Today was the Irving Amateur Radio Club hamfest. It was a lot of fun all day, and I met a gentleman there who kindly gifted me the remains of a Collins 32RA, Model 8 according to the schematic with it.
The 32RA is a 120LB desktop boatanchor covering 1.5 to 15MC, with three 807s as the RF stage and four cathode-biased 6L6G as AB modulator having carbon mic input. AM is 50W carrier, pretty conservative, nice design. Rectifiers 2x 866 for the power stage plates and one 80 for the low B+ and bias, all choke input filters naturally. In Phone mode, plate voltage for audio and RF power stages is 450V.
At some time in the past, it had been pit in a pickup truck but the tailgate was accidentally left down. The transmitter fell out of the bed on the highway and partly demolished. What I received is the scarred control panel with several meters still intact, and the power supply chassis and modulator chassis that seem in pretty good shape.
These are really beefy assemblies with lots of weighty iron. The plate transformer rating is 450VA. The modulation transformer should give a clue to how the 6L6G are operated at the unusually high voltage, with a 4100 Ohm CT primary and a 50W rating from 30-8000CPS. Not sure what to do with these things right now except to care for them. It looks like an invitation to build a transmitter.
Can anyone comment on their experiences with the 32RA?
https://collinsradio.org/archives/manuals/32RA-Model-8.pdfUnrelatedly, the hamfest was eventually coming to a close and a few people did not want to tote everything home. Someone gave me an older ROBOT SSTV processor, a h/p 412A VTVM, and an h/p digital DVM with a 4-terminal setup for Ohms.
A new online surplus store based in texas, Magnetosphere.net, showed up with hundreds of different types of parts and sold them for cents on the dollar, just to say "Hi we're here!" Their web site is very plain but I like it anyway. I'm sure it will have to grow some more. so few surplus stores with Texas warehouses any more. used to be many!