Apache progress - first QSO (sort of)

[Bill Coleman N2BC]

Hello Heathers - right up front... if you're a purist (as in breath flames when
you
see a mod) - stop reading, or continue at your own risk & please don't send
any flames back to me!!

There have been discussions on and off about the safety of the Heath (and EFJ)
fused plugs of the Apache and earlier vintage.  I for one think they're a major
hazard - so I set out to MOD my 'new' Apache.  I like to use a chassis mount
male 3-pin connector like those found on zillions of PCs out there.  They're
easy
to find, cheap, and good quality molded line cords are plentiful too. BTW,
they're
rated at 15A.

After much study, including carefully separating the mass of wires in the
vicinity of the original bulkhead feedthru caps, I hit upon a good way to
install
the connector, a chassis mount fuse holder, and unravel some of the wire
snarl in there too.

Oh, did I mention that this area on my Apache had been the site of an earlier
(pre-me) 'electrical event' ??  Quite a mess in there.

Second warning, purists stop reading now - I'm getting out the chassis nibbler,
drill
and a file!

First - a stock chassis mount fuse holder almost fits in the hole vacated by
one of the
feedthru caps - get out your file...  I mounted the fuse holder on the octal
socket side.

Next I nibbled out a hole for the 3-pin connector, next to the fuse holder -
'on top'
of the remaining feedthru hole.

The real problem in here is that the new connector sits right where a pair of
solder terminal strips once lived.  It needs a total of 7 isolated pins and one
ground.
Of course the LV power transformer is hogging all the chassis real estate, so
new
strips cannot go there...   Hmmm...

My solution was to use a pair of 2" long 6-32 bolts to mount the 3-pin
connector. Then I
mounted a pair of terminal strips on the end of the 2" bolts. I straightened
out the legs,
and 'married' them, one pointing upand one pointing down.

The center-to-center spacing of the terminal strip ground lugs was a perfect
match to
the bolt spacing of the 3-pin connector!!  I guess 35 years of collecting
bolts, terminal
strips, etc etc pays off once in a while. It's not a junk box - it's a gold
mine!

The added benefit of having the terminal strips mounted appx 2" off the back of
the chassis is to pick up additional lead length and make the rewiring easier
and
neater.

Bottom line: the rig looks great from the outside. Looks OK on the inside.
There's a
bit of a Rube Goldberg effect to the terminal strips hanging on the end of the
2" bolts - but it beats gluing terminal strips to the chassis and trying to
stretch all them wires!

I have to admit that tonight's efforts have been purely mechanical. Tomorrow we
do
elecrical. Oh, the 'we' is me and my 14YO - soon to be ham son.

So watch for a mushroom cloud over central NY tomorrow - depends on how good my
sketches are. Other good new here is that once I started the wiring surgery it
was easy to
determine that the reason ALL the wires were the same color (black) was the
prior
fire. After unlayering and some cleaning the true colors came thru!!

Other general info:  To date most of my efforts have been mechanical (cleanup,
lube,
getting the VFO to operate smooth). But I have had the low B+ on and aligned
the
VFO. Even managed a QSO yesterday with just the VFO and driver - used the spot
switch for a key, obviously no antenna - but managed to 'work' a neighbor on
3540kc!!

I have terrific luck working folks from the basement with no antenna, or a
light bulb...
but that's another loooong story.

Happy Tuesday to all, and to all a good night!   73, Bill
-----------------------------
Bill Coleman (N2BC)
-----------------------------
Email: n2bc at ibm.net