Astor 1958 Radio Repair Model DNQ 

David, your dry sense of humor is amazingly refreshing! Makes these videos even more enjoyable!

“Due to a sequencing error”. Proper cracked me up. I hope claw is on the mend. Had to endure Allen Millyards mushed thumb earlier this week, no one can say I don’t suffer along with my favourite RU-vidrs! 😂. Another nice restoration. Interesting little set.

That was a nice simple repair. I also enjoy that you walk us through your processes. Clear and concise!

“A sequencing error”.... Love it. Great video, as usual. Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge. I’m learning a lot from you!

👍 Excellent - another one restored. BTW, I like the way you include trials and slight mishaps in your videos. I think it gives proceedings an air of reality than some other productions on RU-vid perhaps lack; where I wonder if anything that doesn't quite go as expected or fixes that don't work first time are edited out.

Ha me mum was a phone operator. As I sat in my basket. She once grabbed the business end of such an iron. At the ripe age of 3and half I learned some "new words". Need less to say I have a abiding respect for some 66 years later. Though she taught me how to solder ....I have a room of home made with out burns. Cheers.

Thanks for sharing, David. Heal up soon. As I watch your new video here I'm kinda reminded of "Glove", the Blue Meanie leader's evil helper in the Beatles movie "Yellow Submarine". :-)

40:50 David, I always feel so proud when "we" fixed another radio, like today. What a team, huh ? 😉

The permeability tuning was used by Kingsley radio from Melbourne in the early post war period when it was impossible and expensive to get variable capacitors. They were a company making radio coils like if and oscillator coils and so I guess they applied their capabilities in that field to solve the supply chain issue. They called their system Kingsley Katharine. I note you used one of those little multi testers. I have one and they work very well but I find the internal battery must be very weak and only lasts for a short while before requiring a recharge. Great job and interesting fault finding technique to track down that capacitor. I think you are getting a bit find of the starter fluid. Breath deeply and enjoy.

Always look forward to these uploads. Thanks again David!

Such a neat little radio, a bit odd in the tuning department, but that is what makes old radios so much fun. That is quite a gem of a radio, that cabinet looks nice

"Deadly Earnest" sends condolences to "Claw" (only Aussies will understand the reference). Another great job, David. I just love the "warm" tone a valve radio puts out. I had a cousin who worked at the Astor factory in Clayton, Victoria. It was a huge place...you could park three jumbo jets inside there, I'm sure. They had a white goods division, the tv division, the radio division, the defence contracts division and the record pressing plant and recording studio. They had a cabinet/woodwork department and I think, from memory, plastics were made by subcontractors.

I have never heard of or seen an Astor before today.. Thanks for the education and great video!

Good to see you clawed your way trough this restauration! Nah, crummy joke..;) great job again Dave. Good luck with your hand!

Hi Dave! I really like this radio. I also got a kick out of the CLAW. Thanks for the good content and for the laughs.

Did anyone else notice when he was cruising the dial he hit upon the Everly Brothers "Dream"? What a special trat for a 1950's radio with music from the same era!

24:30 As soon as you showed that can of "starter fluid" I half-expected you'd come up with that joke!

I love the jokes David. Restoration was a blast as well.

Bravo again David. I always look forward to a new weekly video.

Always good to see something different - it's so unusual to watch one of your videos where you don't have play with string and springs to get the tuner working. Really enjoyed watching this one.

David "Crocodile" Tipton.... Hahaha! Nice!

David, thank you ! I don't understand English , but I understand your hands and appliances...

Hi David! Love that radio. Wonderful work. Careful those pesky car doors. Nice work and find for the dummy antenna. Always happy to see your work. Thanks!

Another excellent restoration project. Congratulations on the great antique finds and your expert skills. I've learned a lot, so I know that your experience is being absorbed by the other viewers too. My favorite electronics restoration channel. 13:13 - That is the coolest tester I have ever seen. I pressed pause, purchased one on ebay, for less than $20, just now. Searched for "Multifunction Tester TC-1". Bingo! Resuming playback.

Dear Mr. Tipton, nice job, you did it again with your magic, very nice radio.

Thank you David and Claw for another great restoration video. 73 Joe

As always, *GREAT* *JOB* David!!! -- Your Dummy load is very similar to the one used on *ALL* *Hallicrafters.*

Good to see another of your excellent videos Dave. Hope 'The Claw' gets well soon. Look after yourselves.

This type of tuning was ”new” for me also, thanks for showing us!

