Heath Ham radios

[Mark V. Johnson]

The referenced "fix" still works for me. I had the rare pleasure of 
finishing the contruction of a half built HW-101 a few weeks ago, and the 
VFO, which was essentially New Old Stock, had the "wobbles". Applied the fix 
with the copper braid and that was the end of that problem.  I'm not aware 
of the success rate with conductive grease so I'd be interested in hearing 
from The Team, if that works. My concerns with conductive grease is that 1) 
the heat build up in the VFO/LMO may cause the grease to "run"...Lovely mess 
that would be, and 2) it will attract and hold dirt. Again, I'd be 
interested to hear from other who have tried it.

Mark V. Johnson VE3DJU/VE3DDI


>From: JF <lhouseparker at LIVINGSTON.NET>
>Reply-To: JF <lhouseparker at LIVINGSTON.NET>
>To: HEATH at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV
>Subject: Re: [HEATH-TEMPE] Heath Ham radios
>Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2005 18:37:09 -0500
>
>On 9/19/05 Greg Boye wrote on the Heath List:
>
>>Hi everyone..
>>I know that this was discussed about a year or two ago but I didn't
>>need this info at the time but I do now.  Could someone tell me where
>>to purchase the conductive gease that is used in the Heath tuning
>>capacitors?
>>My SB-303 VFO now has the "wobbles" and its very hard to tune in SSB
>>signals as it jumps around in frequency.
>>Thanks,
>>Greg W8NGA
>
>
>
>A Google search with keyword combination "conductive grease" will result
>in a lot of hits like  "Silver Filled Conductive Grease"  at
>
>http://www.2spi.com/catalog/vac/silver-filled-grease.shtml
>
>Expensive stuff, about $40 for a 6.5 oz tube. There are also other
>kinds like carbon-filled grease, but don't use that For VFOs - be sure
>to get the silver-filled kind. I don't know how well the above stuff
>will work on your VFO;  you might want to read the descriptions of
>other products found via Google.
>
>An alternative to disassembling the VFO for access to the lube point
>is to solder on a flexible conductor as outlined in a 2003 post by
>fellow Greenie Mark V. Johnson:
>
> >I've tried to fix this problem in different ways on many LMO's over
> >the years. Putting more tension on the "wiper", removing the variable
> >cap and thoroughly cleaning the bearings etc. Only sure fix for me was
> >to neatly solder a small piece of braid (copper) to the actual variable
> >cap shaft, and then soldering the other end to gnd. I leave enough
> >braid for "windup" as the rotor is turned through its 180 degrees. I've
> >done this on SB-100's, 101'2 and 102's and my SB-104's. Its been a
> >solid fix for me and ends this problem for good. To solder the braid to
> >the shaft, I file a clean section and use a small but HOT soldering
> >iron. Fastens itself with no problem.
>
>73
>
>John   KE5ZB
>
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