1 January 2025 - Yesterday and today I setup the 813 test adapter I purchased off of eBay.
24 December 2024 (Update) Received the Lambda 28v power supply - it's putting out 28.9v as expected but it draws 6.9A (MAX) on the 120v side so it's tripping the breaker on my isolation transformer which is a maximum of 4A. Will be doing more tests with this.
24 December 2024 - Received the Hickok 600A tube tester and tested my 811 tubes, Also tested the modulation transformer (later one) I ordered last week and it tested fine - tested the modulation transformer in the current ART-13 (older one) and it also tested fine. Verified the antenna current meter is working - use 1KHz 10vP2P and it moved the meter up to one.
24 December 2024 - Over the past few days I have been testing 813's - the second 813 came in a few days back and the filament would light up with 10v applied to the filament pins on the bench, but would not light when in the ART-13 - still testing on this one. I have been applying 10v initially and then slowly taking it up to 15v at the 4 minute mark and then up to 15v and leaving it until the 5 minutes is up and then turning it down slowly to 10v for 1 minute. (see below) This worked on one of the 813's I had which exhibited the same symptoms as the "second" 813 - the filaments now light up in the ART-13.
18 December 2024 - I have been able to test all the tubes in the MCW and Audio Amplifier sections with my existing tube tester. One of the 6V6GT tubes on the audio amplifier was bad and I replaced it. I purchased a Hickok 600A to be able to test the 811 tubes and I am looking into building a test rig to test the 813 tubes. Still waiting on the 813 tubes to arrive so I can see if that gives full 100W or more of power out.
14 December 2024 - Yesterday I tested the tubes on the audio unit and found one of the 6V6GT's was bad and so I ordered a replacement. Today I tested the capacitors in the audio unit and they all looked good.
12 December 2024 - Swapped the 813 with another one and no output on it and very little plate/grid current - ordered two 813 tubes - one is reported as tested strong by the seller.
11 December 2024 - Using a 100pF capacitor I was able to peak 60W out - still looking to see what may be affecting that - will try swapping the 813 final.
10 December 2024 - UPDATE - 50W out on 3885Mhz - will add some capacitance as I have read on 80M you should add about 2000pF.
CW working and grid current and plate current are normal. See video of it being received on my R392. Next step is to put my Bird meter on it and measure the output.
9 December 2024 - Success!!! Well perseverance paid off - I now have normal grid current and almost normal plate current on voice and CW. I suspect a better antenna load may help these.
One of the 811 tubes was extremely bright compared to the other - I swapped it out with one from another unit and that's what resolved the issue.
Yesterday I was able to tune to 3885. I checked voltages on the tubes - was only seeing around 300vdc on the 811 tubes and the 813 - these are low and should be around1210vdc. On the 837 and 1625 tubes it was around 200vdc so these are low too - should be around 400vdc.
8 December 2024 - I guess my contact cleaner is working - now getting plate current and grid current on both CW and voice. Also buttoned up the bottom and put the feet on. Most exciting is I am seeing RF around the antenna via my spectrun analyzer.
Battery voltage below
CW (below)
7 December 2024 - Discovered the #3 pin was disconnected on the ART-13 end of the power supply cable. I am getting grid and plate current (both low) now on voice but not on CW and not seeing any antenna current - looking further at the schematic and will look at cleaning the CW relay K103. I have seen both the voice and CW relay coil actuate depending upon the mode switch.
3 December 2024 - Autotune working with Meanwell 24vdc power supply - see video below.
2 December 2024 - I tested with a Meanwell 24vdc 31.3 amp power supply and the autotune functions normally even though it only puts out 22.8vdc, so looks like the Astron power supply is the issue. I am upgrading the wiring between the 24vdc power supply and my ART-13 power supply to 8AWG wire and 50amp power connectors anyway.
I brought the second ART-13 downstairs and noticed the driver and finals had no filament glowing. Interesting the autotune was running at normal speed until I put the driver and final replacements in - then it started to run slow so it's either a voltage issue or it's a current issue - using 14AWG wires on all wiring.
1 December 2024 Update - I took one of my ART-13's downstairs to the. lab to test with the power supply. Initially the HV/LV relay was chattering so I cycled the "test" switch a few times with no power and now it stopped chattering and I was able to see the battery voltage and it was good. It was good to see the finals with their filaments lit up. I did not see any filaments lit in the audio section - I'll need to test the tubes there. UPDATE - Saw filaments in audio section after reseating modules and reseating all tubes and testing the smaller tubes. Autotune was running slow and that was the clicking.
