boatanchor restoration

8/18/2019 Boatanchor Restoration

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2/15

Restoration of BoatAnchor radio equipmentwas a !ollow-u !rom @s editor, another letter !rom W:;%7 and several

ictures# I! I !ind the time I will scan them and ost lin's to them here#

The e+ ression )BoatAnchor) may have originated earlier than 1452, as Doug

ensley ointed out# I !ound no earlier re!erences in amateur radio than these@s, "ut there may "e some# owever, there was no reason to call amateurgear o! that era )BoatAnchors) since almost all o! it !it that descri tion# It wasn@ttill later when smaller, lighter gear "ecame o ular that there was reason tocategori(e some gear as BoatAnchors# And it is also interesting to me that aword originally used to denote something o! little value, use!ul only to anchor asmall "oat, has ta'en on a more a!!ectionate meaning# We love our)BoatAnchors)# Roger 82

Another #ersion in#o$#in% the spouse or partner&And then there is this one !rom a &ews 7rou # )The true determination isgenerally made "y your s ouse# I! you can wal' in the !ront door with it,without your s ouse as'ing )and what are you lanning to do with that*), it isnot a "oat anchor# Boat anchors are "rought in during the night or on longwee'ends#

The BoatAnchor radio nets&

ere is %outh Australia we can ta'e art in two BoatAnchor nets, one onTuesday night and the other, the Bottle %ho net, on >riday nights# There is alsoan AM net on ?#1C5 M ( and a 2 metre AM net on 5:#1 M ( on %undaymorning where you are encouraged to have realE old radio equi ment#

The de!inition that is generally acce ted on these nets is valves .tu"es0 in the R>!inal stages# I! you come u with a more modern rig you will not "e shunned o!!the net, es ecially i! you have a true BoatAnchor roFect in rogress and areas'ing !or assistance or loo'ing !or arts#

The ru$ers of the 'ni#erse (or the ans)er to the meanin% of $ife*

3ld radio equi ment a!ter itGs use "y date is usually stored !or many years indar' dam rodent in!ested sheds and "y the time you, the collector o! such itemsget hold o! it, it has "een "adly damaged "y moisture and sometimes little !urycritters# We all dream o! !inding a er!ect >T-1=1/ or T%-5C=% in its original

"o+ with all manuals and accessories# Dream on H

The metal wor' in most old radio equi ment had "een cadmium lated and theouter ca"inets were ainted with crac'le or hammer !inish aints# ;ong storage

Page 2 of document BoatAnchor Restoration.doc


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Restoration of BoatAnchor radio equipment &ow I cannot "e too critical o! oor old arry, I destroyed an ARJ and anAWA seven "ad radio when I was much younger# >itted />5= valves to the R>and I> stages and eventually "uilt in a roduct detector# The ro"lem was "oththese radios were not sta"le enough !or these im rovements and were soon

singing their own tunes, oscillating to themselves and dri!ting o!! stationwhenever I snee(ed#


5/15

Restoration of BoatAnchor radio equipment

This ne+t radio, a ar"ros > transceiver, is a very sim le two way radio# Itwas "uilt in Victoria during the 145=Gs !or the ountry >ire %ervice# $ to thattime they had "een using war time radios "ut they were too BI7 to !it in mostutilities and so the ar"ringe Brothers "uilt these along with a lot o! otherinteresting radios !or emergency services around Australia# It has a 1C Volt

vi"rator su ly is a se arate "o+# There was also a 2 Volt su ly availa"le#



6/15


I have restored this and had to re lace most o! the ca acitors and some resistors#All the valves were still in good condition and now it develo s a"out C Watt.AM or course0 at its original !requency o! C24C 8 K# I am intending to change

that to ?#1C5 M ( !or use on the AM net# A!ter much searching the we" I !oundthe %on o! the !ellow who designed these and this %on was the a rentice that



7/15

Restoration of BoatAnchor radio equipment ut many together# e is still in the electronics "usiness, !itting alarm systemsand re airing two way radios# >unny a"out that# Today he has his >athers callsign, V8:TA#

A co$$ection of #er, nice radio %ear in distress&

%ome time ago I was o!!ered a T%-5C=% with its accessories and a To'yoy


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9/15

Restoration of BoatAnchor radio equipmentI then ainted each item with a suita"le ressure ac' aint# Lou can usually!ind a int colour close to the original "ut I did not even try, I li'e the colour Ichose !or this restoration# It was a olorBond touch-u aint#

