AC power input to Heath gear.

[Donley]

This is a general request to the experts on the list.

Many Heath transmitters and receivers (SB-300 and 400 Series included) have 
two-wire power cords as do many other vintage sets from the tube era. It is 
my plan to replace those with a three-wire grounded power cord. I guess I am 
not concerned about lowering the value of the equipment but more interested 
in safety. On the Heath equipment, would you replace the cheater-cord style 
connection with a three-wire plug or would you leave it there and just add 
another hole for a new power cord? On the Hallicrafters equipment, I can 
just replace the cord.

Secondly, there is typically a capacitor connected from each side of the 
line cord to ground. These capacitors very typically from 0.001 to 0.047 
microfarads. I have never failed to receive a slight "bite" every time I get 
between this type of system and any other system that is grounded. I know 
that these capacitors should have a high capacitive reactance (and very low 
leakage) at 60 Hertz, but what other purpose do they serve and why the large 
discrepancy in value? I have seen a few systems that eliminate the caps 
altogether and have read some restorers accounts where the first thing they 
do is remove them. What are the recommendations?

Dick
KC9UB



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "HEATH automatic digest system" <LISTSERV at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV>
To: <HEATH at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV>
Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2006 3:00 AM
Subject: HEATH Digest - 3 Apr 2006 to 4 Apr 2006 (#2006-89)

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