Was just given a Knight T150-A today...

[KC8MWG]

Went camping this weekend with the Straits Area Amateur Radio Club at the site of Camp Wolverine, which was a CCC camp from 1933 to 1940, for the annual CCC Event. I had my Heathkit HW-101 there running off generator power and had a great time! 

Before I left the campsite today, one of the guys (WD8ASH) gave me a Knight T150A transmitter. It needs a new fuse-holder and the cabinet is badly in need of sand-blasting and repainting, but it appears ot be "all there". I have a mic that originally went with a Heathkit "lunchbox" radio, which has the correct connector for this transmitter. It was a freebie, and I seldom turn down free ham gear, but I read the reviews when I got home this afternoon and general consensus is that it was a horrible transmitter, with a weak power supply and drifty VFO. I have no other AM equipment that is even close to being  "on the air ready", but I am wondering if there are any practical mods that can be made to the T150A to make it more usable (other than the expected snarky comments to the order of "throw it in the trash and get a better transmitter")?

[Steve - K4HX]

http://amfone.net/Amforum/index.php?topic=34680.0

[w7fox]

Sorry to hear disparaging comments about my first transmitter as a general, I sure had fun with it.  My elmer, w1zlx had one and worked a ton of dx with it.  Just goes to show that being a first class op helps.  Yes, I remember it drifted on ten meters, but no one cared.

[K9DXL]

Electric Radio has published two articles about the T-150.  They are in ER #312 (May 2015) and #101 (Sept. 1997).  I don't know if reprints are available for the earlier article.  There's an op who regularly checks in to the Midwest Classic AM net Saturday Mornings with his T-150 and it sounds just fine.  Give yours the standard capacitor replacement and trouble shooting routine, and you should have a nice transmitter to get on the air with.

[DMOD]

The Knight's can be modded to sound very good and was a little powerhouse at the time.

My recommendation would be to check the circuitry against the manual's original circutry to first determine if any prior modifications were made and then note them..

In order to reduce bandwidth (pre-mod bandwidth shown below), you will want to make the modifications referenced by Steve or look at ER #312.

Phil - AC0OB

[WA5VGO]

Sorry to hear disparaging comments about my first transmitter as a general, I sure had fun with it.  My elmer, w1zlx had one and worked a ton of dx with it.  Just goes to show that being a first class op helps.  Yes, I remember it drifted on ten meters, but no one cared.

The T-150 is a cool transmitter. It won't make you the channel master, but it is a fun transmitter. Just fire it up and enjoy it for what it is.

Darrell

[N2DTS]

I used to work someone on 40 meters who lived in Elmer NJ and ran a great sounding Knight T150.
I think he had an outboard modulator maybe.
Improving things is the fun part for some, ever listen to the Tron?

The price was right, paint it and use a P touch to label things and then start making it better.
There was not a piece of ham gear made that could not be made better.