Robyn radio

[WB8JBG]

I have just aquired a Robyn Transceiver model 500a. I bought it from a old time ham who swears it is a ham radio. It shows on the selector swicth 10 thru 80 meters, AM SSB and CW. Looking inside the rig it appears that all bands are connected to the band swicth. I haven't been able to test it because it appears to have some bad caps in the power supply. Anyone ever heard of Robyn making a ham rig. On the plate it says made for Robyn radio and gives the address and under neath it says Japan???????

[NM7L]

Yep, Robyn did make a HF Transceiver...but it was better known (?) here in the USA by another "well-known for their CBs" manufacturer. The Robyn 500a is better known as (drum roll please....) the SBE SB-36!

You can search online for info on the SB-36. There is one website, http://www.noobowsystems.com/restoratio ... ual-00.pdf that will provide you with a manual for the '-36: should work for the 500a as well.

Gotta love those old Nixie tubes for frequency readout!

[K4JC]

Yes indeed, the Robyn Digital 500 is a ham rig. I had one as my first HF transceiver back in the '70s. The one I had worked OK on most of the bands, but a previous owner had butchered the 10 meter PA section, probably trying to convert it to CB. It wouldn't generate more than a hundred milliwatts on 10, but one afternoon while trying to work on it (yes it was connected to an antenna - bad ham!) someone heard me testing and called me. It was a W5 in New Mexico; I was in Maryland!

I thought they were all pretty much gone, but it looks like there are still a few floating around.

JBG if you decide to sell yours let me know!

[WB8JBG]

I have the schematics and I am working on it. The relay is bad in the power supply, however I think I have a replacement in my junk box. The power supply works as far as I can tell, I shorted the relay and the fan came on, but no filaments. It will take awhile but when it is up and running I will sell it. I'll let you know.