David, I have been watching your videos for about 2 months now. I appreciate that you are learning electronics but I believe you have a gift for it. I am retired and I have extensive but stale experience in electronics too. I really appreciate the high technical content and theory that you present when repairing these items. Also, I am amazed at the beautiful finished product. Keep up the great work. I have been repairing several radios, all tube models and I am inspired to continue with them even when components fail and I have to use theory and measurement to figure out what went wrong. Your work is inspiring. Thank you for you presentations and keep at it! JH

Well done! Thanks for showing the tuning of this radio, I have never done a slug tune radio before. You gave me information I will use in the future. Cheers!

Sorry to see you jammed fingers in car door Very painful and hope all has healed well .Now love the looks of this radio another show piece of your excellent workmanship Dave brought this gem back to life, Just love this radio's you find and sparkle back to life. I have copied the dummy antenna circuit to make one uo me self ,brilliant idea .Thanks for sharing and stay safe over there.

Great video! short, sweet and very interesting. Thank you and look forward to the next one.

Amazing restoration works you've done, i like its such antique and Vintage Highlands set, very entertainment stay atau Home.....

Get well soon my friend! As ever an informative video and some wit included, never, ever change. All the best.

Hi Dave, Another job well done . Good stuffindeed, even with a crook claw. I started my apprenticeship in the Astor Radio toolroom, Grant St, Sth Melb, in Jan 1966.

Another delightful video, somewhat 'dampened' (for you) by The Perils Of The Claw. I am sure that ms. Tipton will take good care of it, doubtlessly as good as you take care of the radios. All will be well. Lovely radio, lovely video!

Hi David, I like the Astor, nice mantel radio, I think you are right, it is a example of the pinnacle of valve design, mid fifties through to early 1960s. Great work as always and a nice sounding unit.

A superb reconditioning job Dave! During the early to mid 1970s I remember a few Astor transistor radios coming into the workshop for repair. From what I remember they were fairly decent: the red plastic instantly reminded me of them. When I opened up my 1957 Bell Planet Colt radio, I noticed Ducon wax coated foil and paper capacitors - the same brand of wax coated capacitors inside your 1958 Astor radio. I haven’t seen Ducon capacitors for years. The speaker inside your radio looks like the Rola speaker inside my Bell radio: it looks to be painted in the same silver and black, and it is the same, or similar diameter. You are absolutely correct, my Bell radio is set for the Medium wave band so I should receive the usual stations in the usual way. I applied that same dummy aerial circuit to one I made some thirty-five, or more years ago. I’m pretty sure I got the circuit from a mid to late 1950s ‘Practical Wireless’, or ‘Wireless World’ magazine ...or one of those electronics magazines of around that time. It is an excellent design, and it works well. Though it is not seen on camera, I’ve used it for all of my radio realignments - it is a very useful AM device. I find it interesting comparing different radios designed for different ITU regions- in this instance comparing two different brands of radio designed, and made for ITU region 3. Cheers Dave, lovely talking to you, Phil.

Hahaha, classic Dave! I'm still laughing at the 'sequencing error' phrase! 🤣🤣🤣 Nice job on the radio - I like it! Nice bright red pushing into the retro era of the sixties. Much nicer the the purple tones of your fingers!

Very informative. I enjoy your work Dave. Thanks

Great work as always David! That is a really attractive and great sounding radio sir. I like the dummy antenna as well. I also like your speaker load the way you have it. All great stuff!

David, the radio looks great! The plastic came out well when you consider its age, old as my husband. Ha Ha. On CTV the weather lady showed a little snow in part of Australia. Hopefully enough for kids to make a few snowballs. Come January or February Australian kids might enjoy building some Canadian Snow Forts. Take care of your hand and stay well. Looking forward to your next project.

Another fantastic video. :) It's got a really good dial, that one. Sorry to hear about your hand, David. Hope you feel better soon.

That's a very pretty unit. Nice work, Claw.

Nice job as always Dave! Hope the claws heals well!

Dear Mr. Tipton, I hope your hand is better now. Another very sharp looking radio, work your magic again sir....):

Very good David, i feel better now after my " Friday night fix " Keep up the good work. As for the tuning gang, that type of tuning was as you say used in car radio and mainly for cost, but were not as problematic with dust/dirt. A lot of car radios also had three coils, the third was for the RF amplifier and also had there hay day with push button tuning , of course this was before phase lock tuning that the modern car radios now all have. Remember the Astor diamond dot radio and Ferris also had a radio designed for the "truckie" as a radio that would pull in the stations from far and wide. Now time for a beer and biscuits. Will be looking forward to the next installment

Love that dummy load antenna attenuator. Works great on these low frequency bands! You could also use a loop of insulated solid wire and make a circle with it 6 inches in diameter. Connect the ends of the output leads to each end of the wired loop. Then place it near to the radio's antenna and it would also work. Don't crush any more parts Dave . You may not have an extended warranty on them! Love your radio repair videos ! Steve from Illinois in the US.

