TT 509 & 515 are two fantastic QRP radios from TenTec,,,, back in the
70s, before anyone knew what QRP was !!!
After finding a used 509 in the QST classified ads, I drove 6 hours one
night to pick up a set in Western Illinois.
Now after 40 years both sets have seized VFOs. TenTec had a MOST UNIQUE
* TUNING ASSEMBLY consisting of about 18 small moving parts. All of
which were coated in grease which after about 15 years turns into solid
gunk. They ALL seize.
(picture here )
Before TenTec went out of Biz, I bought an official VFO 'rebuild' kit,
preparing for the repair event, but OF COURSE COULD NOT FIND IT. So I
used white lithium grease from Home Depot..
With the rebuild procedures estimated to take 6 hours to rebuild , I put
this rebuild off for 15 years, UNTIL YESTERDAY.
The first set, a 515, did take about 5 hours as I repeatedly made the
same assembly mistake. I kept assembling the ball bearings into the
'core drive rod' forgetting the tuning shaft... finally getting it
correct. When I eventually got to the Argonaut 509 I finally got the
ball bearings & rod installed in the proper order on the first attempt.
The 515 is done, now I get to figure how I got the 509 dial going
backwards,. probably a mis-stringing . A few hours later redoing the
dial cord has it working properly.
First contact was on 20 meters SSB ZAMBIA Gunter in Namibia !!!!! ;
for the Daily WPA net on 3983, that dial is all the way to the right
side of the dial, and the frequency readout ring is dead on ...
A GREAT SNOW WINTER PROJECT
bill NY9H/3
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