20-11-2015, 11:47 PM
(20-11-2015, 04:31 PM)Nowhere-Man Wrote:(19-11-2015, 07:15 PM)Terry Wrote: Yes, a third possibility to add to the other two.
I doubt NM has a signal generator, so alignment will be an interesting chapter when we get that far!
Your point being??
If you had a signal generator - which, from a previous post it appears not - it is extremely unlikely that you would know how to use it, so that would be a complete new learning cycle in itself.
Incidentally, you wouldn't be alone here - I've lost track of the posts I've read in various forums from folk who have accumulated a variety of test equipment (primarily oscilloscopes and signal generators) that would have cost thousands when new and most of us could only drool over the prospect of even seeing one! However, 99 times out of a hundred, they don't have the faintest idea how to use them and they have so many bells and whistles that it is very difficult to advise them how to set them up to accomplish the simple tasks that they want to carry out.
Whilst there will be occasions when specific test equipment will be needed for alignment, I think it is unlikely in your case. However, the instructions in the service sheet will be useless and you will need to be guided on how to perform adjustments in a safe and non destructive way to be successful.
One thing you can do in the meantime is to assemble a set of suitable trimming tools - which will be essential, no matter how you approach the job.
Trimmers, which have metal screws, can be adjusted with a screwdriver but this is an exception - no other adjustments must be made with a metal tool.
Your radio will be too old to have ferrite cores with hexagonal holes, I think, which is a blessing, as they can be irreparably damaged if the wrong tool is used.
You will most likely find that all the cores in the RF and IF circuits are dust iron and look as if you could use a screwdriver for adjustment but any metal object will severely detune the circuit, rendering them useless. An insulated tool with a sharp blade will be needed. When I first started dabbling as a schoolboy I used to scrounge all my mum's broken bone knitting needles and file them to shape but I doubt you'd find any these days!
Perhaps someone else will have some ideas on where/how to get hold of something suitable.
Then you will need to know how to use them - but that is for another day ...
In the meantime, look carefully at all the cores - don't touch them, but look to see if the phantom twiddler has been there before you, the damage to the cores is usually easy to spot ...
