Kingfisher 65 circuit.

 

Wow!! Thankyou, I would never have expected that

 

That's definitely the one.

I used to repair these myself, about three days ago!
It was much harder back then we didn't even have any schematics

Seriously, it's great to have the manufacturer's method for tuning the antenna,
and even if output valve is bung, ham club are about to look into passing on their collection on.
All of the older folk are using new gear.

 

The 12DQ6 RF output valve if hard to find could be replaced with a 6DQ6 valve using a dropper resistor for the filament. There should be plenty of 6DQ6 valves around as they were used in black & white valve TVs in the Horizontal output stage. The transmitter stage is fairly rugged. Un fortunately iv been having a clean out & thrown a lot of valves & parts out including stacks of TV & VCR workshop manuals. I was surprised I still had a few circuits of HF marine trancievers left.

 

I've been lucky to get schematics for very old phones and radios because some older folk have held onto stuff
There is no visible evidence either of the valves are bad, though I do know better than to make the call on appearance.

You haven't really proven something is working unless it's tested,
and it looks possible to run it again.
Interesting the crystal slots have different frequency ranges,
and only able to transmit right across it's HF receive range with the use of different sockets.

 

I've been lucky to get schematics for very old phones and radios because some older folk have held onto stuff
There is no visible evidence either of the valves are bad, though I do know better than to make the call on appearance.

You haven't really proven something is working unless it's tested,
and it looks possible to run it again.
Interesting the crystal slots have different frequency ranges,
and only able to transmit right across it's HF receive range with the use of different sockets.

It makes sense to optimise the oscillator & associated circuitry for the frequency of interest.

It is hard to make a crystal oscillator circuit which will operate well from around 2MHz-10Mhz.

OK,it isn't impossible,but it wasn't necessary in the original service this radio was intended for,so it was easier to go the route they took.

These radios are well engineered,but weren't "state of the art",even when new.

Of course,"state of the art" probably filled a rack,& cost ten times as much!

By the way,don't buy the FT243 Xtals from eBay.
They are not only a different package,but a much larger package & are physically incompatible with the "D" type sockets.

Art,if you are still in training for the Foundation test,ask your Trainer,how much harder would the Standard one be.
There is no compulsion to take the Foundation then upgrade--you can go straight to Standard.

 

Bummer about the package, but electronically are still compatible yes?

Looking at the schematic was confusing at first because different poles of the same
rotary switch appear in different places, but it's making much more sense with time.

I can pass the Foundation test, have done so over & over in samples,
but to be honest, I don't know what is involved with Standard, I will have to look into that.

Also don't know how flexible the ACMA are, but if there's a comment section in the application,
maybe I could ask permission in this case to ready a particular radio for use under supervision of a trainer.
Looking at the manual though, the "user" instructions are much more complicated than fitting crystals.
The user is expected to adjust taps to coils, etc. to tune the antenna.
Lucky it's quite descriptive.

 

So long as that AM group is still active (got to wait till Wednesday to find out),
this might not be the only piece of hardware that warrants me buying the Xtal.

Output power is not specified in the manual for this unit,
so I might also get stuck with the 10 Watt limitation on transmitter power.

@ debe,
Yes I see both valves are available in 6 Volt filament versions, should be a snap.

 

These sets are quite capable of reliable daylight communication on 4620 KHz over 100Nm. I used to work as a decky on a cray boat in the early 70s that had the King fisher model on it. The set you have is probably already set up with the taps on the coils for a long wire antenna about 40/50 ft long, which was what most fishing boats had then & a good earth. The boss couldn't get the hang of tuning the Dip & Load settings. So to make it easy I taped a Neon bulb to the Aerial wire near the set, & he just adjusted the controls for Max glow on the neon bulb.

 

Can't believe I found this at an op shop today:

In this condition, I think someone must have passed away for it to become available.
It's as if it's been in a box for some 35 years.
Blown light bulb behind the main dial scale is all that's up with it, but not one scratch or mark.

 

You must have been in the right place at the right time!

 

You must have been in the right place at the right time!

Thought you might like it I'll sell my soul to transistors for this one.

 

Here is the Traeger T-70 marine tranciever circuit, note the transmitter stage is similar to the others of the period.

 

Thanks again debe, the admin of a vintage forum I'm on is doing an archive of schematics, I'm sure it can be added