I've had a 1931 AWA Radiola radio stashed in my garage for some time, I haven’t looked at it yet because it scares me. It’s a TRF set and I know nothing about them but I will have a go anyway. What’s the worst that can happen???
I'm binge watching you David. With all the craziness and sorrow in the world today (not that today is any crazier of more sorrowful than time past) your persistence, dedication and love for what you do, I respect that. The radios that you repair will be loved for generations to come.
12:27 "... apart from the power transformer and output transformer ..." (and later the discovery of the open filter choke) ... a masterpiece of understatement and also of careful forensics and curation. A very admirable and painstaking effort. Thank you.
Wow. Nothing like diving in at the deep end! Some of the components look like they have come out of Tutankhamun's tomb with all the wax and decayed fabric. It is a very interesting aesthetic on this older chassis. Much more attention to smooth design than later ones. When new, it must have looked very art deco in the back. Looking forward to part 2. Cheers.
Hi Pauline, the wax is a pain as you will see in part 2 and the capacitors still changed their values even though they are fully encased in the stuff. The attention to detail is amazing on this radio, the screws and all machined and plated and as you say the layout and look is well thought out. I guess this was the dawn of radio where engineers designed the radio before the bean counters got into the act 😃
Too true no doubt :-). I have never seen a radio from this period restored. A real treasure. During the resto, would you be able to explain the 3 tuners? I don't understand how they work.
This my first venture into TRF sets too Pauline so it's all new to me. In case I don't explain it during the video... the way I think it works is each of the three RF stage tunes the desired frequency, amplifies it and passes it on to the next stage. Using multiple RF stages reduces the bandwidth and helps tune in weaker stations. Earlier TRF sets had individual tuners which were individually tuned to a station so you can imagine tuning the first tuner then the second etc to get the best reception, this one is ganged together to make it easier. I will have to check they are correctly aligned at a later point.
Hi Ideal1980, I believe they were expensive at £40 and the average middle class wage was £350 per year. They believe they sold very well though. Here is a link to a brochure for the model. don't know if it will work: www.radiomuseum.org/dsp_multipage_pdf.cfm?pdf=awa_45e_45b_1931_brochure~~1.pdf
Hi David. Thanks for the detailed recording and commentary, I was able to follow you through the hole video, really enjoyable. Bad luck with the transformers. But it will be a beauty if you can get it finished, seems to be fighting you all the way. Looking forward to the next episode.
Hi Steve A, thank you, glad you enjoyed it. The transformers are back better than new and ready to be refitted when the time comes. When/if it's finished it will be one of the best in my collection 😃
You’re a brave man! And I don’t mean fighting back against the blown coils. I mean using your oven! My wife would sue for divorce if she caught me doing that :) Good luck mate. It’s going to be an extra great satisfaction when you finally hear it play.
Hi Manuel, I'm OK, the Doc says the bruising will be gone in a few weeks 😃 Kidding of course, it's my outside oven I use so no harm done. I'm looking forward to that day it plays again 🙂
I've done console radios like this. They are well put together and sound incredible. The AA5 is put to shame by the old masters. The toughest part for me was the woodwork. I made the mistake of sanding the veneer. This a real boat anchor.
Vim, we don't have that in the States, but Mr Carlson uses it. I recall an episode of "Rumpole of the Bailey" where Rumpole was pressed into shopping with She Who Must Be Obeyed. "Vim? Do we live on Vim?" he asked She. She replied, "You'd miss it if we didn't have it!" Gumption - LOL I'd buy that in a heartbeat. What a name for a cleaning product. Maybe it has to be mixed with Elbow Grease. Subscribed, and Happy New Year. Hope the fires there pass you by.
Hi Dead Freight West, that sounds like Rumpole 😃 Vim and Gumption are both good names, Vim without the viggor and use a little gumption to get it clean, glad I'm not in marketing, I would never have thought of that. The fires are not near us but are of great concern, things can change very quickly, thanks 🙂
Thanks David for your interesting and highly informative videos! I enjoy them very much. I graduated in electronic engineering years ago, but after 25 years in IT I'm a little rusty. I hope to take this up as a hobby when I get more time, starting by recapping my Pye P45 which I was given as a kid back in the late 70's. It still works, but the performance is nowhere near where it used to be (poor output volume and lots of interference). Watching your videos gives me a little more confidence to tackle the job myself.
