KH6JRM's Amateur Radio Blog
Keeping with my underlying theme of operatng an amateur
radio station with a minimum of cost, I'm continuing to
bring an old Kenwood 520 back to life. I'm indebted
to Ken, K4EAA, for his informative website. He has
given me plenty of helpful hints in restoring this classic
hybrid rig. The new 12BY7 driver is working well and
my self-constructed ac power cord seems to be holding
its own. I ordered a PC-2 cord from Ken just in case my
stubby fingers ruining the soldering job on the 12-pin con-
nector. The rig runs well after blowing out the dust and
spraying the switches with de-oxit contact cleaner. Al-
though the 2001 finals are a bit soft, I can get out a more
than adequate 60 watts. Since I tend to run rigs at qrp
levels, the slightly lower output doesn't present an immedi-
ate problem. I have a spare set of 6146Bs in the tube
cabinet. While my minor tune-up was thankfully easy, I
enjoyed getting inside the rig and doing a few things for
myself. If you have the time and can secure a classic
tube rig (full tube or hybrid), you might find the re-
vitalization effort a nice learning activity. Now that the
Kenwood is running, I can disassemble the Swan 100 MX
and give it a thorough cleaning. These older rigs feed a
series of home-brew verticals and loops. While not fancy,
the arrangement works for me. Yes, I secretly want an
Elecraft K-3. That rig will have to wait while I accumu-
late the necessary funds. Meanwhile, I'm having fun and
learning a few things on the side...not a bad combination.
Enjoy the weekend...73 de KH6JRM.
radio station with a minimum of cost, I'm continuing to
bring an old Kenwood 520 back to life. I'm indebted
to Ken, K4EAA, for his informative website. He has
given me plenty of helpful hints in restoring this classic
hybrid rig. The new 12BY7 driver is working well and
my self-constructed ac power cord seems to be holding
its own. I ordered a PC-2 cord from Ken just in case my
stubby fingers ruining the soldering job on the 12-pin con-
nector. The rig runs well after blowing out the dust and
spraying the switches with de-oxit contact cleaner. Al-
though the 2001 finals are a bit soft, I can get out a more
than adequate 60 watts. Since I tend to run rigs at qrp
levels, the slightly lower output doesn't present an immedi-
ate problem. I have a spare set of 6146Bs in the tube
cabinet. While my minor tune-up was thankfully easy, I
enjoyed getting inside the rig and doing a few things for
myself. If you have the time and can secure a classic
tube rig (full tube or hybrid), you might find the re-
vitalization effort a nice learning activity. Now that the
Kenwood is running, I can disassemble the Swan 100 MX
and give it a thorough cleaning. These older rigs feed a
series of home-brew verticals and loops. While not fancy,
the arrangement works for me. Yes, I secretly want an
Elecraft K-3. That rig will have to wait while I accumu-
late the necessary funds. Meanwhile, I'm having fun and
learning a few things on the side...not a bad combination.
Enjoy the weekend...73 de KH6JRM.
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Aloha es 73 de Russ (KH6JRM).