What I did to get my 32S-1 back into operating condition

The Collins 32S-1 Receiver as I received it.

When I got the transmitter, it was in pretty good shape. This was fine as I was looking for something to really use. It even included a copy of the manual.

The previous owner had gone through the transmitter and replaced some bad capacitors he had found. Unfortunately, I also spotted some of the notious "Black Beauty" capacitors as well. These are on my list to replace. Here is a picture of the bottom as I received it:

Other than cleaning up the cabinet and knobs, there wasn't a lot more work needed to get it looking good.

When I first tried it into a dummy load, it appeared I was only getting about 80 watts or so maximum output. So I replaced the 6146 output tubes with a pair of 6293 tubes as suggested by K9STH. (See http://kf5czo.blogspot.com/2011/11/essential-information-regarding-6146.html.)

Unfortunately, that did not seem to cure the low output problem. So more investigation is needed. The next thing on my list to try is replcing the 6CL6 driver tube to see if the results improve.

Transmitting results

Now having the 75S-1 and 32S-1 finished, I wanted to give them an actual on the air test. The only remaining thing was to connect all the appropriate cables up to allow them to operate as a transceiver. Add to this my "trusty" Shure 444 michrophone and I was ready to go.

I tried joining in the CCA NET "pre-NET show" but was unable to be heard by net control. So my next attempt was in the actual CCA NET. After a few attempts, I was able to be heard. Net control reported the audio was good, although the amplitude was a little low. This may have been due to propagation, or the fact I was using a Cushcraft R-7 vertical antenna, or something completely else.

Later that evening, I was able to join in to a local 10 meter net, and received very good signal and audio reports. So it looks like I'm just about there.