Ranger in need

[WA1NTA]

Hello everyone, I'm new here, I was told by a friend that this was the place to find some real Ranger expertise.

I acquired a 'non functioning' Ranger at a good price in the hopes of resurrecting it.
After bringing it up, I found that the vfo and keyer seem to be functioning fine. There is no output however and on closer examination, I found the 5R4 was blown and the two 1614s have some shorted elements according to my Hickock. There is some obvious evidence of heat on r15 and r35 as well. Could it be that the one of the 1614s brought it down or is there something much more sinister. Any ideas are greatly appreciated.

73
gf

[KB2WIG]

... well... get your jesus stick out and make sure the thing can't kill you. Get rid of the abomination  aka, the power plug/fuse. Use a modern 3 prong power cord and a fuse in the HOT side of the cord...Buy a box of 2 amp fast blow fuses and use them untill your finished troubleshooting. Got a variac ??       Pull the tubes and do some resistance checks (use the values in the manual)..Write the values down. Give it a good visual inspection lookin for zorch spots and other baked goods. Your trying to break the transmitter down into seperate subsystems and see what/which work. ( Like you did finding that the  vfo is working). Is the 5R4 bad 'cuz it is or something past it in the ckt. is?                    As you probably already know, there are a host of modifications available. I suggest you do your troubleshooting without trying the modifications ( with the exception of the  'litic capacitor changes and the Chernoble resistor in the vfo)... Get it working then do the mods one by one; you don't want to change ten things and then go back to figure which one you did incorrect.... Go with the Henery yehL R mods.....     gud luck

[WA1NTA]

Thanks for your help! I did the resistance test and found a few discrepancies. I'm hoping you can lead me in the right direction.
The modulation transformer shows a resistance of 1500 between the red and blue and also between the primary and secondary windings.
T2 shows an abnormal reading of 226 between the red and brown. Should I be worried about this?
Otherwise the resistance test looks ok.
C59 has been removed and the center tap of the modulation transformer has been rewired to ground. I haven't been able to find a mod that includes this rewire. Do you know of one?
Thanks again for your help.
73
gf

[The Slab Bacon]

The center tap of the mod tranny is wired to ground?? Is  it the center tap on the primary or the secondary? If it is the center on the secondary, someone has been using it to drive a pair of large class B triode modulator grids. If someone has wired either center tap to ground and you stick a properly wired accessory plug into the accessory socket, you will be shorting the HV B+ right to ground. This will definately take the 5R4 right out, and quickly!

One problem with rangers, valliants, and many other common pieces of equiptment, is that just about every time it changes hands, someone changes something. Rangers, for some reason seem to suffer from this more often than not. You will have to lay hands on it and do the "Vulcan mind tap" on it and become one with it to figger all of the problems out.

The best thing that you can do if you are not familiar with that rig, is to get a manwell and study the schematic until you are familiar with it. Then study the chassis and look for anything that doesnt jive with the schematic. Try to put it back somewhere close to original to get it working. After you get it working, then work up your modifications of choice from there.

Rangers can be somewhat a pain in the ass to work on, as they are packed fairly tight on the power supply / rf driver side of the chassis. And the LV filter choke under the chassis is always in your way.

Once working properly, a ranger is nice little exciter and a lot of fun to use. There are more mods out there for rangers than recipes for "grandpa's secret BBQ sauce". If done properly you will have a lot of fun with it.
                                                                     The Slab Bacon

[KB2WIG]

.... what he say ..... one little trick to get more working room is to mount the LV choke on the outside of the chassis. Hopefully the wire(s) is long enough so you can loosen the mounting hardware and flip the choke over and mount it on the outside of the chassis. ( save the 5r4-- you can use the base to solid state the rectimfrier - mount diodes on it and plug her in).. gud luk