Thanks for checking out my channel. I enjoy restoring old radios from the 30's through the 40's as a hobby when time permits. For those just getting started in vintage and/or antique radio repair/restorations, I hope you find the videos to be entertaining with a few tips inserted from time to time. For those watching, if you elect to make any repairs, modifications, etc., you are doing so at your own risk.
My project schematics are free to download at the link below.
how did you get the new ‘belt” on? Di you have to completly tear it apart. I have the bottom of of mine but am not sure if I have to take it apart further.
Hello. This is a nice signal tracer. Thanks for making this tool and sharing with everyone. I just bought an IT-12 on eBay recently. Had I seen your video first I would have built your design for sure. Have a great day.
Thanks for watching. Unfortunately I was real sick around this time and never got around to a part 3. Here’s another series for a Radiola repair if interested at: ru-vid.com/group/PLjLu4V-71S1IZexdcF85gW1O4MEdFW26Q&si=aIueG4biz4uzsVoJ Best, Don
This was a special blend of 46 & 48 AWG Litz wire with 180 strands. You should be able to use 48 AWG Litz wire with 10 strands or more and duplicate my effort. Hope this helps. Best, Don
I used lacquer thinner in a well vented area with a small brush to apply it not to saturate the voice coil former as it can easily degrade in seconds and then ever so gently cut away the remnants of cone from the voice coil former. It’s a tedious process for sure. Hope this helps. Best, Don
Hello Don!!! I am using Google Translate to be able to write in English. Please excuse my mistakes. I hope you are enjoying the good weather and the summer heat in the company of your family and friends. In my country it is horribly hot, these days we are above 32ºC (89.6ºF), thank goodness we have fans and air conditioning. ´Sorry I don't know English, sorry. I use the setting to subtitle everything you say in Spanish on your videos. With RU-vid it's relatively easy to subtitle from Spanish to English The DIY doesn't work, the last test I did I suspected that the Germanium diodes were not suitable. I would like to know your opinion, so I have made two videos to consult you, they are these: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-D2Rr12H25hg.htmlsi=CE3DCXY7wKDbOG-H ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5rMeWAH2OK8.htmlsi=FWy3wPnuJ0hfd_Tx Thank you for your patience. Greetings from Barcelona, Spain
I have cracked radio knobs with some chipping but the overall shape should be able to be moulded without too much trouble. Is there anyone out there, including yourself, that could recast my radio knobs. It's for a unique car radio from the Automatic radio company of North America that supplied radios for 1958 and 1959 VW's in Canada. Thoughts?
Thank you Mr. Don. That was another very interesting video with lots of tidbits of knowledge to glean. But that dial plate. Now that I can not stop thinking about. Yes you won the fight and I had not a seconds doubt that you would. But why does it do that popping/static sound? If it is because of "static" buildup on the plate itself, a ground wire should solve it. I don't know if you tried that. And yes, I found myself leaning away while you were pulling on that dial pointer! 😆
Glad you enjoyed it. I tried grounding the dial scale, but still had a little crackling as the dial scale came in contact with the either shaft. I think that is a viable solution as well as the grommets because once the chassis is back in the cabinet, it will add stability to the assembly. Thanks for watching and reaching out. All the best. Don
Nice to see you working on a radio I have in my collection yet to work on. Just as grimey and worn out too. Great reference for a future restore especially the dial face sitting on the shafts and causing noise. Thanks for sharing it Don. Steve
Thank you for the cool resistor chart Don. I will say its nice to know the third digits (e)iphers will be fun to find! Hehehe. Also that rivet removal tool looks fantastic! Who makes that? Ty buddy 😊
I've been into electronics most all of my life, not really much old radio repair but everything post tubes. Ive never heard of a bias cell before but after some googling found a cool description of it. Very cool battery system for those old grids! Thanks for sharing Don! Btw love that dials greenish display, man thats cool! 😊
Another interesting thought is I wonder if you could use some kind of resistor or voltage divider off of the radio receiver's B+ or else the output tube cathode voltage to power the IR receiver's transistor circuit.
I’m sure it could be powered from the receiver. I designed this to be an “isolated” solution being AA5 receivers and alike that can have a hot chassis. Best, Don
A revision to the circuit at: AA5 Receiver or Other | Bluetooth Integration w/ Isolated Input v1.0r ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-F3KadgZWUIg.html
Quite clever setup! I am surprised a standard solar cell could work that well. Exactly what type is it, other than being 1V? I wonder if a CDS photocell could work as well?
Some I picked up off Amazon a few months back to use as a Bias Cell in a Grunow receiver. They are 1V 80mA 0.08W 30mm x 25mm using Polycrystalline Silicon. I’m not familiar with CDS… Best, Don
Excellent video Don! Enjoyed it from start to finish! As to the static, is it possible that some weak intermittent shorth through the volume control to the shaft might account for the static? It would seem some very small voltage is present on the control shaft(s) and I can't see where else it would come from.
Thank you for watching the much longer video. The static even occurs when the metal dial scale comes in contact with the tuning shaft isolated from the volume control shaft. Another viewer suggested grounding the dial scale back to the chassis so floating it using the grommets on the shafts or grounding it back to the chassis seems to settle it down. Thanks again for watching snd your input. All the best. Don
Thank you. The shim material is a clear laminator sheet, 3mil in thickness. I ran it through the laminator for a total thickness of 6mil and cut out the needed strips. I’ve also used 35mm film in the past as well. Hope this is helpful. Best, Don
Thank you for the kind words. One end of the spring is attached to the pulley and the other end of the spring is fastened to the two ends of the dial cord that is pulled tight from two different directions. Hope this helps. Best, Don
Hi Don. Please, can you see the prototype I made here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_Q8e25IB2Ug.html I have not managed to get it to work: the same LED always lights up, the right one, even if you change the position of the capacitor. It also does not work immediately when I press the button (in the prototype a wire connected to +5V), it takes almost 1 minute for the only LED that is able to light up to light up. Don, please, can you give me some suggestions to make it work? Resistors R6 and R7, both 470 Onmhs, 1%. Thanks and regards, This video is made to show it to Don, its designer.