1 December 2024 - Finished the cable that will connect to the ART-13 and ready to test.
30 November 2024 - Rebuilding the cable that will connect the power supply to the ART-13.
24 November 2024 - Been busy over the last few days rewiring the power supply for the new relays. Tested and all seemed fine. Next is to rebuild the cable that will connect to the ART-13 - the cable I purchased was old and brittle and cracking and fairly stiff. The new cable is 14 AWG and will have a shrinkable braided wrap covering it - there are 10 individual strands/colors.
12 November 2024 - Update on crystal for CDA-T LF module - back in October I picked this up - it's the FT-249 crystal holder but with a 160m crystal in it.
9 November 2024 - Completed the wiring underneath.
8 November 2024 - Finished the 125v wiring and wired all but the positive connection on the LV and HV sides - left them open to test. Measuring now with the new test leads - 460vdc on LV and 1200 vdc on HV.
6 November 2024 - More work on the power supply wiring.
1 November 2024 - More work on the power supply - got all the holes drilled except the 28v DC entry in the back - not shown but completed is a on/off switch for the 120v AC used by the HV & LV transformers. I also put the spade connectors on the cable and put in a terminal strip below which will carry the wires from underneath to the top. Also shown below is the BUD RM-14298 cabinet I plan on putting the chassis in.
1 November 2024 - Won an auction for this CDA-T yesterday - even though my ART-13's are not "B" models there is a way to hook this up and use two channels - hope to get a crystal so I can use 630m.
27 October - all of the major parts are positioned below the chassis - will need a terminal strip and a hole to route wires to the top where the terminal strip and plug will be for the cable to connect to the ART-13.
26 October 2024 - Did some retesting today - getting about 520vdc on the LV side and 1285vdc on the HV side. Also got the mounting done for the LV & HV boards. According to the manual the IM-28 readings on 1500v scale could swing +/- 30v so this accounts for the variations.
25 October 2024 - Finished trimming the HV board and test fitted it and the LV board in to see how it will look.
24 October 2024 - Was able to get my IM-28 meter working on the 1500v setting - reseated the 6AL5 tube and the 12AU7 and tested both. I had ordered two 6AL5 tubes but won't need them. I'm happy with the voltage measured - 1460vdc.
21 October 2024 - Double checked the connections on the 900v circuitry board and tested it - got just below 1100v on my Simpson 303 meter. Update: I believe this was not correct and was the meter protecting itself - see results above.
20 October 2024 - Been working on the 900v circuitry board over the last few days - need to verify connections and then test.
17 October 2024 - Working on the layout of the wiring on the 900v circuitry board.
13 October 2024 - Started on the 900v circuitry board.
13 October 2024 - A look at the voltage on the 400v circuitry on my new Heathkit IM-28 meter.
10 October 2024 - Tested the 400v circuitry - getting just over 400vdc.
10 October 2024 - Finished wiring up the 400v which were taken before that). Next step is to test this part.
8 October 2024 - The capacitors came in - making progress on the power supply.
2 October 2024 - Got the two transformers mounted - the hold up at this point is the capacitors which are stuck in the mail.
25 September 2024 - The power supply chassis arrived today and the power supplies arrived last week. Below I mocked up a possible layout.
17 September 2024 - Ordered the transformers (Hammond 263CX and a Hammond 712) today and the chassis has been on order for about a week or more - it's on backorder. Connected the power cable to the terminal strip this morning.
16 September 2024 - Here's the plug and power supply.
15 September 2024 - More progress on the power cable this week.
8 September 2024 - Started working on the power cable that will go from the ART-13 to the power supply I am going to built. I picked up the connector for the ART-13 at the Huntsville Hamfest and found a 10-conductor cable on eBay.
30 August 2024 - Purchased this T-17 SW-109 microphone to go with the ART-13's
29 August 2024 - Last Saturday I picked up two more ART-13's that I purchased from a ham in Rockmart, GA. These are both Collins - the bottom #2 is complete COL-52286 S/N 4511-A, but the top #3 COL-52286 S/N 4254-A was missing a few tubes and the 200kc crystal (optional) - I have all of these parts on order - UPDATE All parts received and in place. The ART-13 was used in B-29 bombers.
Next is to build a power supply from a schematic I found.
Early August I picket up my first ART-13 radio T-47/ART-13 with NXsa-45461 and S/N 2128:CZR - it's missing some parts and had a broken vacuum relay - I nice fellow ham sent me a vacuum relay and two 811 tubes. It's still missing the audio amplifier module but more to come on this.
