Troubleshoot Viking Ranger II

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WB2PKR:
Went to lunch with an old friend this week and came home with his Viking Ranger II. I’ve admired it for a very long time. It just sits there unused on his spare parts shelf looking like it just came out of the box.
He said it worked the last time he used it about 10 years ago but it had some audio issues. The price was right and cosmetically it looks super nice, so I figured it would make a good winter project.   :-\

I have the original manual and receipt as well as a change/repair log from original owner but it only documents the changes from 1962 til 1975. It appears many more mods were subsequently made without any doc.
Im hoping that someone here might recognize some of these mods and if possible might even have doc/schematics of the changes and/or give me some more specific suggestions on shooting the problem.

According to him, this rig was restored and modified by Dee (W4PNT). Upon inspection, I can see it is definitely not stock/original design. In addition to being recapped, I can see all sorts of mods. Most the caps have been replaced except those “domino” looking micas. The Chernobyl resister was replaced and relocated outside the VFO enclosure.  The LV and HV tubes have been replaced with diodes. There is a pot where the crystal socket was located that is connected to some sort of SS voltage regulator that seems to control grid current (possibly the Turbo Mod I read about (W3AM)??. The modulators have been replaced with 6550s. The HV bleeding resister has been removed. There seems to be some sort of PTT circuit added. Its a really pretty Frankenstein.

I finally got an account here (Thanks John) on AMfone and I been searching/read through all the Ranger posts I could find.

Here is what I have done so far…

Visual inspection. Electrolytics all look OK. No visual signs of any fried components.
Connected to watt meter and dummy load. No mic. No key.
I used BCG’s 60W lightbulb fuse approach and the rig came on no problem with the rectifiers pulled. Same after plugging the LV rectifier back in and then subsequently, the HV rectifier. No pops, no fuses blown, no breakers tripped.
I pulled and checked all the tubes, except the two in the VFO enclosure. They all are OK and they all are the original spec tubes except the rectifiers and modulators as previously described.
I was able to follow the instructions to initially tune up the rig. I peaked the exciter and could zero beat it on 3700 listening on my receiver.
In tune position I could also see some grid current but the driver did not affect it. Neither did that pot in the crystal socket.
When I switch the meter to plate and try to dip, no dip.
Connect straight key to key jack. switch to CW, key down plate current meter moves left. less than 1W out.

My next steps would be to start checking voltages as per the manual, but what about all these mods? Does anyone recognize any of these and if so, would you please provide some insight on how to proceed.
Thanks.  Ron WB2PKR

Photos attached...

KB2WIG:


R,

Welcome a bord.

You may wish to check out this,        http://www.amwindow.org/tech/htm/rangtron.htm  on the AM Window seister site.

klc

MikeKE0ZUinkcmo:
My suggestion would be to google "viking ranger mods" and similar queries.  The goal is to print out as many of the various modification documents as you can find, and start comparing them with your radio.   As you mentioned, at first glance it looks like the audio may have been modified per a circuit from W3AM I think it is.

Aside from 6 Meter provisions, there is little difference between the Ranger and Ranger II, so most of the mods would work on either model.

The data gathering/evaluation process will take few hours to fully determine "what it is you have", but once you know what you're dealing with, you'll have a good idea what you would like to keep, and what you would like to do, or undo as the case may be.

WB2PKR:
WIG, thanks for the link.
Mike, yes, google is my friend.

It appears this rig has some of Tim's audio mods, some of W3AM's turbo mods (grid control) and some other (PTT) mods.
Still reading, researching and sketching out some drawings that accurately describe the mods. Once I understand what I have I will report back and then dig into to try to find root cause.

I was hoping someone might recognize some of these mods and shed some light. Oh well, troubleshooting is half the fun. Back to work.

Thanks again for your replies.

PKR

WA1HZK:
My Ranger mods are here.
http://amfone.net/ECSound/

I do have the documents if you don't have them already.
Keith
WA1HZK

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