One of my recent projects has been repairing and aligning a Yaesu FT-101ZD HF transceiver. Since I’ve had the radio running I’ve been listening to conversations around the country and the world, which is pretty amazing from an inexpensive Hamfest find and simple wire antenna. I want to fine tune the radio’s performance, and decided to use the service manual recommended test equipment which is state of the art – for the 1950s. So I sought out some vintage test equipment. I found this Hewlett Packard 200AB Audio Signal Generator, refurbished it, and it’s working well. The tubes checked out OK on my tester, it required some lubrication, and I installed a new power switch. It is all tube goodness, and I love the monstrous rotating dial and internal plate capacitors for tuning the oscillator. On the scope I found it to be within a few Hz of the front panel dial setting, just amazing for a 70 year old design. I’ve laid in the parts to re-cap it to replace the older paper and multi-section electrolytic caps, but for now I’m enjoying it as is. I’m going to set it up so it will work for another 70 years.
