Frequency Meter BC-221-AK Repair

Рет қаралды 2,290

11 ай бұрын

Produced with CyberLink PowerDirector 21
Suggested Reading List:
1 - RCA Receiving Tube Manuals -
Get Several to cover different years.
2 - F.M. Simplified - Milton S. Kiver
Third Edition recommended
2nd Edition is not bad.
3 - Radiotron Designer’s Handbook
Published by RCA
4 - Old Time Radios! Restoration and Repair
Joseph J. Carr
5 - Elements of Radio
Abraham Marcus & William Marcus
Parts Source:
Antique Car Radio Solid State Vibrators
PEKORF.com These work correctly.
Seller Thetuberoom on e-bay
Radio Knobs at reasonable prices as well as
many other vintage parts.
Leather Handles from:
The Stockyard Exchange
Stockyardexchange.com
Turntable Parts etc:
Thevoiceofmusic.com
Electronics Info, Schematics, parts etc “elecurls.tripod.com”

Пікірлер: 18

@robbo6460 11 ай бұрын

Thank the good Lord your back home. I really missed your videos. I especially love the equipment repair ones. Bring back the $10 test bench please.

@karl-bk7hz 8 ай бұрын

I have a "T" variant of the BC-221 on the bench to resurect. Built a power supply and it all seems to work somewhat. The sequence of operation is as important as the hardware may seem defective if operator does not do it correctly! This has been a very instructive video. Thank you!

@ottodydaktyk 11 ай бұрын

My 286 is out of ram and my 8080 is fried. LOL. I almost spit my drink on my screen when you mentioned those. Thanks for another great video, Vern.

@davidportch8837 11 ай бұрын

That's great. I still have one that I was actually using about 40 years ago. Its in excellent condition still. It was so accurate as you say. I have it on my to do list to do a restoration and get it operational again at some point... Mainly concerned about old caps and replacing them... I found this most useful... many thanks.

@DavidTipton101 11 ай бұрын

Interesting project Vern, paper 'mica' capacitors. I knew you had them in the US but I didn't know why till now. I haven't seen any here but I haven't worked on military gear and domestic radio production stopped during the war. The temperature compensating capacitors were a surprise, very cool.

@davidpotter5752 8 ай бұрын

I'm glad you found the problem. I had the exact problem also bad trimmer cap on my BC-221.

@jamesbruno5896 11 ай бұрын

Very interesting video, thanks for sharing!

@materialsguy2002 11 ай бұрын

Excellent video, thanks. Regarding the cracked brass collars, a likely cause of two failures in the same piece of equipment would be stress cracking of the brass in the presence of ammonia. The ammonia could have come from any number of possible sources over the years, even as mundane as being stored in a barn or near livestock. I have an unused ( I cannot say NOS) BC-221AE which I will restore this winter, so I am watching your video with great interest.

@toddanonymous5295 11 ай бұрын

One thing is certain, electronic malfunctions are no match for the silver fox !

@physicaldetails8492 2 ай бұрын

Good job

@hamradio3716 11 ай бұрын

Very interesting. Thank you

@cwebs1000 11 ай бұрын

Those split nuts remind me of when I worked on Propane the brass nuts would freeze and crack on cold nights. They had to be replaced with what was called "Freeze proof", much thicker nuts. Perhaps the unit was in or stored in a very cold place. FWIW, Carl

@davidpotter5752 10 ай бұрын

I have a BC-221 frequency meter just like yours that was never used. It also had a shorted trimmer cap. If you push down too hard adjusting the trimmer cap you can short the 2 plates together. Maybe that's what happened at the factory during alignment.

@dxradio33 9 ай бұрын

What killed those nuts was the fact that they were tapered and the amount of pressure against those poor brass nuts was just too much 80 years later. :-)

@hestheMaster 11 ай бұрын

Pretty sure this grade of frequency meter was the "creme de la creme" of it's day. Well except for those horrible (Philco) trimmer caps! May be because of dissimilar metal corrosion or too much zinc used in making the brass nut. It was a War Production Board thing. Make them now and do it fast. In the field , if it doesn't work make a recquisition for a brand new calibrated one. Nice video showing how it works and so well for it's limitations Vern. I'm surprised you didn't get one a long time ago.

@TubeRadioRepairRestoration 11 ай бұрын

Great stuff. Love the air capacitor fix. By the way I have a bc-211ak and it doesn't work. What do you think could be the problem? LOL just kidding. Why would people think you know every single piece of equipment and what could be at fault? Anyways love the video!

@crobinson2987 10 ай бұрын

Does anyone know what readily available headphones will work for this? Finding HS-30s that aren't gold plated apparently $$$$$ is impossible.

@theradiomechanic9625 10 ай бұрын

Pick up an inexpensive audio output transformer and use it to match a "normal" 8 ohm head set. The Universal ones will let you pick the primary winding that gives the best results.