Canadian Marconi XMITR ??INFO??

[WBear2GCR]

I have the opportunity to get a Canadian Marconi Xmitr.          

The ID plate has been removed, so there is no model number - I did not have my digital camera with me at the time...

Anyone who knows about this rig, or has a URL that might give some info?

Anyhow:

Grey, three chassis mounted in a rack, about 3 ft wide and ~4ft tall. Each chassis is like a drawer about 14" deep. < note: do not pull out and drop on foot >

Top is the RF deck: to the left is the final, looks like a 1 x 4-400 or similar (has a tube shield!), large coil with bandswitch, two crank knobs connected to mechanical digital readouts, at least one vacuum variable. May not be a PI circuit. To the right looks like a Collins PTO and a bandswitch arrangement which has digital mechanical readouts that open up for each band. Bandswitched from ~1.6 up to 30mc. (other knobs for other functions too... like ext exciter)

Middle chassis is modulator, with switches for carbon, regular mic and presumably a key?
Big ass mod xfmr rated for 300-3500Hz only... but about 8-9" square...
Looks like a pair of 4-125 or 4-250 Raytheon branded tubes for the modulator.

Bottom drawer is the PS.
Didn't open it for a look, but very very heavy.
Two big breakers on the front and a pilot light.

To my eye it looks like late 50s or 60's construction... but that's a guesstimate. Could maybe even be early 70s.

Biggass rack, closed in rear, with massive casters... thing has to weigh in at nearly 500lbs.

Something of a "heavy duty" xmiter... 

    _-_-WBear2GCR     

 

[Ed-VA3ES]

Sounds almost like an FRT501.  The '501 runs a pair of 4-125's in the O/P and a pair in the modulator, but can easily be swapped with 4-400's, as Al VE3AJM did to his. (Gets almost a KW out with the '400's in there!)  Pics?

[ve6pg]

...sounds more like the technical materiel corp. gpt-series...maybe a gpt-750...the '750 is about 4 ft tall, es abt 3ft wide...the frt 501 is not that wide, and taller...it has a front door that opens to one side...most '501s were painted RCAF blue, and have the antenna tuner on the top rack...gud luk, es send some pix, if you can..tim..sk..

[W1ATR]

Bear, that's a pretty good description of a Barker and Williamson t-368. If you can get it for a decent price, it's worth it. Nice radio.

Not to mention that it sounds complete also.

Here's some nice pics from the web:

 http://r-390a.us/T368.htm

Edit: Just thinking about that radio for a second. Judging by your QTH, is that radio owned by John KF2JQ? I met John near Buffalo a couple of years ago (Maybe little less than that) to pick up my GPT-750, and I remember him talking about a T-368 he was working on. Just curious.

[WBear2GCR]

Ya mon!

T-368 it is!!

Maybe an "a" or something, since it has larger digital mechanical readouts on the plate and loading knobbers and iirc they're on top not on the side...

And no, not from KF2JQ, afaik. I'm not near Buffalo - close to the other side of the state, Albany.

What's the output tube? Single 4-400??

Anyplace on the web with a schematic??

Now I have to really think about buying it... but BOY IS IT BIG AND HEAVY!!  - the casters on the bottom look bigger than those in the pix.

What do you think it is worth "as-is" but all there??

         _-_-WBear2GCR

[W1ATR]

Yup, I kind of figured that was it. I ment to put up two links, here's the other one:

http://www.w1ujr.net/t368.htm

I'd say if it's clean, and functional, it's worth about a grand. If the seller is an ePay nut, then he'll think it's worth 3000, but a grand is fair for a nice one. Less if it's going to need some wrench time to get it on the air.

I believe you can grab a manual for it off the bama site.

(Shoot, your still closer to Buffalo than I am. It was a 950 mile round trip for me on a Sunday to fetch my 750.)

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

T-368 Mods here

http://www.amwindow.org/tech/htm/t368.htm

and here

http://www.amwindow.org/tech/htm/n9foy/n9foymods.htm

[WBear2GCR]

Supposed to pick it up tomorrow afternoon around 3PM... supposed to.

Then, we'll see... thinking about floor reinforcement methods... and how and who is going to help me carry the bloomin PS section into the place... although initial clean up and testing will be in the shop which formerly was a/the garage... will post some pix of this madness[/i] once it arrives here... 
 

                _-_-WBear2GCR

[WBear2GCR]

As of about 2 hours ago, two decks, the RF deck and the Mod deck are here - still in the back seat and trunk of my little Nissan Sentra 1.6 sedan... the massively overbuilt roll around "chassis" with casters that are rather heavy heavy duty (it does weigh 650lbs according to the manual!!) and the power supply deck are in the back of my friend Pablo's green cheby pick-em-up truck scheduled for arrival here first light in the AM.

Getting it loaded was no problem with 4 guys on hand. Getting it OFF the bloomin truck with just the two of us should be interesting, although gravity will be in our favor. The height of the tailgate will not.

Turns out that it is a T-368/A model based upon the printing showing dual 117vac primaries on the rather conservatively rated, and about 10" square power transformer. Everything appears to be there... it's not pristine, but there.

