Yes, indeed, Heathkit always designed in "test equipment provided as part of the kit". Usually, it was a part of the finished product.
However, remember the AR-2 and AR-3 "receivers" with their wonderful non-selective single IF stage? The manual referred to using WWV on appropriate frequencies to align all those coils and variable capacitors in the middle of the assembly. I had the AR-3 as my first "real" receiver (I still choke to call it a receiver). When it came to aligning the free-running variable LO, I tried and tried and tried to use 5 MHz and 10 MHz WWV to allign the C-Band and 15 and 25 or 20 MHz to align the D-Band. Trouble was the image rejection was so bad I had a WWV signal every 455 kHz. At the time I lived in central Michigan and WWV was still located in Pennsylvania, or somewhere in the eastern states. Their signal was rather strong. I really couldn't tell if I was tuned to 2.5, 5, 10, 15, or 20 MHz WWV. I don't think I was EVER able to align that receiver until I got a grid dip oscillator as a (unstable) signal source with which I could vary coupling into the receiver to drop to a very weak signal to determine which WWV signal I was receiving. It was a long and lengthy process, but it finally worked.
A similar process was used to align the VF-1 VFO (the famous drifter). Since the builder was likely a Novice upgrading to General, he/she likely had a few or collection of crystals. The fundamental and harmonics and a receiver could be used to align it. Remember, in those days, Novices had to be rock bound to a quartz crystal as a transmitter frequency (that's when FCC still cared).
Dave - WØLEV
On Mon, Jun 6, 2016 at 12:33 PM, Prasad ad_prasad@yahoo.com [Amateur-repairs] <Amateur-repairs@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
AlbertYour post reminds me of Heathkit. Heathkit sold many great transceivers in kit form and they never asked the buyer to be equipped with test equipment. I remember when I put my HW-101 together. The only instrument I was asked to use was the little panel meter that came as a part of the radio with the kit. When fully ready the meter becomes the S-meter or Ic meter. Signal source were internal oscillators. I remember the entire process of alignment was done using these two devices. In the end I had a great transceiver.Yes, certainly you can use your oscilloscope as a frequency meter, or to measure all kinds of parameters including frequency, Vp, Vrms, etc. I have used my purely analog scope. Sure, I had to calculate the frequency using the rough estimate of the 'period' of a cycle or the waveform. I knew the result will have an error to the level of 10 or 20%. Who cares as long as I was able to get my work done? A decent scope will do everything that you listed. You may need a calculator for calculating.As I said you surely can use a good RF/AF generator but they are not essential to align a transceiver. We hams are good at putting to use our limited resources.Good luckAB3EH
From: "hitekgearhead@hotmail.com [Amateur-repairs]" <Amateur-repairs@yahoogroups.com>
To: Amateur-repairs@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, June 6, 2016 10:53 AM
Subject: [Amateur-repairs] substitute test equipment
I am starting to go through the alignment on one of my radios and don't have every piece of test equipment listed in the service manual.
So, I wanted to see if I could use the following substitutions.
For the frequency counter & RF voltmeter, couldn't I just use my oscilloscope? I have access to a scope that can internally measure all kinds of parameters including frequency, Vp, Vrms, etc. Any problem with doing that?
Audio signal generator: I have both a program on my computer and an app on my phone that will generate audio tones at adjustable levels. Any problem with that instead of using a dedicated audio generator?
I still need to get my RF signal generator up and running. I have an old wavetek that is a little persnickety...
Thanks,
Albert
KI4ORI
--
Dave - WØLEV
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Posted by: David Eckhardt <davearea51a@gmail.com>
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