Thank you and good luck getting back into electronics, there is plenty of information and friendly help out there now. I have two PYE radios, one hot chassis that I did a video on and one Aussie built one with a transformer. Both are excellent performers and have great sound, all the best 👍🙂
That Radiola cabinet was actually in pretty nice condition for its age. Sure some of the name plates are missing but overall condition visually it looks quite nice. A really nice radio that definitely could use your restoration expertise.
Hi Dave , I guess Radiola it’s an American made radio because I had seen one in the States .Thanks for take care of such beautiful piece of history , where our parents childhood and our great parents used to listen to and enjoy 🙏
Hi Ali, the Radiola name was used by several manufacturers. This radio was made in Australia and I think it was an Australian design bu AWA, I don't know how different companies used the same name or what the connection was between them 🙂
Blimey! Talk about tenacity? I think this would have been a dog bed if it landed on my bench! I heard the same comment from Mr Carlson re Vim as a cleaner. We also had a product called Ajax. I asked in the local supermarket for both of these and all I got was blank stares! Fond memories of the days before non stick pans LOL. Good luck with the rewinds and I look forward to the next video. Been working hard at home to convert my shed from wood/metal/car and motorbike repair shop into a radio only workshop. Taken a while but light at the end of the tunnel now. Hope the dreadful fires aren’t too close to you. Best wishes and have a great new year.
Hi Lynton, I Googled Vim and it's still available in some countries, Mr Carlson's Canada may be one, we also had Ajax. The rewound transformers are back and look great. Part 1 was shot some months ago but I held off releasing it to make a more fluid mini series. I hope you kept some wood and metal working gear for your radio repairs in your new workshop, they seem to go hand in hand 🙂 The fires are a disaster but are not directly affecting me at the moment, thank you for your thoughts. Thank you and all the best for 2020 Lynton 🙂
Not a straight forward restoration - but then that is not really unusual! Loved your use of humor David. Vim - now my mother used to use that all the time... oh dear I really am showing my age. It's a pity we did not have digital cameras when I was doing restorations - drawing things out by hand was so laborious but you can just point and click! This cabinet will look outstanding by the time you have restored it. Happy New Year David.
Hi Kenneth, thanks. We used to have Vim in a cardboard 'tin' with a peelable label covering holes on the top. Mum used it everywhere. Modern technology has made it so much easier, I wouldn't be doing this without RU-vid and downloadable schematics etc. Got a problem, ask a group and get a response very quickly. I have videoed every aspect of the pulling apart phase to help with the putting back together phase 😃
David this Radiola is greatly similar to a 1929 Atwater Kent that I completed a couple of months ago. If you get a chance you might want to have a look. It also is a 3 gang tuner and has the capacitor can, tar filled transformer and capacitor sardine cans. I also had to repair the volume control as well. I'll be watching this one with great interest!
Hi Greg, I will have a look, thanks. I guess the technology and building methods at that stage where aligned and we would have kept a eye on what was happening in other countries so I would expect they would be quite similar 🙂
Love how the dial is calibrated in metres wavelength, rather than kilocycles/sec. Amazing if those 90 year old valves still work. Great videos, looking forward to the next instalments!
Hi David, thanks. I guess we just followed the mother country with the dial in meters before switching to kilocycles later on. I have a set of NOS valves in case but I would expect the remaining valves have a good chance of working 🤞🙂
Hello David Happy new year to you . I love this very old radios . Since two month i restore a Stassfurt LW 35 . It is the oldest radio i have , since one week i rebuild the wood from the case . I wish you good luck to finish your radio . thumbs up :-) greets Uli
Hi Uli, I Googled your Stassfurt LW 35, that's a nice radio, TRF with regeneration would be very interesting to work on. Thanks for your good wishes with my radio, I'm going to need it 😃 Happy New Year 🎉
Restoration of this radio will be a great challenger !!!! I follow yours videos a short time, but a have seen all, its sensacional. I have learn a lot, thanks !!! Production of yours videos are very profissional, congratulations !!!!!! São Paulo - Brazil
Another quality video. Welcome to 2020 & have a prosperous New Year. 🎇️🎉️🎈🍻🥂 On another note: We are sending our prayers for everyone affected by those massive fires. In 2003 here in San Diego, we had a terrible bunch of fires & lost over 1500 homes not to mention the loss of lives. It was bad. It might be hard for folks to fully understand the impact of such a disaster unless they were either very close or directly affected by a firestorm. I hope you all are doing OK.