Will it fire up? Dunno. Getting it slung together is not going to be simple... but it looks like it has an internal vacuum TR switch built in, which means that in theory at least, it is "plug and play"! 

The fellow who dredged this bit of heavy metal up saw the Canadian Marconi label on this wierd "T" shaped thing loosely referred to as an "antenna" that comes with the thing. The top of T is about 3" round - I assume this is some sort of DF or ferrite receiving ant, can't be a transmitting ant. As noted earlier, the main tag has been removed.

Well, based on a quick look, it will take some cleaning up at minimum and some fresh paint.

I downloaded the several manuals on 'bama and from a very very fast first pass, looks like there are going to be a number of mods to be done to the Mod deck... and perhaps a few additional mods on the RF deck based on the websites that are noted in this thread...

But after that...   

I've seen quite a number of transmitters, gotta say that this one is really sumtin' !!
The build quality is outrageous... the specs are pretty outstanding too, and it tunes with knobs from 1.6 up to 30mhz... sweet. And, even though it weighs in at 650lbs, it's still not as large as Nick's homebrew!    The pull out drawers making it modular makes the thing a bit less of a cluster***** if you know what I mean...

Well, if it runs without too too much grief and the tubes are not shot, I'll be a happy camper...
Pix probably when it is daylight again...

Did I mention this is a real RADIO !! [/b][/i]

        _-_-WBear2GCR

Did I mention that apparently the military carted this thing around inside some little box with wheels on it, pulled by a truck or something like a truck?? Portable? Heh...

[w3jn]

Great score, Bear.  There's been several discussions on the board centering on T-368s, use the "search" function to find 'em.

I've always wanted one but have never found one for the right price.

BTW the only uncommon tube in that beast is the 6000 driver that's in the VFO module, IIRC.  A 25 cent 25AV5 sweep tube is said to work Fine Business in place of the $50 6000 toob.  Same pinout and the ratings are very close.

[WBear2GCR]

Yeah, jn, so I've read... thanks for the info!!

Well I've posted some pix below.

The place where I first saw it was rather dimly lit, and I didn't have a lot of time nor a flashlight with me... well it turns out that the 1500pf Vacuum Variable that is normally in the loading position of the pi-net is AWOL.     

In its place is a *gack* 70 amp fuse??!!     
See the pix.

Well I'm looking at it, and there is ample real estate under that big coil - so I'm thinking of a "bread slicer" in the hole... I have a number of reasonably wide spaced critters that have been sitting around in a box, and a few in an old broadcast exciter chassis that might function in that spot.

Worried now that a 1500pf Vacuum Variable will be beaucoup bux, even a Ruskie one. 

Guess I'll have to look at the handbooks and see what they want for a 5kv spacing... the B+ being 2450vdc... seems about right...

I'll need to rig a 90 degree drive and a reduction drive to make the numbers on the front mechanical readout get close to where they should be... but I think I have some of that stuff laying about waiting for a reason that I kept them around all this time...

So, sadly, no way to fire it up right away. Although I guess it could run without a loading cap, or with a fixed cap in the hole for testing....

[W1UJR]

All you ever wanted to know about the T-3 and more -> http://www.w1ujr.net/t368.htm

[WBear2GCR]

Ya, thanks Bruce, already been there!

Nice site!

     _-_-

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Of course, this means there's another one out there waiting to surface, since they appear in threes. Get those handtrucks ready.

The vac variables show up from time to time. The larger one always cost a bit, and it's always the one missing or broken (of course). I have an RF deck with a smashed one still in it. Think the most I've ever seen one go for on ebay was $125 or so. Once you get it replaced, you'll want to be veerrrry careful sliding the RF deck in and out, being sure not to lift up as you're sliding it forward. Seems impossible to do, but I've heard stories of guys who popped one this way.

Mine arrived home two weeks ago, and is currently sitting in the dining room with an R-390A and the SWR meter atop it. I did plug it in and it fires up fine. Just don't make the mistake of throwing the plate relay switch or *BAM*! Out go the lights, and breaker downstairs. Seems there really is a HV issue to be dealt with, Dave wasn't kidding!

Bruce has a great site for the T-3, there are a number of other good pages on the web also with tips, conversions, and so on. Bruce probably has links to them.

Think of it as big rig performance in a manageable-sized package...

[WBear2GCR]

The vac variables show up from time to time. The larger one always cost a bit, and it's always the one missing or broken (of course). I have an RF deck with a smashed one still in it. Think the most I've ever seen one go for on ebay was $125 or so. Once you get it replaced, you'll want to be veerrrry careful sliding the RF deck in and out, being sure not to lift up as you're sliding it forward. Seems impossible to do, but I've heard stories of guys who popped one this way.

Todd, not sure about that... from what I read the thing that breaks is the ceramic coil former, if someone torqued it down tight, or if it doesn't have the nylon mounting screws (geez, I have read too much on this rig too fast!    )

Let me know if you can read the Jennings part number or better still the kV spec on the big 1500pf??

           _-_-WBear2GCR