Ramsey Electronics FR6 - Manual (Page 19)

FR6 • 19
ˆ 7. Turn the power ON.
ˆ
8. Turn R2 (Volume control) until you hear some noise.
ˆ
9. Adjust L4 for maximum noise in the speaker.
Further alignment now consists of adjusting the oscillator coil L3 to permit the
tuning control (R3) to cover the 5 MHz. segment between 50 and 54 MHz of
primary interest to you. Assuming you wish to adjust for the Six Meter
Amateur Band, adjust L3 until you hear your intended test signal.
If you are a beginner with no license or other equipment, any Ham operator
with a 6-meter transceiver should be willing to give you the test signal and
extra help that you need. The FR6 is very sensitive, so operate the transceiver
on low power on a simplex frequency from a distance of at least across the
room. An 8" piece of wire will be a sufficient receiving antenna for such tests.
If you don't know any Hams, visit a friendly two-way radio service center to
get close to the test signal you need!
RECEIVER SENSITIVITY
Your FM receiver features sensitivity under 1 uv. Radio Hams constantly
marvel at how an FR6 displayed at hamfests tunes in dozens of hand-held
QSO's on the premises without an antenna connected! You can expect to
monitor local repeater and simplex transmissions easily, using a simple
groundplane style antenna. The receiver also responds very well to the
addition of a low-noise pre-amplifier such as the Ramsey SA7/PR2. A new
and versatile receiver accessory is the Ramsey AA7 HF-VHF Active Antenna,
which doubles as a preamplifier with other antennas in addition to the
excellent performance of its own whip.
Six meters is generally a daylight hours band. If you finish building your FR6
at midnight, please wait until sunrise before you expect to hear much of
anything. Quite frankly, if there are no local 6 meter operators, you may have
to wait days until the band opens up. However, whenever 6 meters is “hot”,
especially during the summer months, you’ll be amazed at how many stations
will “boom” in from great distances, many running very low power!
ADDING AN LED POWER "ON" INDICATOR
For many people, a pilot lamp to indicate "power on" is more than a nice
touch. They expect it and depend on it, reminding us that "real radios glow in
the dark!" Adding a simple LED power-on indicator to your Ramsey kit
receiver is easy. All you need is the LED itself and a small 1K to 2.2K resistor.