Hi J. D, thank you and all the best for 2020. Fortunately the loss of life has been light if you can call any loss of life that. We are used to bushfires and are prepared but this is so widespread and battling one fire after another is difficult. I remember the San Diego fires, thank you for thinking of us 🙂
Oh man; I’m losing count of the amount of times I’ve encountered o/c transformers, chokes, and coils: and it seems to be on no other than the nicer looking, up-market, 1930s radios. It is very maddening to say the least. Once you have the transformers rewound, and all the rest of the replacement components to hand ...and the chassis re-plated, reconstruction shouldn’t be too difficult. Provided you take your time, I know you will succeed. I definitely can’t see that radio being a ‘Static display’. Another great video Dave. Happy New Year from Phil.
Hi Phil, I'm sure it will work but it looks a long road ahead and it's done differently to what I am used to . The number of open transforms is what got me, one maybe but three! Stayed tuned. Happy new year Phil 🎉😃
Wow! David, really glad to see this video posted today, 3rd Jan. I've been following the bush fires on the BBC and wondering if you had been affected by any of it seemed like ages since you posted anything. Glad you're back and hope all is well for you and your family.
From now on I dub thee "Sir Dave the Brave". Nice thing about this old radio is there's plenty of space. I recently rescued a 1934 AEG Super Geatron 34 WLK that had been worked on by the owner. It had a similar circuit with the RF sensitivity acting as the volume control . It also used the preamp tube as a detector by keeping the plate voltage low and using that as a diode, and using the screen grid as a plate! I'm watching this one with interest!!
That's as clean of a radio from the Early Depression Era, as I've ever seen. That gem of a radio was most certainly loved, and well cared for by its owner, cheers!
Hi AMStationEngineer. The cabinet is still in great condition for age, the chassis is not so good, it doesn't seem to match the cabinet for condition, I can't imagine it has been swapped though 🙂 Cheers 😃
@@AMStationEngineer Thanks, the fires are an ongoing concern. I haven't heard of BWD but can imagine what it is. Because I havent heard of it doesn't mean much. It sure has good bones, if I get the chassis sorted it will be a great addition to my collection 🙂
Good link AMStationEngineer, I have used both methods in the past, replacing and resleeving. I have also stripped insulation from new wire and fed it onto the original wire if I think heatshrink might be a bit thin, a transformer for instance. Thanks for the link 👍🙂
Hi Alan, this radio is way out of my comfort zone but interesting to see how they did it in the early years. The transformers were a setback but that will be overcome. Part 2 will be more interesting as I dismantle and reassemble it 👍🙂
David Tipton I’ll have to look that one up, David - I’m a medic actually, and have never seen a case, but perhaps I’ve got it too and am too dumb to notice 😂 Happy New Year to you too, as long as you are far from the fires 😖 I look forward with keen anticipation to chapter 2 of this saga!
Hi David. Looks like you have your hands full with this one. It's often the case with 1920's and 30's radios that the transformers are open. They just didn't have the manufacturing technology yet to make fine copper wire. I don't know how they did it but the process they used tended to make the wire brittle. Over the decades moisture and temperature changes would cause the winding to break. Today it's very difficult to find someone with the skill to rewind these things. It's a dying art I'm afraid. Looking forward to seeing this one as it gets a new life. ATB for 2020.
