Friday, April 11, 2014

"That 70s Show": Steve "Snort Rosin" Smith Restores a 70's era Tuna Tin 2




Hi Bill,

Your recent stories about your TT-2 and original TT-2 "mojo transfer" prompted me to resurrect my TT-2 'resto' project. 

The attached photos show my 70s era TT-2 obtained for $5 from a QRP-L member.  This is how I received it and you can see that it's almost a duplicate copy of the original, complete with 'phenolic' substrate PC board material and hand-scrawled traces. 

I have collected most of the components necessary to convert it to a look-alike of Doug Demaw's 1976 item.  I already have 1 or 2 of the proper Radio Shack RF chokes but lack one more to have the complete set and I'm about to grab some original Radio Shack 276-1617 transistors.  The rest of the missing/incorrect parts I can drag out of the ever expansive Snort Rosin junque box. 

By hand selecting the two transistors for max. power gain I hope to eek 300 mW out of the thing.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the shots and I'll send more when it's finished.

73.......Steve Smith WB6TNL
          "Snort Rosin"



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6 comments:

  1. Steve "Snort Rosin" Smith WB6TNLApril 15, 2014 at 11:17 AM

    I have subsequently discovered that W1FB/W1CER did not use phenolic substrate copper-clad board; the original appears to be a cream colored fiberglass substrate. Oh, well.

    I will, nevertheless, endeavor to construct a reasonable facsimile thereof using stone knives and bear skins.

    73.......Steve Smith
    "Snort Rosin"

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bill MearaApril 15, 2014 at 5:57 PM

    Please also try to include the use of black-powder firearms. Doug was quite fond of them.

    I'm not sure the coils are the same as in the original. There are good pictures of the original out there. And I have held it in my hands... 73 Bill

    ReplyDelete
  3. Steve "Snort Rosin" Smith WB6TNLApril 16, 2014 at 12:11 AM

    You correct, Bill; the coils aren't anything like the originals. That's why I'm ditching them and going with the original RS parts. Hopefully I can find all of them out there somewhere.

    73.......Steve Smith WB6TNL
    "Snort Rosin"

    ReplyDelete
  4. Steve "Snort Rosin" Smith WB6TNLApril 17, 2014 at 10:59 PM

    Received my period correct Radio Shack transistors today. Supposed to be 15 in the pack; I got 16. Whoo Hoo! There is a mix of 9 ea. MPS3704 and 7 ea. MPS6531. Per the datasheets, the 6531s look somewhat 'perkier' (highly technical term). Fairchild says they're identical to the good ol' 2N2222. So now over to the M^3 Semiconductor Analyser to do some qualificatoring.

    73.......Steve Smith WB6TNL

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tom Van NormanAugust 13, 2015 at 10:23 AM

    Steve, would like to get in contact with you again.
    Please send me your email address.

    Tom WA6UEO tombermuda@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete