viking ii

[ka2fwn]

i just picked up a vii w/vfo nice shape, looking for a pair of 6146's.
whats a good type,make,$$  to use in this xmitter
thanks
ka2fwn
bob

[AF9J]

When the Viking II was made, it used 6146s.  Mine runs 6146Bs, without any problems.  I don't know if any circuit changes were done to help neutralization.  Some older rigs aren't too happy with 6146Bs.  But then again, the Viking II is pretty sedate plate voltagewise compared to my Kenwood TS-820.  RCAs are good, as are JAN/Phillips.  I'm not wild about the chinese 6146Ws (the W is the military version of the 6146), but some people say they're OK.

73,,
Ellen - AF9J

[WQ9E]

Bob,

I use 6146W tubes in my Viking 2, I bought a bunch from Fair years ago and also use them in my Valiant and Heathkit gear.  I think the neutralization circuit in the V-2 will handle any of the 6146 family (except for the early Chinese 6146's which were garbage and won't work right anywhere).

Check the sockets and bases of your 5R4 rectifiers to make sure they are clean and don't have carbon tracks developing across them-both the Viking 1 and 2 are prone to problems here if dirt/dust was allowed to build up.

Rodger WQ9E

[ka2fwn]

Thanks for the info,
Striped it all down and cleaned it replacing the caps doing some mods, hope to get it on the air soon.
73’ ka2fwn

[WQ9E]

Good deal Bob,

I think the Viking I and II are the most rugged and trouble free transmitters produced by Johnson.  I recently picked up another Viking I that looks a bit nicer than the one I already owned and my Viking 1/SX-28A is my favorite looking vintage setup.

Rodger WQ9E

[kb3nqd]

Hope you enjoy your purchase. I have used the EFJVII on several occaisions (and own one) and truly enjoy them. 

It sounds like you are nearly done giving the main unit a thorough "once over".  You might want to do the same for the VFO.  The EFJV VFO can be a bit problematic due to a power resistor goes bad (folks far more knowlegeable than me tell me it is common).  A little more unusual is a problem I had with a borrowed EFVJII VFO where a capacitor went short (which nearly started a fire in the transmitter).

Overall the units seem to be able to take an awful lot of heavy duty abuse.  If I were to see another one at a Fester and the price was right it would probably follow me home.


Manaen KB3NQD

[WA1GFZ]

The best V2 power supply modification I ever did was to solid state the power supplies and take the two extra 5 volt windings and put them in series with the LV transformer primary. The transformer temperature drops down to almost room and the heater voltage drops back to around 6.3 volts from 6.8.
I also put a fuse holder in the 6al5 hole and fused the primary of the LV transformer.

[kb3nqd]

If you can avoid recreating the wheel you probably should....It sounds like a good mod for me to install.  Do you have a schizmatic of the work that you did?

[WA1GFZ]

Pretty easy take a couple dead tubes and bust the glass out. Wire in 1000 volt diodes to solid state HV and LV. I did 2000 Vpiv for low V and 5000 piv HV. The HV I mounted the diodes on a proto board inside the tube base. Then just plug them in. I mounted a terminal strip on the chassis side wall and wired a negative voltage full wave rectifier. Then remove the 6AL5 socket and install a fuse holder. You can put two diodes across the tube socket pins if you don't want to add the fuse. Then I removed the two wire line cord and installed a 3 wire. I opened up the hole for a good strain relief. I removed the TVI filter parts from relay and line to make room for another terminal strip so the two 5 volt windings could be wired in series with the primary. This way I could change it if I ever have the rig on a low line. My line is at 126 volts most of the time so the transformer got pretty hot. Now it hardly warms up after many hours of use. It was designed to work at 110 volts so it must be close to saturation at 126.
Another good mod is Zener regulate the modulator screens. I yanked out the big resistor and installed 3 10 watt zeners in series with balance resistors  on a 1 X1 inch angle bracket regulate the modulator screens. Use good balance resistors say 20 K 5 watt each and around 25 k at 20 or so watts series dropping. The 25 K connects to the HV side of the old resistor connection and the zeners go between the other side of the resistor and return lead from the big resistor. The Tap goes between the zener and resistor. I mounted a terminal strip on the angle aluminum so the holes line up. Then used a couple self tapping screws to hold the bracket and terminal strip to the chassis. Use care drilling the chassis the variable inductor for the tank is just above the area.
The balance resistors in series with the 25 K dropping resistor become the HV bleeder. I also put a cap at the modulator screens. 2 uF if I remember. RF parts has good deals on power zeners. Don't forget mounting insualtors. The screens are solid, even with atomic yealos. I also zener regulated the modulator bias because the voltage goes up a bit when the 6al5 is solid stated. A zener dials it right in. I mounted that zener near the driver transformer terminal strip.
Now you can do you audio mods.....