@@RestoreOldRadios Hello, Mr!!! Sorry for the errors, I use Google Trafuctor. I hope you understand me. Yes, I found the fault, it was nonsense, I confused a 4K7 resistor with another 470K resistor in the transistor circuit towards the A1 and A0 signals. I haven't told you anything because I'm now in the definitive construction phase and I wanted to respond to you when it was finished. I'll write to you again when it's done. Thank you very much for being interested. Happy weekend and have a great time in the company of your loved ones. Hugs.
Definitely helped doing this, but still some noise with the receiver out of the cabinet. Placing it back in the cabinet where the dial scale is stationary with your recommendation provides results equal to the grommets. Thanks for your suggestion and watching. Best, Don
muy buenos tus videos recien te descubri.gracias al traductor de voz. gracias por compartir tus conocimentos, saludos cordiales desde Bs As .argentina¡¡
Hola Don. Un saludo y mis deseos de que goces de salud y felicidad en compañía de tu familia y amigos. No sé inglés y he preferido escribirte en español porque si uso Google Traductor igual no se me entiende lo que quiero decir. Prefiero que lo uses tú, así la traducción es de sólo una fase. Disculpa las molestias. Me he hecho el esquema a mi manera de tu "Capacitor Outside Foil Sniffer w/ Arduino V2.0r", después lo haré en una protoboard de ensayo y si todo va bien, ya lo haré soldando componentes. Por si le pudiera interesar a alguien, el esquema hecho con KiCad está aquí: drive.google.com/file/d/1-suT8P9STlHI65weEc5x5Z_MElg7faV-/view?usp=sharing Afectuosos saludos. Te sigo viendo por aquí para seguir aprendiendo. Mucha Salud!!!
Thank you for watching and for taking time to digitize the design. I hope your build goes well and you find the circuit to be helpful. All the best. Don
I’ve bought it a few times off eBay. One supplier that has some listed now at: www.ebay.com/itm/325284912713?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=oevo5DLzSDm&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY Hope this helps and thanks for watching. More info below. Best, Don Genuine Gavitt Branded Cloth Push Back Wire. 50 feet of BLACK & 50 feet of WHITE. Wire is 22 awg 7-strand and fused (tinned) for easier soldering. Cloth jacket has a waxed cotton outer braid and a Celanese inner braid.
Great video Don! My heart jumped a bit and I was flung back into my chair thinking that dial pointer surely broke as it suddenly flew off! Thank goodness everyone's okay. I really enjoy the fact that you take such time to individually clean each component. You have great patience and work with less hand movements than others. It really drives the point home for me that working slower is actually faster. Take care.
You and me both! The compression ring placed on the pointer shaft really had this one locked down. Fortunately it didn’t break when it finally released. Thanks for reaching out Ryan, more to come as time permits. Best, Don
Hi Don, It's been a while since I saw one of your restorations. It's always nice to watch as you bring one back to life. I've got the same tube tester, the I-177B. Love it. Thanks for showing all the little stuff when you work on radios. -- Thomas
Thomas - great to hear from you and I hope this finds you doing well. I bought my I-177B many years ago and it’s definitely added value. I appreciate your kind words and taking time to watch and reach out. All the best. Don
Just curious about those two "humps" in the loop antenna. Is it possible there might have been a ferrite bar at one time that sat under those elevated sections of the loop?
You never know, definitely a possibility. More on the GE Beam-a-Scope antenna that was used in different models at: www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Craft/1930s/Radio-Craft-1939-04.pdf page 605. Thanks for watching and reaching out. Best, Don
Nice fix on that very strange dial plate issue Don, you’re doing exactly what I always stress to my viewers, always cover the speaker and to keep the tuning capacitor fully closed when working on the chassis. Thanks for sharing.
I can use the Bluetooth add on circuit that I shared or use one of my close proximity transmitters to stream music. Thanks for reaching out. All the best. Don
Thanks Doug. Probably my longest video published. Lol I think the dial scale design was most likely cost cutting or an engineering miss. Things have been a little hectic here; I actually did the repairs a good while back, but just found time to edit and publish. Hope you’re doing well my friend. Best, Don
Don't you just love the cost cutting GE did on that dial face? They avoided having someone install 2 screws to hold the dial in place. I love how you used the grommets to isolate the dial face from the shafts! Great idea!
Great video! That was definitely a GE design flaw, with that metal dial scale directly rubbing against the tuning/volume control shafts, causing that noise. Looks like this an oversight of its design engineers. I don't think it's a good idea to have a ground terminal for an AA5 radio that has a hot chassis, especially if someone were to decide to wrap the conductor around a water pipe! With your modifications and repairs, it looks like a pretty solid receiver now!
Chet, I feel the same about the dial scale contact points causing the noise. The ground terminal on the loop antenna is a separate winding that’s not connected to the chassis, which could be hot as you noted due to the polarity of AC. It seems to be a pretty good player at this point. On to the cabinet work when time and weather permits. Best, Don
