need advice: Tempo One "sticky" relay, poor S-meter response on 10m

[Ernest Stracener]

IF YOU REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE, PLEASE RESPOND DIRECTLY TO ME AT
ernest at itis.com

I've got a Henry Radio Tempo One SSB Transceiver, also known as a Yaesu
FT-201 with a couple of problems & I'm looking for any good advice on
how to best fix the problem (other than shelling out megabucks for a new
rig). This is a 1970's vintage tube-type transceiver.  Any helpful
replies will be greatly appreciated....please reply directly to me at
ernest at itis.com.....I'm not very astute when it comes to electronics
(but I'm learning more with each problem faced), so please bear with me
as I attempt to describe the problem.

1.  I'm having an intermittent transmit problem that appears to be
caused by a sticky relay or something that keeps the relay from properly
closing.  When the microphone is keyed and everything works, I hear the
three relays closing in synch.  When the microphone is keyed and
everything doesn't work, I hear a relay close, but the 2 others do not
close, occasionally, they will close after a second or two.  I've
watched the relays while this happens and the trouble seems to be with
the "middle" relay...occassionally I'll hear a very faint hiss as the
relay tries to close...not a sizzle, no smoke, just a faint, short
duration hiss--sometimes the relay will close, sometimes not.  I'm
wondering if hitting the relay with a shot of contact cleaner might fix
whatever is causing it to be sticky or whether I'm focusing on the wrong
things here.  The relay that seems to be the troublesome one has AE3218
DC12V stamped on it.

2.  I'm having a perplexing problem on only the 10m portion of the
radio...the S-meter doesn't deflect at all--even on fairly strong
signals.  On 80m, the meter looks like it is a living thing of its own,
showing every heart-beat of the person on the other end (an
exaggeration, but perfect operation on 80).  The radio had been
previously recrystalled by the former owner somewhere in the past to
have CB where 10m was supposed to be.  I've replaced the crystal and
have done a realignment of the RF amplifier per the procedures in the
manual and that did help the overall receive level, but the S-meter
still does nothing on 10m.  Everything else seems to be working
fine...so far.  I've recently made my first DX contacts & have had a
number of really great QSOs with some folks on the east coast as well as
locally, so I'm sure that the rest of the rig is functioning (at least
most of the time).

Any helpful replies will be greatly appreciated.  PLEASE RESPOND
DIRECTLY TO ME AT ernest at itis.com

73,
Ernest Stracener, KB9RBZ

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