Johnson Viking Valiant Repair

[K8BEX]

Hello all my name is Tim.
 And all I want for Christmas is my Grandfathers Johnson Viking Valiant working, I will keep it as short as possible as I have the flu and should be back in bed, when my Grandfather died in 1971 my Grandmother gave all of his gear away and after going through his old QSL cards earlier in the year to see who was still active my friend suggested that it would be better if I reworked the same people with sane rig and so on well as I explained it's not been seen for 40 years and is probably gone for good but 2 weeks of nagging I made a few phone calls and found the stuff over in Va, so it is now home.
 after getting it back I noticed that some wires had been cut so it looks as if Grandfather was either in the middle of a repair or a mod, did find a man in Morgantown  to look at it he has since called me and informed me that he has gone as far as he could with radio it now has power in and not blowing fuses but no filament power yet and he said that with a number of wires being cut and a number of mods done to the radio he didn't feel as if he could help anymore, so I am in need of someone reasonably close to Clarksburg Wv to see about getting his radio back on air, more detail of story can be found on my QRZ page.
 Tnx
 for your time
   Tim Wetzel K8BEX
      304-672-6905

[KB5MD]

Hi Tim,
 That is quite a story about your radios history.  Thanks so much for posting it.  I really enjoyed reading about your quest for your Granddad's gear.  Good luck with the repairs and I will listen for it on the air.

[KA0HCP]

Good luck on your journey Tim!

Bill

[WBear2GCR]

Tim,

My suggestion is that you yourself tackle the job.

I know it may seem impossible, but it isn't. And, once you are done, it will be YOUR rig, and you will know where everything is, so if and when it has a failure, you will be able to fix it right away.

Why don't you tell us about your own electronics experience - if any - and also post some nice clear jpegs of the rig, especially the underside. Wide shot, then clearly focused and lit closeups of the problem areas.

If the rig has HV and LV supplies, then making the filaments work should be very easy.

Whatever wires were cut ought to be pretty easy to track down and figure out.
The next step is to check things that work along, like the modulator, the VFO and the xtal oscillator. If they work ok, then all that is left is the RF part...

A receiver will tell you if the RF sections are working or not, although a 'scope is preferred.

So, break it down into easy to follow chunks.

Keep ur hands out of the thing if it is on and plugged in.
Never put two hands into it at the same time.
DO NOT LEAN ON THE CHASSIS WHEN THERE IS POWER ON.

Download the manual and schematic from BAMA, stare at it a good long time.
Ask some questions here, and you can work through it with a little persistence.

Regards,

                          _-_-bear

[K8BEX]

I have little experience in the repair area if it's small and I can see it I can usually fix it but of this magnitude is above my comfort zone, and who know's what my Grandfather has change from the time he build it to when he passed away, I do not have any real equipment to work with just a volt meter and a soldering iron you know just the basic stuff.
 I do agree on needing to know how to fix it just in case it would dye again but feel much better if someone was there looking over my shoulder showing me and explaining thing's to me as we go. I wish my Grandfather had did that with me but I was only 9 when he passed away and I sure that my Grandmother had a big hand in why he didn't show me anything as she was in fear of him being killed by the high voltage as I'm he got shocked before so I figured that's why he never showed me much. I will post picts as soon as I go and pick it up.
 Tim

[kv5i]

Tim, you are lucky in more ways than one. I had a similar incident with my best friends Collins equipment. I was given his Collins equipment before he died. I wanted to get it repaired so that we could operate it together and I was too busy at work to tackle it. I found a local Collins "expert". After keeping the 32v-1 two years, he told me he knew what was wrong and would keep the cost to a maximum of $350. After my friend died and after a total of five years, I got a 32v something back that does not work for my $350. I suggest the same as others, as much as it means to you, learn to repair it yourself.
Ed-kv5i

[WQ9E]

Tim,

With unknown/undocumented modifications you can either try to figure out what the modification is supposed to be when complete or take it back to stock; taking it back to stock will be much simpler unless major mechanical changes and parts removal have occurred.

You will probably find it easiest to go via photographs from a stock Valiant to put wiring back to stock.  None of mine are currently on the bench but hopefully someone else has one out of its case and can provide you with some good quality photographs.  Johnson manuals of that era also have a detailed layout of the wiring harness near the back of the manual which will prove helpful.

Just tackle it a section at a time and it is very doable.  Since you aren't doing this for someone else you can take all the time that you need.

One hint to avoid creating more issues:!  The insulating coupler in the VFO drive breaks easily so it is a good idea to loosen the set screws in it before you begin repairs.  It is an oddball coupler with different input and output shaft sizes so finding a replacement requires another Johnson donor but if it breaks it is fairly easy to repair.

[K8BEX]

OK an up date to the Viking saga, well the mods are not that big of a deal and the wires that were cut well I finally got the one person here in town to look at it after a year of begging lol, it took him all of an hr to figure out what several other people couldn't and that is the T2 transformer is GONE!, apparently my grandfather cut the wires and puled it out and left it so there you are, according to Bob everything else is in there so I need a T2 transformer anyone have one or know where I can get one fairly cheap.
 Tnx
   Tim

[Pete, WA2CWA]

For those not in know, T2 is the low voltage power transformer. Without it, nothing will work. But, be careful, if you plug it into AC and switch the Valiant on, HV transformer will have voltage on the primary and secondary.

[WQ9E]

A good warning from Pete!

I don't have a spare T2 but once you find one very carefully check the wiring from T2 to the 866A cathodes.  Early production used regular hookup wire for this and the insulation wasn't sufficient for the rectified HV which is also present on this winding.   The insulation would break down and take out T2 in the process.  If the wire to the 866A cathodes doesn't have obviously much thicker insulation than the other wiring either replace it with proper HV wire or sleeve it or your replacement transformer will also be damaged.

Of course also make sure that the filter capacitors and bias filter caps have been replaced and that the 1.5 amp fuse for T2 hasn't been replaced with something larger. 

[K8BEX]

Will do I did find a couple of places that have direct replacement T2's $130 to $157 so om we go. Tnx all

[Edward Cain]

Hi Tim,
   Please share your sources for T-2.

Ed/KJ4JST

[ve3bkd]

hi look  at this hope it could help

[K8BEX]

http://members.tripod.com/tubes_tubes_tubes/transformerrewindingservice/id31.html
http://www.heyboertransformers.com/index.shtml

[n2ffl]

Wow that's quite a story Tim! Very cool!

Thanks for the info on the transformer.

73,
Ron
N2FFL