Rich Arland's "Commo Bunker"

Well known QRP author Rich Arland has launched a new blog called "The Commo Bunker."   I'm pleased that one of his first articles deals with Boatanchor radios in general and the Drake 2B in particular.

Check out his blog: http://commobunker.blogspot.com/

Rich's article came at a good time for me, because today's task in the SolderSmoke HQ shack is fixing my suddenly deaf Drake 2B.  Without even taking it out of the case, I think I have most of the troubleshooting done:  signals make it through, but very weak.  And the S-meter is now resting far below zero.  The S meter is a bridge circuit that looks at current through the RF amp stage (V1) and the IF amp (V5).  So my guess is one of these tubes has gone soft.  This should be an easy fix.

I have a nostalgic reason for fixing this rig.  My sister is visiting us. When I was 15 and she was 10  she would sometimes sit with me in the shack as I used the HT-37 and the 2B.   Those same rigs are still with me and we hope to make a few contacts with them this weekend. 

UPDATE:   I fixed the 2B.   V2, the 6U8 used as first mixer and crystal oscillator had gone soft.  This may also explain difficulties I had in getting the rig to work with a crystal in the E band socket.


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