Really enjoy your videos. Would like to get into such, now being retired. I worked with Sears Roebuck as a TV 📺 repairman from 1973 to 1984. Forget a lot in 36 years. I would have to buy equipment to get started. You are a big encouragement. 👍 - Big Jack

As usual I'm years behind but thanks for another great video. By the way some Zenith FM-only radios used permeability tuning but, of course that's 20MHz out of 100MHz whereas MW and LW would seem more demanding. The low output tube plate voltage had me thinking open output transformer but thankfully (I think) it was the bad cap pulling it down. You did another great video and, at least on my monitor, the case looked decidedly red once you were finished with it. Thanks also for the dummy antenna link and demo of your very clean build.

The claw.. Mr. Hand! The note on the steering wheel and the Bar reference...The Dundee comparison with the soldering iron had me laughing my eyes were watering! Good one!

Another good job Dave. I think I'll send away for one of those claws. Very handy!!

Aw David. Sorry to hear about your hand. Hope you are better soon.

Hi David, I've noticed how much ABC Radio and our CBC Radio sound alike. The presentation style is very similar. You are on to another great project. I find distinct Australian radio's very interesting and this one very bright and cheerful looking. In Canada we had many interesting Canadian radio sets mainly built in Montreal & Toronto. You bring back the old sets and make them look and sing like new. Great work David!

interesting tuning system, never seen that type before, good job David, hope the claw heals soon

Hoooray it is Friday night and ... David is at it again ..... and sequencing errors can be so unfortunate!!!! take care David! wonderful video as always

David another great restoration

Still after that comedy job on national radio then. Great video, thanks David

Thanks again David. Great video.

I’m so glad that you had "Claw" to assist you. I love the instructions on the steering wheel. Lord knows why they haven’t made that a standard safety feature, that’s inexcusable really. Perhaps they don’t have their finger on the pulse. That radio is the same age as me and like me, I too scrub up okay with some tender loving care. Love your quality work and sense of humour. Still having a giggle, thanks for that.

Nice radio, David! I know the feeling of jamming a finger in a car door. I ached for two weeks. I'll copy your list. Your troubleshooting skills have come along remarkably well in a short time. It's funny, the first thing people did was test tubes. Today they are rarely bad. Hope your country is o.k . on the pandemic. USA still has a way to go. That radio is a keeper for sure... Stay well, John

Nice job David on a set with unusual tuning mechanism. Don't start anything in the pub LOL. I had a friend who used to like drinking brake fluid! He said he could stop at any time? I built a dummy antenna exactly the same last week. Also fitted a digital frequency counter to my Heathkit SG. Works very well for very little cost. Cheers Lynton

David. I have been involved with "dim bulb" devices in industry for many years. We had some small machine tools at the company I work at that used those for current limiting all the time. When the 100 watt bulb in the panel glowed bright you know the little DC servo motor was shorted and needed replaced. Since it was constantly being drenched with coolant oils this happened often. I have two dim bulb testers that I made myself. One is good for less than 1 amp the other is good for 22 amps. that one I use for old military radios. None of them look as good as yours. LOL Thanks again for a great video.

Nice restoration! Thanks for share.

Nice job David 👍

Nice video again David...👍. Really enjoyed it. In order to keep things safe you just have to add another line to your safety paper on the steering wheel: 1st. line should be: bring the car to a stop...😂

Oh Gosh! Hope your ´claw´ is healing mate. Another FAB presentation. Thank you. This radio is about my vintage lol.

Nice repair David and another neat little radio,a video on your valve tester,should you decide to open it up for any repairs would be very interesting. All the best mate.

Hi David. Nice looking radio! As always, well done! I hope your hand heals soon... (FYI - I didn't get a notification from RU-vid, I know, not your fault, just thought you should know...) Best regards.

Unusual radio with the permeability tuning. Case looks much better than it did even if it didn't come up like new. Hope your hand doesn't trouble you for long.

Another great video Dave, hope the claw is getting better.

Always look forward to your videos. Thanks for another great one. Take care young man and stay safe :-)

"A sequencing error" :D I hope it heals quickly. Great content as always!

