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Author Topic: FT-243 Xtals  (Read 2910 times)

Offline XEROX

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FT-243 Xtals
« on: March 13, 2013, 1622 UTC »
Checking to see who is still making these. I see Jan does, for $45.00 + $10.00 S/H
Anyone else?  Looking for 6930, 6940..... Leads?? Thanks! Bart S.

Offline John Poet

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Re: FT-243 Xtals
« Reply #1 on: March 13, 2013, 2237 UTC »
I would check with Jan Crystals.
http://www.jancrystals.com/index.html

Last time I did business with them, they were making something called an HC-17.
It is an HC-6 size crystal (same spacing as FT-243), with thicker legs on it,
so that it will plug into an FT-243 socket.  They were selling for much less than you just quoted... think it was $15-25 each plus shipping at the time.

What you should know is, whatever frequency you order may end up off by a couple kHz + or - when you plug it into whatever transmitter you are using... and, they take a number of weeks to deliver.
They also sold me some of the leg adapters, which I soldered onto some of my own HC-6 crystals to make them fit FT-243 sockets.

You could also change one of the crystal sockets into a socket for HC-6 sizes, on your transmitter.
Or, dismantle an unwanted FT-243, and wire an HC-6 socket onto the top.  I made one of those... ugly, but it works.

These folks have some surplus HC-6 crystals within the pirate range, and they also sell the HC-6 sockets somewheres:
http://www.surplussales.com/Crystals/Crystals-3.html

They always shipped incredibly fast, too.

John Poet

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Offline XEROX

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Re: FT-243 Xtals
« Reply #2 on: March 13, 2013, 2348 UTC »
Poet thanks for all the great info!!! I see that one of my sockets is smaller than the others so it might be for an HC-6. I'll try one of my Drake SW-4 xtals, which are HC-6s I think, in it to see if it is and thanks for the source for surplus xtals!
- Bart