OldStuff
03-10-2025, 05:16 PM
I have had this radio in storage for some time. So I just replaced the capacitors and tested the tubes. I hooked up a speaker, and set it up with a variac and a DBT. The light on my DBT lit up, but nothing on the radio. This radio has no fuse, so I'm guessing it has a bad transformer?
OldStuff
03-10-2025, 06:55 PM
I found out that I had a bad line cord. The DBT never lit up much so I removed it. Now the meter lamp is starting to show life at about 40 volts on my variac. I'm going to leave it for a while before I raise the voltage.
OldStuff
03-10-2025, 07:22 PM
Well, I must be out of the woods now, it's picking up stations.
ARC Tech-109
03-13-2025, 08:39 AM
I had a power switch go bad just from sitting for 10+ years, was just enough corrosion on the contact end to isolate 120 volts until I cycled it a few times.
electronjohn
03-15-2025, 10:54 AM
Neat radio! I think my NC-109 might be an updated version of your 125 w/miniature tubes.
ARC Tech-109
03-15-2025, 05:44 PM
I recently picked up a Drake TR-4 from a recently deceased neighbor, spent an evening cleaning it up and made a substitute power supply using an Eicor dynamotor and found plenty of filthy conversations on 80M. Radio still has a few bugs and I'm waiting for the correct AC3 to arrive but despite the decades of cigarette smoke filth it seems to have lots of life in it.