Hi Doug, you may have something there. Any one of the failures would have stopped the radio from working so some or all have occured since the radio was last used. The chap rewiring it is very experienced and I'm confident they will come back better than new 🤞🙂
Thanks Roundy Mooney. It was designed and built in Australia but the methods used would be similar to US and European radios at the time. I have seen radios from other countries from the same era and the similarities are uncanny 🙂
Hi Jerry, we used to be able to get Naval Jelly in Australia but can't find it now, there are other products available though. It's back from the plating shop now and looks pretty good aside from some pitting from the rust. Thanks for your help 😃
That's what Phil Nelson (on his website blog) uses when he restores his vintage radio and TV chassis. Gets the worst of the rust right out in most cases.
Hi Sam, we can't get Naval Jelly here anymore but there are similar products available. I had several options but chose to go the way I did because I didn't want to paint it. I did consider sandblasting it and protecting it with clear, a warts and all approach. Thanks for the suggestion 👍🙂
Easy solution for the rust: “Naval Jelly”... That stuff is AMAZING. No elbow grease or rubbing needed. Paint it on, let it activate, and then wipe it off. Rust will be GONE. You will need to treat the metal with something pretty quickly though after that, as Naval Jelly is very strong and takes the rust off down to true bare metal and it will flash-rust again very quickly...
David Tipton ... Is it an environmental thing? It makes me wonder if that is, or soon will be the case here in the U.S. as well. I haven’t had to buy any in quite a while, so I don’t even know...
@@SteveHacker I don't think it's an environmental thing, it's just phosphoric and sulfuric acid in gel form, both of which are freely available. There are probably alternate products available. The problem with sulfuric acid is it rusts instantly when removed from the rusted metal and it can't be stopped
Hi Wayne, I'm OK but the devastation is unbelievable. Our firefighters have been at it for months, we owe them a great debt of gratitude. It's a fine radio made with a lot of pride at a time when money was short, I hope I can do it justice. Cheers mate 👍🙂
David, I worked on an old 30s Philips radio that also had a volume control that did not work when you had a grammophone connected as it controlled the first two tubes.
I got question Dave , please do you guys still receive shortwave frequencies from BBC UK or VOA thanks ? Here in the US the shortwave transmission almost extinct .
Hi Ali, I don't play with shortwave much but I have picked up Asia, Naru and New Zealand. Australia doesn't have any shortwave anymore that I know of 🙁
David, it makes you wonder how two such faults could have occurred, because each fault would have killed the radio and protected it from further damage. Its hard to imagine either fault could have arisen with no power going through. Maybe a lightning strike caused both faults simultaneously?
Hi Bob, that may be the case. There are three transformers open and any one would have stopped the radio as you say. I have no idea of the history of this radio and how long it has been sitting round, I was thinking they just corroded out over time but lightning is a possibility 🤔🙂
Boy this is one big project but will be one awesome old set when completed I have stewart warner 950 series console radio of around the same age they built them to last back then.
@@DavidTipton101 Thanks yes they a nice radio mine is in full working order just needs cabinet restored but that is a big job and not something I am able to do so one day will send to be refinished by one of my radio club members contacts.
Adjusting the volume control would cause the screen on the third valve to sag as the first two screen draw more current. However, this would be the opposite effect and would make the volume operate "backwards" on the phono input. The effect is probably very slight and the phono input wasn't intended to have a volume control.
Hi Mister Hat, yes I agree, the volume will not be affected when in Phone mode. Someone else confirmed the phono played most likely had a volume control 🙂
It puzzles me how the transformers/choke that are somewhat in series could all have gone open. You’d think if it was due to excessive current draw, one would have opened, like a fuse, protecting the other two. It might be a good idea, after reassembling the radio, to check impedances to ground at various points before applying power.
Hi Bob, thanks, I think they are suffering from old age as any one of the transformer failures would have stopped the set. I will be sure to check before applying power, thanks 👍🙂
The circuitry of this set looks pretty typical for a late 1920s, early 1930s AC radio, at least a North American made one. The 224A tubes are what they called "Screen Grid" tubes, in that they added a second grid, those solved the problem with needing to neutralize each RF stage to eliminate oscillation. Actually the circuit reminds me of an RCA Radiola 44, the transformer and condenser/choke cans really do remind me of a late 1920s RCA, I wonder if AWA was an RCA licensee? However the tuning capacitors, ganged with a metal belt, reminds me of an Atwater Kent model 40. One oddity (for where I am) is having only a single ended output stage, most consoles from then used a pair of #45s in a push-pull arrangement, it was mostly the cheaper table sets that would have had a single ended #45 tube. In terms of removing the rust a phosphoric acid based rust remover, such as navel jelly, with some 0000 steel wool works well on surface rust. Trisodium phosphate does a good job on cleaning dirty chassis in general, and really does a good job with cleaning aluminum parts, though mag rim cleaner works well for polishing aluminum.
