BC-375E and BC-342

 

July 1, 2025 - UPDATE on BC-342 - All is well - I had plugged the speaker into the headphones jack and that was the issue  - using my headphone in the headphone jack and I was able to pickup signals on all bands tonight.  The issue I see if that the dial is not aligned with the frequencies - I believe this is just aa simple set screw behind a cover beneath the dial.  I will look into this tomorrow,

July 9, 2025 - The BC-342 worked great on the lowest bands but it seems to be more and more deaf in the higher bands. (see update above)

July 8, 2025 - The Dynamotor arrived and I connected the 28V input cable.  I also ordered two PL-59 connectors for the HV connection.

July 7, 2025 - Tested the BC-342 downstairs and injected a signal on 1600 KC from my signal generator and the sensitivity was great.  This is with the replacement 6C5 tube.  I was also able to hear traffic on 80-meters on one of my secondary antennas.  The LS-3 speaker for it also arrived and tested good with the BC-342.

July 2, 2025 - Bought a PE-73 dynamotor.

July 1, 2025 - The VT-4/211 tubes arrived and I put them in - looks pretty cool!

June 25, 2025 - First power up with just the VT-25 (speech amp)  tube in it.  I have the other VT-4 tubes on order.  The BC-375E can operate in CW mode with just the Master Oscillator and the PA tube in place.

June 25, 2025 - Ordered the four 211 tubes yesterday from a Chinese supplier on eBay - just under $135 per pair.  Also some old pictures of BC-375's in action.  Bid on a dynamotor today.

June 23, 2025 - Got the painting completed.  The paint on the tube cover is still a little wet, so I expect it to look like the right upper antenna tuner panel when dry.

June 22, 2025 - Today on the BC-375 I masked off and painted the antenna tuning unit top half and a small section on the left half of the main control section above the band tuning unit and a small section of the lower antenna tuning unit.  I also painted the sides.  I still need to paint the cover over the tubes, the top of the unit and the back.

June 21, 2025 - Checked the tubes in the BC-342 and found one of the 6C5 tubes tested bad so I ordered a replacement.  Here's the inside of it.

 

June 18, 2025 - Here's the BC-342 - it looks great - will be testing it soon.

June 15. 2025 - Here's what the tube complement will look like and their functions.  In my unit someone replaced the second from the left tube with a 5-pin socket and a HY-69 tube.  I have purchased a 4-pin socket to put it back as a VT-4 tube.

June 14, 2025 - Picked up the equipment.  I got seven tuning units for the BC-375.

 TU-5B        1500-3000kc            (two)
 TU-8B         6200-7700kc            (one)
        TU-10B        10000-12500kc       (three)    
TU-26B        200-500kc            (one)

Here are some pictures of the inside.

June 10, 2025 - Will be picking this all up on Saturday.

June 4, 2025 - Just bought all this for $250 - The BC-375 is a little rough but complete per the seller.

Collins 32V-1 and 75A-3

 32V-1 Transmitter

July6, 2025 - Re-checked the power out and it was 27W.

July 5, 2025 - Yesterday I hooked up a key to see if there was any output.  Today I hooked up the Bird watt meter and was seeing around 30w - I will check again once I get the tubes I found faulty  in the LV & HV power supplies replaced.

July 3, 2025 - Got the replacement lamps for the LV (green) and HV (red) indications.  The lamps are 15 Watt - T4.5 Incandescent Light Bulb Clear - Candelabra Base - 130 Volt - PLT IN-0015T45CL and I ordered them from 1000bulbs.com .

June30, 2025 - Tested the LV, HV and modulator tubes yesterday - found a few that need replacing and ordered some and have bids on others.

June 28, 2025 - Almost two years later this project is finally on my bench.  The LV and HV are working, but not sure I am getting the expected voltages.  I will be testing tubes and capacitors in the power supply section next.

4 July 2023 - Finally got around to getting the 32V-1 out of the cabinet - first task was to replace the LV & HV lamps - next will be to check the two 4uF capacitors in the LV section.

I have the replacement dial from Howard Mills and I also have velum paper and the lamps for the dial segments.

18 October 2022 - Looking at a few items before firing this up - the 4uF capacitors in the LV section look leaky and they are deformed - ordered replacement capacitors for them and the two in the HV section.  I may re-stuff them or may just bypass them under the chassis, installing the new capacitors there.

