How to repair Vintage Hammarlund HQ-170a Ham Shortwave Receiver D-lab

This beautiful HQ-170a came to the shop with very low audio. After some careful diagnostics, the culprit revealed itself. Simple repair, but difficult to find. A very nice quality receiver. Live long and prosper.

[@johncunningham5435]

That is a great tip Terry; one for the books, thank you for a top notch video.

[@DeadKoby]

Although I don't have a big interest in radios, I dig these videos as general electronics troubleshooting.

[@ndchevy4fun]

Nice job on the HQ-170 Terry, now if I can find why my 2 HQ-170's are sick..........73 from ND de Terry KF0HR

[@langhilau]

Another great video Terry, it can sometimes be something simple like you found, I rarely get that lucky. LOL

[@allanjohnston8049]

I have one of these radios in my collection and it is on my to do list Thanks for the tip, wish you were standing over my shoulder guiding me as I restore it!!! You make everything look so easy, sigh, sniff! Thanks again VA6RDR

[@DaveFer]

Hey Terry, great video. Great work. I came up listening to my dad's HQ-105TR. I have great affection for these boat anchors. Looking to get one for my son to listen to. PS -- Love your shirt

[@bartmeijer1059]

Thanks for the video! Sometime it's better to think first simpel. And importend to have the right documentation. That's proof this vid. Grz

[@skyboy2410]

Terry you are the Man !!!!!!!!!

[@MichaelLloyd]

That was a great find. I have an HQ-170A, not the VHF version though. I'll file this one away for future reference. 73 NE5U Mike

[@mikesradiorepair]

Nice to get a easy one every once in a while. The old tube type signal tracers are handy for sniffing out problems like this. Mike

[@medhawk4885]

Great video and very useful info~Thanx~

[@jackdunigan6933]

Impressive! Great job of troubleshooting.

[@d-labelectronics]

Thank you Sir, I love working on the old radios + amps. More vids on the way

[@cfcreative1]

Awesome repair.

[@awsomemustang]

great quality video as usual

[@silvermica]

Love these videos!

[@djfrank59]

This reminds me to always look for the obvious first. This brought back an incident about 5 years ago...customer brought in an old Bogen PA amplifier, and he complained it blew the fuse instantly when turned on. Well, the first thing that came to mind was, shorted output tubes, shorted rectifier tube, filter caps, or output transformer. but after taking the top and bottom cover off the chassis, one of the things I discovered was, the two high voltage secondary leads that went through a hole which lead to the underside of the chassis had sliced insulation and the leads were welded to the chassis. obviously, some clown replaced the PT at one time and failed to replace the rubber grommet where the secondary leads passed through. Luckily, it didn't fry the PT. After removing the shorted leads, I cut & restripped them and soldered them...installed HS tubing, and added a new grommet...problem solved, amplifier was back in service which equaled a happy customer. After many years as a service tech, I learned in my younger years to look for the obvious before spending time on component-level troubleshooting :) Great video! Keep more coming :) Now, chill that Merlot and enjoy the holiday weekend :)

[@superhet7281]

Your jack-in-the-box used to be an HRO-60??? One of my all-time favorite receivers. What happened to that one?

[@MichaelRodriguez-qm9my]

Still waiting to hear from you about RCA Victory head.

[@creightonha8725]

Awesome intro D-Lab! What happened to Merlot the pig?

[@douro20]

Is that a Telechron clock in the front of that receiver?

[@d-labelectronics]

Yes--- It was standard with hammerlund.

[@richterdfr]

Hello did you make your career in the electronics industry? How did you get started? Military training? Thanks.

[@d-labelectronics]

Hello, Yes, I went into the USAF at the age of 17. 12 years active duty. Then I got out, went into automotive R&D controls. TD