Collins ADF-60 Aircraft ADF receiver teardown

[@lelabodemichel5162]

At 10:36 these modules are band pass filters for IF section. At 11:11 these parts are not big resistors but inductors. Thank you for this video.

[@BGTech1]

Thanks for commenting. I look forward to more of your videos

[@SkyhawkSteve]

I came over from the Curious Marc video about the ADC. Here are some quick notes as I watch your video: the blue things are resistors.. probably metal film resistors that are 1% tolerance or so. The resistors with the stripes are carbon composition resistors. Around 5:20, the orange things are 0.1uF capacitors. Probably higher voltage types. At 5:51, when you open up the switcher that had a shield over it, you mentioned a logic chip. That's probably the switcher controller, and might be interesting to learn what it is. At 8:20, I suspect that the "resistor" is an inductor... or a cap? A cap makes more sense for a crystal oscillator circuit. At 8:25, the trimmer is an adjustable capacitor. At 11:10, the "resistors" are probably inductors. I'm guessing is that there is a network of LC filters on that part of the board. At 11:29, the green item is probably a transformer. The "T2" designator on the silkscreen is the big hint, but the fact that it has 4 terminals is another hint. At 13:27, I see two integrated circuits in cans marked CA741. This is a basic operational amplifier ("op-amp"), and they are probably used to make linear voltage regulators. The things that look like light bulbs are pretty odd.. maybe they are spark gap devices used to clamp high voltage transients? A lot of avionics is required to survive high voltage transients, such as might occur if the aircraft is struck by lightning. Overall, I'd be interested in hearing more about how everything works, but that requires some specialized knowledge. It would be good to explain that ADF stands for Automatic Direction Finder. There was an ADF on the A-4 Skyhawks that I used to work on.

[@BGTech1]

Thanks so much for the great information. I'm always trying to learn more about this fascinating stuff. far the most interesting piece of avionics I have is a Collins 860e-2 DME. I will make a video eventually but I've been busy with school. It weighs 40lbs and contains 4 cavity triode amplifier tubes, machnalical assemblys, and tons of high frequency stuff that I don't know anything about.

[@SkyhawkSteve]

@@BGTech1 There is a ton of specialized knowledge in electronics, so stuff like switching power supplies or RF is something you could spend a career on. I'm sort of a general analog guy myself. I started as an avionics tech in the Marines, and then got my EE degree, and spent 8 years at McDonnell Douglas doing electronics design for avionics and spacecraft. That was in the late 80's and early 90's, and it looked a lot like the Collins ADF in terms of parts and construction. When I was in the Marines, we had Collins UHF radios and other gear. If you ever find an ARC-51 or ARC-159 UHF radio, I'd love to see what is inside. 🙂

[@BGTech1]

@@SkyhawkSteve Working on avionics sounds like a neat career. I'm planning on majoring in EE in college as well. I will keep my eyes out for those radios, but my budget for avionics is limited.

[@SkyhawkSteve]

@@BGTech1 Where are you finding these old Collins items?

[@BGTech1]

Many years ago I got a few boxes at the scrap yard. Now I buy them off eBay.

[@h7qvi]

Brown 'bean' capacitors are dipped silver mica. With those inductors, it's probably the front end preselector filter.

[@h7qvi]

Box full of foam is thermal insulation. Might have a heater and crystal in there too. Overnized oscillator.

[@BGTech1]

That’s neat. I wondered what was in there