Pretty sure permeability tuning in car radios was to ensure that bumps and vibration didn’t knock it off tune. Did a similar thing to my thumb in the late 70s when mum pulled up at a hot bread shop. I got out to get bread and shut the door on my thumb. Didn’t realise anything was wrong till I tried to walk away. It was so painful I went to the GP and had it x rayed. No breakage, but it throbbed for days. That was around the time I ripped a Hoover Twin Tub on my toe. Ended up with an ingrown nail. Another nice restore too.

it,s remarkable that the "plastic" case came up good considering it's cheaper to make ect , interesting with extra "if" stage! ps LOVE the old TUBE gear been repairing & bringing back to life many tube related items

Excellent going there, Mr. Tipton :-) The leakage detect issue on your valve tester is that it is too sensitive, you may want to parallel a second neon indicator in the circuit because the shorts you are picking up is the minute current flowing along the darkish deposit on the glass between the pins. This is metallic and is vapoured off the filament after some use, and is normally negligible. This mirror, not to be confused with the getter and has only once ever caught me out on a EL500 stereo amp where voltage crept from the screen grid pin to the signal grid pin thus raising voltage there with subsequent red plating..

Nice work. Hope the claw heals quickly. Thanks to arthritis, I know how painful hands take the fun out of working.

That’s a good looking radio, I like it, it sounds good to, I sure hope your hand feels better soon.👍😃

I like your photo shopping humor with Dundee, I’ve wondered how the other Australian Dave hasn’t cut his claw off opening mail bags. I particularly appreciated the radio’s inductive tuning, I think I’ll have to look for an old AM car radio to play with.

David, new fan here - I'm part of the crowd that is too young to know how these radios work. I've been watching your videos because I enjoy the restoration process but if you could briefly talk about why certain resistors and capacitors are needed as you go through the process it would be an appreciated (passive) learning experience!

Very nice, David. Thanks!

Dav and the Claw! Has a wring to it David lol! Keep them coming david

Waiting for a new video! I have been watching some earlier ones still good!

It came out good in the end. I would guess that radio did not cost very much, which is the kind of radio most people throw away when it is hold, thinking it has no value. Good for you that you are able to preserve it in good condition in your collection.

Cute little radio. Unusual tuning mechanism but you figured it out no problem and we all learned something. 73 de KB7ICI...Bill

As always, Great restore, it looks Smashing to be honest, things nowadays are so plain in comparison. Sorry about your hand your a tough guy to have slammed the door shut on your fingers and be out in the shop working, Although the last time i did the good ol trick of the fingers in the car door, goes back to when i was a child lol i can still feel the pain when i think about it.

Another Great video Dave, you are Very funny and another Great job on that Radio, hope everyone is well in your family, and don't for get ( REMOVE FINGER BEFORE CLOSING DOOR, I had door like that, but it was an open and shut case lol😄

Thanks for the links David

Hahaha The Craw - who knew you are a KAOS agent! Great job.

That's neat that is has station ID's on the dial rather than frequency numbers and log, Always nice to see different radios from different parts of the world. That one resembles an AA5 (All American 5 tube) type radios which we have a ton of here in the states on the vintage markets for inflated prices of course...

Beautiful set!

Thanks for a good watch, hope your hand is better, a ret good do,

Another great restoration project. The permeability tuning is interesting. I've only ever seen it on auto radios (it's my understanding it was used to prevent vibration from de-tuning the radio when the car was moving). I have heard that they used it in high-end communications receivers. As always, I'm impressed by your methodical, practical approach to all the the "interesting" problems these old radios throw your way. Hope the hand continues to improve. Maybe it's time to get that midlife crisis sports car and just leap into it, rather than bother with doors!

Nicely done.

Love this radio! I expected you to get stuck into the case but you went "meh, plastic" 😂😂😂

Плохой человек не будет этим заниматься! Будь мы соседями, мы бы подружились. Каждый раз смотрю ваши видео с переводом, очень познавательно! Успехов! A bad person will not do this! If we were neighbors, we'd be friends. Every time I watch your videos with translation, it is very informative! Success!

A thumbs up first. Will watch it later. 😉

👍👍 great video as usual! Thanks!

Another fine one Dave! While awaiting your next video I'll replay some old ones - better than watching Andy Griffith Show reruns! That's a sincere complement because I like the Mayberry crowd! And, your accompanying commentary makes watching you polish just fine. You exhibit fine problem solving skills and never seem frustrated. Learned of natural?