OBSERVATIONS FROM SCOTLAND

Well I have news for you, it doesn't have to be an expensive hobby if you have the skills (or know someone who has the skills) to renovate older equipment.

Being a sucker for older valve type radios, I couldn't resist when I saw an FT200 for sale on EBay. The FT200 was designed in the 60's and sold in various guises for about ten years as the FT200/ FT250/ Henry Tempo One and under the Sommerkamp banner.

It's a 'hybrid' radio with transistor oscillators and vales everywhere else. It uses 16 valves (tubes to our US cousins), seven transistors and fifteen diodes.

The matching FP-200/250 carries a decent loudspeaker as well as supplying the 12.6V AC, 300V DC, 600V DC and so on for the radio. The two units are heavy, but not overly large.

My EBay special arrived this afternoon (Sunday!) I unpacked the FT200, it was in the original boxes, and removed the radio & PSU from the cabinets. I could see immediately a lovely botched job on the ground return for the 600V and 300V HT lines.... I poked it with a screwdriver and it detached itself from the ground tag! The HV card (600V) had been worked on (faulty diodes replaced) and the ground re-attached with an inadequate soldering iron. As a result, the 300 & 600V returns were connected together but only very poorly to ground.
I re-soldered the ground with a 90W iron. Glad I spotted that! Could have been catastrophic.

A normal small soldering iron is inadequate to solder to these ground points (they are just a V shape notched out of the chassis and bent upwards). A large iron of at least 75W is needed.

I replaced the ground wire from the chassis to the centre of the three capacitors as well. This was taken before I soldered the lead to the capacitor.

This is one of the pitfalls of buying second-hand. You should always examine the goods for faults (or get a competent person to do it for you). Remember that valve transceivers typically use 600-800Volts DC on the PA circuit and 300V DC elsewhere.

If you don't know EXACTLY what you are doing, either get a proficient person (Elmer) to do the work or buy a modern transistor radio. The Voltages found inside this radio and PSU are entirely capable of killing you.

Take extreme care when working on valve equipment and ALWAYS keep one hand in your pocket when making adjustments. You should never work alone on valve equipment. There should always be someone else present who can turn off the power should you have an accident.

You have been warned.

BE VERY CAREFUL, the HT supplies can kill you!

With the PSU problem resolved and no other obvious faults, I fired up the radio and tried it out. Lots of welly on TX and an excellent receiver. It's very good indeed. I stripped out the relays and cleaned the contacts with Servisol. Ditto all the switches and pots. This little radio works a treat. It's in almost mint condx despite being over 30 years old.
The lettering around the meter switch is a bit worn, but other than that, it looks brand new!
The paintwork is perfect. The PA cover mesh is missing but other than that, the radio is 100% complete. Oh, and I need two new dial lamps!

I spent much of today working on the FT200... like a kid in a sweet shop. I washed all the electric bottles in warm soapy water (Fairy|Liquid) ... yes I really did!, and now they are sparkling.

I also cleaned up the chassis with a cheap (8 pence) toothbrush and Brasso. I liked the toothbrushes so much I bought a few for radio renovation. Somerfield sell packs of two toothbrushes for 16 pence! I splashed out and invested in three packs.

When I reassembled the radio for testing.... nada, zilch! No RX or TX. The problem turned out to be a loose switch wafer. The Operate-Receive -Cal (Oper/Rec/Cal) switch was loose and the actual switching element was hanging off! I put it back together and voila.

The RX is excellent. I do prefer the sound of valve radios. It's not easy to describe why, but they are softer on the ears. The FT200 is at least as sensitive as the IC-730, probably a bit more sensitive. It's a great radio if you like to spend hours monitoring, very pleasant on the ears.

Transmit power is almost twice that of my ICOM radio. With very little work, this radio could look and work like new. I need two dial lamps, but apart from that, its all working.

In case you are wondering, the strange can with the coaxial connector is my DIY 'cantenna' dummy load. More at Poor Man's Cantenna

The radio has no PA cooling fan, something I DON'T like. Instead, there are lots of perforations on the rear and on the cabinet to provide convected airflow. The stories about not needing a shack heater if you have an FT200 have more than a grain of truth to them. I may fit a 12V fan at a later date. The 6JS6C's are very expensive now and keeping the envelopes cool will help extend their lives.

A small 12V fan from a scrapped PC will do the job with very little hassle or fuss.
I'll feed it from a recrtifier/reservoir cap across the heater line. These fans are quiet, cheap and small. Best of all, they can be had for free, from scrapped PC's.

There is a rumour that goes around something to the effect that if you have an FT200 in the shack, you don't need a heater in the winter. I can confirm that its true! The PA bottles alone dissipate 65W in receive, and there are another 14 valves blasting out heat. Fortunately, the PA can be disabled for receiving simply by pulling a plug out of the back of the radio. Even with the PA's disabled, the top of the radio cabinet becomes uncomfortably hot after a few hours use. This is normal for the FT200 and NOT a cause for concern.

You'd like this radio. It's in ICOM Black, despite being a Yaesu! It'll make an excellent shack heater for next winter.

Despite all the heat involved, the VFO is one of the best I've encountered. It likes a 10 minute warm-up after which it hardly drifts at all. I'll definitely fit a 'heater disable' switch to the accessory connector so I can disable the heaters of the 6JS6C's when using it for listening. It has the usual Yaesu plug with a link between pins 1&2 (heater enable). A chunky 10A switch wired to the heater supply pins on the connector will do the job. OH, and careful with that connector, It's carrying some lethal voltages including mains plus 300V and 600V DC!

I love this radio. It may be pushing 35 years old, but it works like a champ and doubles as an excellent shack heater. What more could you need than a radio that works like a champ and heats the shack as well!

This radio cost me £122 in total. I spent 32 pence on the two packs of toothbrushes (OK, that WAS a bit extravagant) to get it into good working order.

On EBay there was quite a bit of interest in this FT200 with about 800 hits but I bid £105 and got it for £100. In 'real money' thats about 20 fish-suppers-worth.

Is Amateur Radio a 'rich man's hobby'? Go Figure, as our American 'cousins' would say.

Post Scriptum You might be concerned about the availability of spare parts for these ancient radios. Well, the only hard to find item is the 7360 Balanced modulator valve (but these tend to be pretty reliable). The PA bottles (6JSC6's) are becoming thin on the ground but still available. All the other parts and valves are readily obtainable.


The FP-200 PSU cleaned, repaired and ready to be re-fitted into the cabinet.