Bryan

@wereboar
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243 Posts

I like to post things about weird electronics and old technology, with the occasional random ramble.

This is the "let's chat" outlet for my project blog.

Projects from the bottom drawerhttps://wereboar.com/projects
Next up on the bench is a Heathkit AG-7 from Butler 2023. It was an "I didn't need it but it was interesting so it came home with me." It looks like it was in service at General Telephone. I hoped I could get away with some repairs, but that was not to be. Check out the opening analysis on my project page: https://wereboar.com/projects/index.php/2023/08/08/checking-out-a-heathkit-ag-7-signal-generator/

Just when I thought I was done with the PACO G-30, another issue popped up. Solving that didn't fix anything however...check out what I found on my project page. (Projects is running a little slow today, I'm troubleshooting.)

https://wereboar.com/projects/index.php/2025/11/17/a-paco-g-30-rf-signal-generator-part-8-so-we-meet-again/

The PACO G-30 is finished - but we'll meet again, don't worry!

Part 7 of this series is the wrapup and final thoughts...well, almost final thoughts on the device.

Check it out: https://wereboar.com/projects/index.php/2025/04/30/a-paco-g-30-rf-signal-generator-part-7-wrapup/

If you want to follow what’s going on on Projects From the Bottom Drawer, there’s now a telegram channel. It will generally follow the blog, with perhaps a few more messages about events here and there, as well as pictures of things I see while out and about that could be of interest to the channel but don’t warrant a full post.

Check it out: https://t.me/wereboarprojects

There's also a chat channel: https://t.me/wereboar_projects_chat

The PACO G-30 currently on the bench had a lot of issues, some of which were caused by the previous owner.

That the audio portion of the device wasn't outputting any audio was one such issue...in this part, there's some troubleshooting that needs to be done before the final (ha ha no) wrapup.

Check that out on my project page: https://wereboar.com/projects/index.php/2025/04/28/a-paco-g-30-rf-signal-generator-part-6-troubleshooting/

It's time to move on to some resistors in the PACO G-30 that need to be replaced. While what's in there is still functional, I don't want to leave carbon comp resistors in the circuit since they tend to drift. Check out what's going in and out on my project page:

https://wereboar.com/projects/index.php/2025/04/28/a-paco-g-30-rf-signal-generator-part-5-resistors/

The previous owner of this PACO G-30 left a lot of parts in that should not have been left in, including this safety capacitor. It's really amazing that it's not split in half.

I'm going to start by replacing this, some filters, and by removing the selenium rectifier - all of which will help improve the lifespan of this unit. Check it out on my project page:

https://wereboar.com/projects/index.php/2025/04/23/a-paco-g-30-rf-signal-generator-part-4-the-power-supply/

The PACO G-30 has been inspected. While most of it has been rebuilt over the years, there are still a few things that need to come out before use. I've collected some parts for the device. Check out what's going on (as well as getting a larger schematic) on my project page. https://wereboar.com/projects/index.php/2025/04/03/a-paco-g-30-rf-signal-generator-part-3-parts/
The time between this post and the last post regarding the PACO G-30 had been a considerable amount, even if these posts are close together. Since it had been so long, I decided to take another look before beginning work. Check that out on my project page: https://wereboar.com/projects/index.php/2025/03/28/a-paco-g-30-rf-signal-generator-part-2-revisiting/
It's time to start a new project. This PACO G-30 RF Signal Generator is a piece of it's time. It works, is in good shape, but needs some attention to fix problems left by the former owner. This is the pre-check part of the series, check it out on my project page: https://wereboar.com/projects/index.php/2024/11/03/a-paco-g-30-rf-signal-generator/