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Some Thoughts On Restoration
To borrow a phrase from Shakespeare, "To restore or not to restore, that is the question".
Radio gear nearly a century old can come to us in a wide variety of conditions,
some very good, some very rough, and just about every level in between. But
whether treasure or trash, every
restoration begins with a simple question, "What do I plan to do with this?" If one does not intend to
operate the equipment in question, an electrical restoration is usually not needed, and
oftentimes a quick dusting is enough for display on the shelf. Sometimes, in the
case of cosmetic damage, or if one wants to actually operate the gear,
additional steps are called for.
Taking a cue from one of the key precepts of the medical profession, "Primum non nocere"
or "First do no
harm.", I am careful about what I do, and perhaps more importantly, what
I do not do, with antique radio apparatus. For in many ways I feel that I am not
so much the owner, as I am the caretaker of these radios. They are all that is
left of the once proud and mighty American radio industry, and deserve the best of
treatment. While I delight on bringing back vintage gear, and enjoy using it
on the air, I take additional joy in knowing that I am in, some small way, preserving
it for future generations of radio amateurs.
There are two basic schools of thought on restorations. The first school
takes the approach to make every nut and bolt shine, to polish IF cans
and other sheet metal to a mirror finish. To in short, make the unit
more of a piece of art, eye candy if you will, than the purpose it was
designed for. An apt analogy for this school of thought might be a
heavily chromed and tricked out 1957 Chevy at an auto-show vs. the daily
driver. Over the years my approach to restoration has moderated, as you
will note below. My current theory behind most of my restorations is to return the item to be restored to the
condition in which it left the factory. This means the use of the same
style hardware, like kind and type of wiring, and same finish, if
refinishing is needed.
 I’ve moderated on the depth of restoration efforts over the years,
accepting the “in-service” look as opposed to the overly done, polished
chassis approach. This is no way means that I compromise on my efforts,
it simply means that I restore the gear to the level which a ham
of that era would see the unit. It should look, for all intents and
purposes, like it was NOT restored but is simply an in-service unit. In
most cases this means keeping intact the original finish, labels, sheet
metal finish, etc. Dependent upon the restoration, I do endeavor to
remove modifications added over the years, the goal being to return the
unit to the standard operating condition.
Nor do I ever really “finish” a restoration. Often I will pull a unit
out of service after perhaps six months or perhaps a years worth of use,
and go through it yet again. With older gear, parts will invariably be damaged
or missing and often not readily available during the first restoration. So I
will employ “field expedient measures”, temporary fixes if you will, to allow
the unit to operate, while scouring hamfests and the Internet for the needed
part. It is during this second trip to the bench that I find myself carrying out additional cleaning, realignments, and
checking component values again. Despite a through “burn-in” effort
during its initial visit to my test bench, oftentimes certain components
don’t fail until they have some additional time and use. So, in general,
my time is spent correcting any overlooked, unsatisfactory items from
the first work. I find it often takes 2-3 trips to the bench before I am
satisfied that I have the unit ready for another 50 years of service.
I hope that you enjoy viewing my humble efforts here, and thank you for taking
the time to review my site.
73 Bruce W1UJR
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Amateur Radio Station W1UJR