[GreenKeys] INK used with your re-inkers ?

[Harold Hallikainen]

OK, fun weekend! First, as previously described, the right ribbon reverse
did not work since the re-inker adds path length preventing the reversing
rivet from reaching the detector before the ribbon ends. I could see that
the ribbon drive shaft would not reliably shift to the right to drive the
right reel. I took stuff apart (almost losing a screw), pulled the
carriage off and exercised stuff. It all seemed to work. Put it all back
together, and it would not work. FINALLY discovered that when the ribbon
jammed, the pinion gear on the vertical right ribbon wind shaft came loose
and fell down the shaft a little, blocking the motion of the ribbon drive
shaft so it could not shift to the right. Putting that gear back in its
proper position and tightening the set screw made it work! These are truly
amazing mechanisms.

I did tie a knot in the ribbon to trip the end of ribbon lever a little
bit earlier. Seems to work!

The other fun thing this weekend was that my Dentron Clipperton L quit. I
used it on a RTTY QSO on Friday, but on Saturday, there was no RF output.
The plate current went up when RF was applied. Adjusting the plate tuning
made no difference in the plate current (or the output). So, it seems the
tubes were not connected to the output tuning network. There's a 1000 pF 5
kV DC blocking capacitor between the tube plates and the output network.
Suspecting it, pulled it out and checked it with my SARK antenna analyzer.
Came up as 14 pF, not 1000. Went to the local electronics supply (We have
one of those in Tucson!) and got a 1000 pF 6 kV capacitor. Installed it,
and it works!

Finally, the buried conduit between the house and my vertical antenna is
now in! Tomorrow we install a couple boxes, drill a hole in the wall, pull
coax, and it's done!

So, a full weekend.

Thanks to all for ideas on making stuff work!

Harold
https://w6iwi.org