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Here are some tips that I've picked up on over the years. Click on the picture for a full size image.
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Spring Clamp Radio Holder
Instead of precariously balancing your radio chassis use a spring clamp to securely hold it to your bench top. This picture shows an HQ-100 clamped to my work table while being repaired.
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EMI Choke using a CRT yoke toroid core
Have a noise radiator with a long power cord? I had a Verizon FIOS -48v power supply that was radiating so much noise I couldn't align a radio on my nearby test bench. I also had a junk box full of old CRT yokes. So I stripped off the yoke windings to end up with a large ferrite toroid and wound as many turns of the power cord as would fit in the toriod. When I plugged in the power supply the noise was gone. Without the choke I couldn't receive a broadcast station within 10 feet of the supply now I coludn't hear noise on a clear channel until I got within a foot of the supply. The core even splits to make winding easier.
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Tool Demagnitizer "Gun"
This is an oldy but goody. An old style soldering gun make a great demagnetizer for small tools. Just hold the tool inside the tip current loop, press the gun trigger, slowly remove the tool until it is about a foot from the loop and release the trigger.
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Enlarged Schematic for old eyes
Many multi-function printer / copiers have a poster mode that will enlarge a copy to three or more times its original size. When I'm doing extensive work on a radio I use this mode to enlarge the schematic and glue the individual sheets to a large sheet of posterboard.
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