I! you would li'e to see the rest o! this equi ment visit my we" site and loo' atthe 8enwood T%-5C=% age and the To'yo L- ;inearAm li!ier age# The ;inear Am li!ier still needs some wor', the / T su ly!ailed Fust when I thought I had !inished restoring it# I also do not 'now thecondition o! the two valves, do not have any high voltage to test them yet#

No) )e %et to a #er, /ad case of dama%e&

My latest challenge has "een two eath'it items the rulers o! the universe haddecided to ma'e home, a D -2=B and an R-1=B#

The rust on these chassis were caused "y the mice and the liquid had runthrough the screw holes and damaged the com onents underneath and even thevalve soc'ets# At !irst I sim ly tried to scru" it clean with acid and steel wool,wearing tough ru""er gloves o! course# The more I did this the more damagewas "eing done to the rest o! the com onents so I decided to ta'e everything o!!the transmitter chassis and do a good Fo" o! cleaning it#

First )e )i$$ $oo0 at the 12!34B



10/15

Restoration of BoatAnchor radio equipmentThese transmitters were very chea , they sold in the $%A in the 142=Gs !ora"out ?=#== and so they had to "e very crude# There was no


11/15

Restoration of BoatAnchor radio equipmentThe other modi!ications I have done to the !irst D -2=B in my collection is to!it a 1C Volt trans!ormer and three relays to ta'e the stress o!! the rotary switchand to rovide !requency so it su!!ers !rom image ro"lems withsignals that are 41= 8 ( away !rom the one you are listening too# 3ne thinggoing !or it is the crystal !ilter in the I> stage, you can see the two crystals in the

hotos "elow# To "e !air, in the 142=Gs it may have "een quite adequate as %%B

transmissions were Fust starting and the R> inter!erence was no-where near as "ad as it is today# &o lasma televisions or switch mode ower su lies H

The receiver was in even worse condition than the transmitter and it may "eused as a chassis andNor ca"inet !or some ome Brew roFect# I have several o!those in a !older titled


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Restoration of BoatAnchor radio equipment• %cotch "right ads P these can "e "ought at Auto re!inisher su lies in

three grades "ut the su er mar'et variety are adequate .these will o!ten "eall you need to clean a chassis, these and tur s#0

• 7ood ru""er gloves P !rom the su er mar'et

• Mineral Tur entine

• R


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Restoration of BoatAnchor radio equipmentMy !irst ste is to decide i! the item !its any o! the !irst !our oints listed at thestart o! this tal'# +h, restore a BoatAnchor - I then decide how !ar I amgoing to go and how original or modi!ied the item will "e#

•

I! it is only dirty I remove the chassis !rom the ca"inet and stri it o! allremova"le items# I then scru" it with the %cotch Bright ads and mineraltur s# I usually s ray the valve soc'ets with R


15/15

Restoration of BoatAnchor radio equipment• 3nly wor' on live equi ment when you a"solutely have to and then "e

care!ul o! what you do with your other handE# I was taught whenwor'ing on high voltage equi ment to ut the other hand "ehind my

"ac'# $se cli leads on meters and other test equi ment# Ma'e sure youare not distracted "y others near you and loc' the 'ids and the ets out o!the room#

• I! you have to wor' on trans!ormer less equi ment use an isolationtrans!ormer and "etter still i! you are restoring it, loo' at !itting a owertrans!ormer# I have restored several 11= Volt owered items "y !itting atrans!ormer !rom an old lastic cased mantle radio# These are almostworthless and there is usually room on the chassis o! such equi ment !or

a trans!ormer, they were o!ten designed with this in mind# 11= Volt seriesheater string radios used common valves that were designed withdi!!erent heater voltages "ut the same current rating# 2#: Volt version o!the same valves are easy to !ind here in Australia and can "e used in laceo! the original valves# %ee the eath'it R-1=B on my eath'it ages#

• Always use cleaning materials and aints in well ventilated areas, someo! the va ours may "e dangerous# 8ee small children and ets away

!rom harm, clean u any s ills and s lashes o! dangerous materials#3n age two I mentioned the meaning o! li!e the universe and everythingE,well the answer will sur rise you, it is C#

isit m, )e/ site for more stories and photos of restoration pro7ects&

http&88)))"phi$ipstorr"id"au8radio8ham"htm


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