17 October 2022 - Picked up the Collins 32V-1 receiver on 10/15 - this radio is extremely heavy - looking forward to testing it and getting it operational.  I already have the replacement dial rule.

22 September 2022 - Adding a 32V-1 transmitter to my Collins collection - just won the auction at $199.99 - a steal.

75A-3 Receiver

20 November 2021 - So far I replaced the limiter pot - it was frozen.  Added another filter in the "B" position.

I ordered and received a complete tube set, capacitor replacement kit, and a SSB adapter.  These will be installed at a later date.

Tested on multiple bands and works great - even SSB without the adapter works

Collins Aircraft AN/ARC-174 or 718 series system

 A future project - estimated completion 2026

June 18, 2025 - Purchased the Amplifier - a Collins 548S-5 - the is the pressurized version of the 548S-3.

June 13, 2025 - Found a Collins 990C-3D mount for $100.

May 24, 2025 - Purchased the Collins 514-A4 control head.

May 17, 2020 - I bought a 671U-4A exciter

Will need to purchase a mounting tray (990-3D / p/n 622-1742-003) (Purchased June 13, 2025) for it as well as the Collins 548S-3 Amplifier Coupler which is P/N: 787-6781-004 and Mounting Tray 990C-6 which is P/N 792-6391-001 (below) (548S-3 mounting tray optional) plus connectors and cables.

Collins R-648/ARR-41

 

June 8, 2025 - Ordered a  5749 tube - one of the RF-AMPs showed questionable.

June 1, 2025 - Yesterday I finished testing the tubes - found two that were weak and one that needed replacing (it had a short).  I ordered those on eBay,

Today I took the cabinet out and painted it with the wrinkle coat - it looks good and the next step is to put it in the oven at 200 degrees for one hour.

May 29, 2025 - I hear voices!!!  Late yesterday I hooked up an antenna and was able to hear some conversations on 80M and today heard some more on 40M.

May 28, 2025 - SUCCESS TODAY - Yesterday I was having issues with the radio blowing fuses - I finally took all the modules out and on power up every other time with all the modules out the fuse would blow.  I was sure the issue was in the switch which had been replaced by a previous owner - turned the switch on with the power supply off and it worked fine - turned power supply off/on and tested again - blew fuse.  

The radio calls for a 5-amp fuse and I was using a 4-amp fuse as that was all I had except a 8-amp fuse.  Tried the 8-amp fuse and tested on/off multiple times and no issues - yesterday did order the correct 5-amp fuses and a new switch - I'll try tho new 5-amp fuses when they arrive.  I put all the modules back in and powered her up with headphones connected - lot's of normal normal radio static - tomorrow I will hook my signal generator up and see how it performs.

May 26, 2025 - Finished rebuilding the power supply - only a few components remained from the original (two resistors, the tube socket and the frame with plug) when I started and I luckily found a original dynamotor.  All voltages look good - now to look at the R-648. and be sure no wiring under the chassis was modified around the power supply plug.

Below is what I started with.

May 25, 2025 - Working on rebuilding the power supply.

March 31, 2025 - Fixed the power wiring on the front panel - now getting 27.5v over to the power supply module's plug.

March 30, 2025 - Test fitted the power supply module and looked at power connections and built up the power cable.  On the front panel I found several of the power lines disconnected.

March 29, 2025 - Here's the connector on the bottom of the power supply module.

March 28, 2025 - Started building up the dynamotor power supply - i had to purchase the 1H choke and the dynamotor - got them mounted.  Still missing some other parts.

March 26, 2025 - More cleaning and put a black rubber plug in the hole on right side near headphone jack - she's cleaned up real nice.  Also checked out the dynamotor - Red is 250v positive and black is 250v negative and white is 28V positive and blue is 28v negative.

March 22, 2025 - More cleaning - this time with Simple Green - looking better but still needs some more work.  Ordered a dynamotor for it off of eBay and a 1H choke from Mouser, but will need to acquire a few more parts to get the power supply working.

March 21, 2025 - It arrived and looks great inside but unfortunately the dynamotor is missing.  I picked up the power connecter last weekend at the Sevierville Hamfest.

March 18, 2025 - Picked this Collins R-648/ARR-41 up on eBay over the weekend - it should arrive on Thursday.  Hopefully I can bring it back to life - it's basically an airborne R-390.