Hi OlegKostoglatov, actually I was surprised to see a push-pull output on an Atwater-Kent circuit and as you say the resemblance to my radio chassis is striking. I haven't seen many push-pull outputs on Aussie radios except for the later radiograms, I'm prepared to stand corrected there. I don't know about any connection between RCA and AWA but AWA radios were also called Radiola, there may be a link via Marconi. I often treat rust with phosphoric acid but I want to return this to as original condition as possible so have opted for re-plating. I haven't heard of Trisodium phosphate I'll have to look it up and see if i can get some, thanks 🙂
Push-pull outputs were almost the norm in console sets with TRF circuits, which the majority of AC sets were in the 1928-31 time period, and wer quite common even in table radios. That changed after the type 47 pentode came out in 1930-31, after which there was a plethora of cheap TRF sets with a single ended output. The reason was for more audio output and less distortion, probably also to cancel out power supply hum. RCA had a monopoly on the superheterodyne circuit in those years so they made most of their sets with single ended outputs for some reason, the higher end ones used a single ended type 50 tube, which required 500-600 volts on the anode, the mid priced ones used type 10s, and the mass produced ones used #71As before the #45s came out. The Radiola 44 was a budget set for the 1929 model year, so it was a TRF, much like the Radiola 18 was the previous year, the difference was that it used screen grid tetrodes rather then triodes for RF amps. I am speaking of the North American radio industry, meaning the U.S and Canada of course. Australia may have been influenced more by the British whom had a perverse patent royalty system in the 1920s where they had to pay Marconi royalties based on how many tubes/valves a radio had. Later they had a sort of cartel called the BVA that sold valves to radio manufacturers on a loss leading basis, but took it out of the hide of set owners when they needed replacements. So whilst in Britain set buyers were averse to buying radios with a higher tube count, in Canada and the U.S the view was that more tubes equaled a better radio.
I forgot to mention this, and it is too late anyhow, but both Hammond and Edcor manufacture replacement transformers that will accommodate radios with 2.5 volt tube heaters, unfortunately not sets that had 1.4 volt filament tubes like #25s or #71As. They are not cheap but are available, but they may not be an exact match on the high voltage winding, and I don't know if they are available with 230 primary windings. They may also not have the center tapped heater windings, but that can be worked around with a pair of resistors. Also are you having the output transformer rewound for authenticity? I've found that generic output transformers usually be made to work with #45 tubes.
Thanks OlegKostoglatov for your extensive and interesting reply. We probably did follow England initially with radio design but soon developed our own typical Aussie radio style. We also had a patient licencing system in Australia and it was based on the number of tuned circuits in the set and a sticker was placed on each set. We can get Hammond transformers here but anything from the US is expensive, one that may have worked was over $200 here which is more that the cost of rewinding the two originals. I want to keep the radio looking original both top and bottom so apart from a few new capacitors it looks much the same as in 1931. I will keep the Hammond transformers in mind if I need them in the future. Thanks for your help 😃
My God David, you've opened up cans of worms. You can completely understand why people aren't interested in repairing stuff anymore. Just Image giving a paying customer the repair invoice and then observing the look on their face before they have a heart attack. They'd be clueless to understand how such a repair could possibly be so expensive.
Hi Graham, can of worms and cans of wax and pitch 🤔🙂 It's going to cost me a fair amount just to get it going so paying someone would be very expensive when you factor in the time component. I guess it's pretty much a job for the hobbiest now 🙁🙂
@@DavidTipton101 Exactly right. Maybe you have the same mindset as me. It's the challenge of making seemingly impossible things happen with a never say die attitude. Love what you're doing. 👍
Okay, I know this is a very basic question of electronics, but I've been confused about it for years. Whenever someone is ground/to earth, does it go back to the negative side of the battery or to the common ground/earth? I think it depends on the circuit?
