Rochdale Rally - DF and SAR parts

Visited the Rochdale radio rally today, quite a small rally but a few interesting bits and bobs. Tom insisted on a brew and bacon butty, but it was worth taking him as he was a good bargain spotter!

No one had the BN73-302 ferrites I wanted unfortunately, so the Wellbrook loop clone is still on hold. However very quickly spotted another SARBE antenna! In very good condition, and the seller chucked me in a SARBE-5 battery. Now, the battery terminals had corroded away (although ive just found the cells inside still read 11.55V) but the important thing is that I now can measure the terminals and fabricate replacements, so I can put together a modern replacement battery for the mk5 unit.

Picked up a couple of dogbone insulators, that will complete the receive random-wire antenna for the FRG-100. Tom acquired a few oddball bits free just for interest.

Tom also spotted a Euromarine Radiofix Navigator - one of the DF units i'd been trying to get on ebay recently! Bagged that for less than the ebay ones would have cost with the postage. The battery holder inside has corroded away, and ive got a replacement on order - if only i'd known at the time I could have got one from the rally and had it working already!

LF RDF Receiver

So thats on the bench awaiting the new battery holder, 2xAA, but ive replaced the PP3 clip already.

The state of the workshop bench

Interestingly, the center terminal of the SARBE-5 battery is the negative. Once I have measured the connection plate, which ive now removed from the battery, I will make up a replacement using PCB material. The three studs on the edge of the plate fit slots in the end of the battery housing - slots which also exist on the dummy (red) battery! This means I could turn the dummy battery into a battery eliminator, to allow connecting up an external supply.