Many of you have followed the fortunes of Internal Fire-Museum of Power in 2019, culminating in the successful restoration of our rare Marconi Challenger ( See thread "Marconi Challenger"). This thread will follow the restoration of of the Museum's Kelvin Hughes S1250 Zealand transmitter. This is a 1.2KW transmitter, providing A1, A2H, F1, A3H, A3A and A3J modes. It is fully synthesized and as Troppo2 testifies operating on amateur bands should not be a problem! Unlike the Challenger saga, we do have a full set of manuals for this equipment, as well as some spare parts and some complete units.
The equipment originally came from GURK: RFA Orangeleaf. I believe that the console, transmitter and spares were rescued from scapping, by a vigilant member of the Marine Radio Museum Society Wallasey who liberated it when KH were moving premises in Liverpool. It was on display for some years at the Radio officer's museum at Fort Perch Rock on the Wirral. We obtained it in September 2016 when the Radio Officer's Museum sadly had to close. (Someone may well be able to fill in some of the history here).
The receive side is all working, the main receiver is very sensitive and stable, the reserve receiver is OKish. Its hardly more than an elaborate entertainments receiver. In its defence, it is in need of re-alignment as the dial is about 500KHz out on some bands, it has dead spots and a mechanical overhaul is needed as the tuning action is jerky making it hard to tune accurately.
I've run in a 3 phase supply for the transmitter, the loom is present (I think) so interfacing with the console should not be too hard.
Someone has robbed all the components form the antenna switch, more importantly the antenna loading coil, and plate tuning capacitor together with some high voltage capacitors have gone missing from the HF ATU. I've collected some suitable parts over the last couple of years, but although the values and ratings are OK, the physical shape and size of the capacitors may need some jiggery-pokery to fit into the available space. This will be the first job and I will report on this later.
Attached are some pictures to be going on with.
Best wishes - Michael.
The equipment originally came from GURK: RFA Orangeleaf. I believe that the console, transmitter and spares were rescued from scapping, by a vigilant member of the Marine Radio Museum Society Wallasey who liberated it when KH were moving premises in Liverpool. It was on display for some years at the Radio officer's museum at Fort Perch Rock on the Wirral. We obtained it in September 2016 when the Radio Officer's Museum sadly had to close. (Someone may well be able to fill in some of the history here).
The receive side is all working, the main receiver is very sensitive and stable, the reserve receiver is OKish. Its hardly more than an elaborate entertainments receiver. In its defence, it is in need of re-alignment as the dial is about 500KHz out on some bands, it has dead spots and a mechanical overhaul is needed as the tuning action is jerky making it hard to tune accurately.
I've run in a 3 phase supply for the transmitter, the loom is present (I think) so interfacing with the console should not be too hard.
Someone has robbed all the components form the antenna switch, more importantly the antenna loading coil, and plate tuning capacitor together with some high voltage capacitors have gone missing from the HF ATU. I've collected some suitable parts over the last couple of years, but although the values and ratings are OK, the physical shape and size of the capacitors may need some jiggery-pokery to fit into the available space. This will be the first job and I will report on this later.
Attached are some pictures to be going on with.
Best wishes - Michael.