EF Johnson Ranger II - RT's Radio Home Page

The EF Johnson Viking Ranger II after removal of modifications and installation of a better front panel. It operates very well and has good audio.

As found: Johnson Viking Ranger II. 160 through 6 meters AM/CW transmitter.

This Ranger has a bad spot on the front panel; it looks like damage from a spray cleaner of some sort. The paint used on johnson equipment is very susceptible to damage from cleaners; dishwashing liquid alone can dull the finish. This Ranger II is a kit version; at first glance, it looked like the builder did a good job; however, detailed inspection showed it was a hurried job. It had been strangely modified, and those modifications have been removed. Other than a new D-Lab PTT installed for "Push To Talk" and slightly larger filter capacitors, it back to the original schematic. I am hopeful this will be a good rig for 6-meter AM. :-)

January, 2025: A better front panel has been found. Photo at the bottom of this page.

Top View:

The Ranger is fairly clean. The screen resistor, as shown near the 5R4 rectifier tube, had been relocated to allow a small solid state supply for the PTT relay. This work was removed, and a new screen resistor was installed in the original factory location. The relay was replaced with one of N6TLU's D-Lab PTT units.

Bottom View:

There are a few small mods found under the chassis. Refreshingly, it has not yet been re-capped. I have two other Rangers that were significantly damaged by careless use of a soldering iron.

The Ranger II uses 7027A modulator tubes instead of the 1614's or 6L6's used in the Ranger I.

The tank coil is often found damaged by turning the Ranger on its top without using supports under the transformer and the choke. This tank coil is in surprisingly good condition.

After about 8 hours work removing the modifications and bringing the transmitter back to stock, it works. 40 watts is easily attained on the lower bands. 6 meters is running at 15 watts. There was a wiring error in the modulator section that damaged two resistors; this has been corrected. Bad solder joints were found in various locations, and one connection was left unsoldered.

The new front panel was found on the "bay"; it literally gave this old transmitter new life. The new panel is a repaint/rescreen that was done very well. The bluish reflections are just that.

August 2025, the Ranger II is alive. Experimenting and trying to eliminate hum in the signal, I installed a 50uf filter in the high voltage rail and 100uf filter in the low voltage rail. The result was too high voltage on both rails. Now using 15uf for the high voltage and 47uf for the low voltage, and the balance seems to suit the unit.

Testing on the Half Moon Bay SDR, the audio is good. Hum level is acceptable.

Now looking for a closely matching grey wrinkle paint for the case.