OBSERVATIONS FROM SCOTLAND                            28 May 2008                   GM1SXX

YABR.

Yet another Bl**dy radio!

Well being a sucker for old radios and hybrid types with real VFO's and preselectors, I've just gone and bought myself yet another one!  This one was cheap... very cheap. In fish supper accounting terms, it's about 13 fish suppersworth.

So what is this 'new' mystery radio?  It's a Yaesu FT101EE. The EE was an el-cheapo radio sharing much of the technology other radios in the FT101 range and using plug-in cards that slot in to computer type sockets on the main chassis.  Yet again, it uses the 12BY7A driver and 6JS6C PA's.  The remainder of the circuitry uses discrete semiconductor devices and IC's.  The FT101 is a self-contained radio in a single unit, no external PSU/Speaker and it has a transistor chopper  circuit as standard so that the radio can run from a car battery for portable (yeah right!) operations. On a 13.8V car battery it'll sink over 20A on TX.

A somewhat 'tired' FT101EE

Rear apron showing the Chopper heatsink.

I suspect that the designers of the FT101XX range must have had an affinity for 'recreational substances'.  Why else would someone consider a 35 pound radio that guzzles over 20A at 13.8V suitable for 'portable' use from a car battery! The mind boggles.

The FT101EE is capable of operating with many external accessories like external VFO's, transverters and linear amps via the accessory socket on the rear panel.  Unlike my much loved FT200, it does have a heater switch and a fan to cool the PA sections.

That strange chassis plug protruding on the bottom right side of the rear apron is the power connector. It's a Cinch-Jones type and none too easy to find a matching free socket for. The plug has connections for 115/230V AC  and 13.8V DC.  Personally, I think that's positively asking for trouble!!  The other socket with the plug jammed into it is used among other things to connect the PA heaters.  No plug = no heaters.

The black heatsink and cover on the right side of the rear apron carries the chopper transistors for the 12V supply input.  This is a very simple two transistor multivibrator circuit that uses an overwind on the mains transformer to allow *portable* use from a car battery.

The FT101EE was pre-WARC bands so if the WARC bands are needed you'd probably want to buy a more recent radio.

Although this one is tatty and tired-looking, these old radios can usually be restored to near factory condx with some TLC and a can of grey primer followed by several coats of suitable car paint.  The cabinet parts can be easily removed, cleaned, lightly sanded and primed and painted to restore the good looks to this nice old radio.  The main thing is to have a halfway decent looking front panel to start with.  This one is generally good with a couple of scratches that can be repaired by hand-painting with suitable colour matched paint, 'feathering' the new paint into the old.  These radios were sold with a clear plastic cover over the front panel to protect the paintwork and the lettering in particular. It's quite easy to make and fit a replacement while the radio is in bits but please please please, don't use clear sticky-backed plastic.  Once that yellows, you won't be able to remove it without destroying the paintwork.  The original material was a clear plastic (non-adhesive) film that was shrink-wrapped over the front panel.

73 Al.
GM1SXX
 

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PS  13 fish suppersworth equals £68 in real money.