 3 19" racks and maybe 2 thousand pounds of iron and steel into a one car garage have to be done first.    if you saw a pic of what I have now you'd know. 2/3rds of the available space is taken up by CRAP.

One way or another, I'm going to strap this season. My recent investments of time money and energy are not for nothing.

[WA1GFZ]

Sounds like you are restocked.

[N3DRB The Derb]

yeah, thanks to Frank, Skip, and Don. Skip had the biggest bundle, but it wasn't a freebee, nor should it have been. The efforts of those 3 combined with my hamfesting and ebaying and I'm mostly in business again. the only stuff I need now are small nickle and dime things like decent mica transmitting caps, and good wirewounds. the foundation stuff of homebrewing.

last hamfest is this Sunday, Barryville VA.

[W3SLK]

Derb said:

last hamfest is this Sunday, Barryville VA.

Damn! I miss that fest. What a quaint little hamfest. My wife is getting surgery this week and I have to spend some quality time with her on Sunday. But if I had my druthers I would be in Berryville.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Derb, did you see that 813 x 2 HB deck and power supply with a quad of 3B28s at Berryville? Thought of you immediately, despite the fo-fo-hunnert project. The guy was looking for offers.

Would've been a hoot to see you there too, Mike(y). 'JN did a little muddin' with his Crown Vic. 

[wb1aij]

Derb,


If you go to QRZ and look up my call there is a link to my Henry Linear project (yet unfinished, I may add) where I show how I made chimney's for the 4-400 type tube out of glass mayonaise jars...

So, I'm not the only one. I have used pickle jars for the same thing. If I want to get fancy I could stencil "EIMAC" on the side.