It does depend on the circuit clasicradiolover. It generally refers to the chassis itself as being ground. The chassis may or may not be connected to the 'earth'. The chassis is used as a convenient means to connect many electrical components to the same electrical source. Most electrical systems use the same method, a car, a plane, a bus etc, all return the current back to the power source via the framework. I hope that helps 🙂
That’s a nice old set ! Chokes and transformers do seem to be a weak spot for such old radios. I don’t think they were expecting them to last for 80 odd years anyway !
I rewind my own and often find the wire fails in places where there seems to be impuities in the metal. Maybe that was the extent of wire making tech in those days. I've seen windings with upwards of 20 failures some of which were green and some looked like resistive spots that had been hot.
Oh no, more failed transformers! Still, it will be very interesting to see how the rewinding goes - will they actually re-use the old core or just create an electrically equivalent new transformer? (PS- your gentle and genuine presentation style does make for very engaging viewing - "they were keen on wax, weren't they" did make me smile! )
Hi Ross, my understanding is he uses the old core and will then re-pots it with pitch. It will come back as an complete assembly. Sooo much wax, I still have to dig it out 😄
Hi HonestGamer , I have a sandblaster but I want to get this back to somewhere near original so will get it replated, the other option would be to clearcoat it after rust removal 🤔
Hi TheStuffMade, this is way deeper than I had hoped to go and finding one transformer after another bad was a setback but it's under control now.... I hope 😃
David, the "VIM" you mentioned is our equivalent (the powdered versions) of either Ajax or Jiff here in Australia. With regards to rusted items, a simple option worth considering is "Evapo-Rust" evapo-rust.com.au/ HTH, Colin
Hi Colin, thanks. I think I used Jif in the video. I didn't have any Ajex but the result would be the same, that rust was too bad. Evapo-Rust is near $100 for 4 litres, Repco have something similar at about $50 but I haven't tried it yet 🙂
Yes you are right what I would give to have one of them to day just to look at am 78 years old now back in the 60,s I and a Friend had a shop in Manchester ct we had two complaet Radio,s in the frout window of the shop people would stop and ask what kind of Radio,s they were A the good old Days thank for the members.
Hi Chad, the bias for the 24A is lowered by switching in the 500 Ohm resistor to the cathode ground. The anode bend detector function is no longer active and the 24A then operates as a pure pre-amplifier for the 45 output valve. When I fitted the diode to the grid cap to the final 24A it does mean the input from the phono is also going through the diode. I didn't worry about it because the radio doesn't reproduce modern music that well anyway and my intention was to use it as a radio only. I will fix it when I pull the chassis out it out to fix a couple of niggles, I may just go back to the anode bend as was the original design.
"Anode bend" detection? I forgot what that was - - please explain! I like to throw in an alternate explanation: the designers of this radio receiver crkt were working under the presumption that the AM modulation factor would be only 2/3rds of the BC carrier wave - - so not good for the finer elements of music - - - - ?
Hi Sam, I found an advertisement in the radio club magazine for transformer rewinds by a retired gent. Attempts to get it done by a company proved futile 🙂
The volume control has no effect on the level of the phono input. This was not unusual in radios of that era. I understand that the phono pick-ups had their own volume control so the radio volume control was not necessary.
Oh dear, it must be like a horror movie to some. Please assure your wife that that is a outside oven and is mainly used for this sort of thing 😃 thanks Skip Werk 🙂
Ha-ha, I can't understand why they call valves 'tubes'. I guess you could sum it up by saying a tube is what it looks like and a valve is what it does. I'm happy with either name 🙂
Hi Ian, that was my first thought but it's rated at 80 Watts and 2.5 and 5 volt outputs as well as the primary. It was also cheaper to get it rewound so I went that way 🙂
Buraya göndermek çok pahalı olurdu, ancak yangın veya elektrik çarpması tehlikesi nedeniyle diğer insanlar için radyolara izin verilmiyor veya geri yüklemek istemiyorum. ve bana verdiği stres. Teşekkür ederim ama radyonuzu onaramam 😔
