Repaired Lafayette HE-30
When I was in high school I used to look through the Lafayette catalogs at the many different radios. I’ve always liked the looks of the HE-30 receiver. The HE-30 is a single conversion receiver. Gain drops off on the high frequencies, same as receivers of similar design.
I picked up an HE-30 on eBay earlier this year. It had broken T2, T3, and T4 IF transformers. I found a Lafayette KT-320 parts radio on eBay that had the 3 IF transformers (I’m still looking for the 3 replacement IF transformers so I can fully restore the KT-320). Front view before repairs. A few knobs were broken and the band spread dial cord was broken.
The eBay sales ad picture front view before any repairs were done. The Band Spread knob is broken.
Inside top rear view. Note the damaged T2, T3, and T4 IF transformers and the broken Brand Spread dial cord.
The broken Band Spread dial cord. The HE-30’s manual Band Spread dial cord stringing picture on page 17 is wrong, what’s shown in the manual will never work. The correct Band Spread dial cord stringing is found in the Lafayette KT-320 assembly manual page 32 or the Japanese factory wired 9R59 operating manual “Fig 8 Page 6”.
Repair Update 18 Nov 2023
I replaced the original 2 blade power cord with a 3 blade grounded power cord. The AC Neutral was originally wired through the fuse holder, bad idea. This would have “AC” at the main power switch even if the fuse blew. I routed AC hot through the fuse then to the main power switch on the front panel. If the fuse blew then AC would stop at the fuse holder.
I ensured the proper fuse was in the fuse holder. The manual does not specify the fuse rating but the manual’s specification page states the receiver has a power rating of 50 watts at 117VAC. Performing the math resulted in a 614ma fuse. I went with a 3/4 amp fast blow fuse in the fuse holder.
The 3 damaged T2, T3, and T4 IF transformers were replaced with transformers from a Lafayette KT-320 parts chassis I found on eBay. Both initial resistance checks passed, approximately 18K at pin 8 on the rectifier tube and 6 to 8 ohms between the 2 power plug blades. To maintain the same type of Banana sockets, the 3 Banana sockets on the rear were replaced with new Banana sockets.
I performed a thorough visual inspection of the wiring to ensure there were no shorted leads.
I found the rear remote control socket was not wired according to the HE-30 schematic preventing the receiver from powering up. The rear remote “plug” is required to operate the receiver even though the Function switch is set to “Receive”. The factory wiring of the 5 pin “socket” on the rear of the receiver was not as shown on the HE-30 schematic. Once the plug was wired properly and plugged into the 5 pin socket, the receiver came to life.
Front view after power up test. The broken main, band spread and IF gain knobs were replaced with knobs from the KT-320 parts radio.
The band spread dial cord was replaced with new cord and routed correctly as shown in the Lafayette KT-320 manual.
The receiver works rather well when connected to my 40 meter dipole antenna. I have not performed any tests to determine sensitivity, selectivity, etc. The video link below shows the receiver working after the repair.
https://w5rkl.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Repaired-Lafayette-HE-30.wmv
The dial calibration is off. I’ll take care of that during the alignment. The various controls work as they should. The dial glass needs replacing. I have a good dial in my Lafayette KT-320 parts chassis I plan on using as a replacement.
