Carmen 2 1963 radio from Romania - Restored 

Hi Blitz, thank you and thank you again for sending the radio over. The case responded so well, I was amazed to see what was underneath all that muck and it looks fantastic on display. I have just received word that a kitten is stuck in a tree, to the Kittenmobile! 🦸‍♂️🐈

Hi Petronius in beautiful Romania. You should be proud of this little beauty, it was much better built than a lot of radios I've worked on and it works so well. Thanks Petronius, I remembered later they were part of the Warsaw Pact 🙂

Can I say sorry on David's behalf for probably replacing some items with non-Romanian ones, I am sure if they were still made there and sourceable David would like some in the future. Romania also built some Railway Locomotives for Great Britain, but the works there didnt realise just how small was the british loading guage so had difficulties doing the wiring inside the power units and so on , so had to be re-worked in England before they could go into service, so a cheap built became quite expensive for British Railways. I am sure if the company in Romania had more experience and understanding of English and the sizes they could have designed things better, I think the locomotives they did for their own railways were good and reliable.

The large "restuffed" cap tends to contradict you. The valves were mostly made by "Tesla" in what was Czechoslovakia. There was little build in Romania around that time of the century in terms of electronics, apart form wires and the metal for the frame and transformers.

@@highpath4776 "they did for their own railways were good and reliable" not sure about that. The mindset then was do it fast to align with the west, no matter what. Quality last.

@@ciprianpopa1503 Not quite so. After WW2 Romania placed an order for six locos with Sulzer in Switzerland with the agreement that they would be assimilated in domestic production. The first six were delivered in the early sixties and a run of over 2000 locos domestically produced followed with the last one made in 1981. The project was so successful some of the locos are still running today and a number were sold s/h back to western Europe. No discernible quality difference is noted anywhere between the original six Swiss made units and the following run. During its production, about half of the romanian DA production was exported to a number of countries all over the world so I would say it was not too shabby. Another similar project was run in the seventies with ASEA of Sweden and that resulted in the electric EA060 which was so good, Norway immediately took interest in it. They wanted to use it on the Ofot line where trains carried iron ore from Sweden to Norway. The EA was coded EL15 and replaced Norwegian built EL13 locos, which needed to be banked to deal with the heavy trains and steep gradients. One EA (EL15) was enough to do the job. Norway built six of them and made minor modifications to the Romanian design to comply with domestic regulations. As far as I know all six EL15 are still in use today. The romanian EA is also a cheap s/h buy today for a whole host of small private railway transport companies in the west. Reliability was not a problem so we can assume the quality of the loco was on par with other offerings from European manufacturers. At the time of production the EA was exported pretty much all over the Eastern block (and some are still in service today over there) so one would think it was good at its job. Back to electronics, Electronica did its best to produce good quality. I would not say it measured up to the giants of Western Europe, but it was fit for purpose. They manufactured both componentry and appliances, measuring instruments, etc. Vertically integrating production I guess made sense in a centralised economy.

Hi oltean27 from Romania. Nice of you to drop in, I hope your liked the radio from your country 👍🙂

Yes!very much! It was too extensive to my parents to buy it! Even now is not chep..... Sorry for my english....

@@oltean27 Your English is great, thanks oltean27 🙂

Hi Cristian, thank you. That's wonderful, it would have been a big purchase and much loved in your home in those days 😀

Hi Cristian in Romania, I took it to mean 'don't work in the radio' I guess tinker covers it. Thanks Cristian, cheers from Australia 🦘🙂

@@DavidTipton101 I suppose related English . Slang. To Take a Gander, (for looking), Tinker I guess does cover the best meaning. I presume from Umbra (Latin?) For the shadow that is cast by the sun giving the area 'around'.

That's the worst part 1959Berre, if I drop a small nut or something I spend ages crawling on the ceiling looking for it 😠

Haha... thanks Henning Sea. I thought I nailed the translation but maybe I need more lessons 😉 Thank you Henning Sea and best regards to you in germany 🙂

Hi Tim, I am honored to receive these gifts, this is indeed an amazing group of people. If you start a RU-vid channel I'll send you something 👍🙂

Thank you Adventures In Modern Recording, you are very kind 👍🙂

Thank you Michael. I remember he was in the news a lot back then, I should have done a bit of research. Thanks for the information Michael 👍🙂

He was quite good in 60s, he started some modernization in Romania. But as he gets older, he became true dictator. But unlike Kim or Putin, he was never thread for nearby countries.

Hvala puno Domenico 🙂

Hi Dorel, thanks and thank you for the schematics you sent. The resistors checked out OK, you say they changed them to inferior ones in the Carmen 3, good thing I had the Carmen 2. Thanks Noroc! 🙂

Este un radio romanesc fabulos si functioneaza foarte bine. Mulțumesc Martin 🙂

If I get to Portugal I will look it up, thanks Carlos 👍🙂

Thank you Craig, I love my hobby and the people I talk to... like you, it makes retirement very enjoyable 👍🙂

Fortunatly those eastern block electronics from Romania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary or GDR were more influenced by Grundig and Philips than soviet constructions. They all used standard european tubes or semiconducters, just the whole construction was obsoleted in comparition to the western products.

@@xsc1000 What you say actually makes sense. I expected our radios to be much different that the ones Dave usually restores here, yet they are eerily similar in many points. That makes me even more curious to see a Soviet radio from that era restored. Indeed, our tech was behind. I remember in the 80's a news bulletin proudly showing off a "combine", basically a wooden case regular radio with a cassette player slapped on its side, and touting it as a big thing. Not only the tech was behind the West, but other Eastern countries had better tech, like the one made in GDR, or even better by Unitra in Poland. Unitra products in particular were quite good and sought after. And to not forget, (which I did) there was also Tesla, another series of awesome products, so yeah, us being an East-European country wasn't much of an excuse.

Thanks airspeedmph and thank you both for your conversation on Romanian and Eastern Bloc radios. A Russian radio would be different to work on, maybe one day 🙂

Hi Terry, thank you. A very nice little radio indeed. Thanks Terry, keep well yourself 👍🙂

Hi Ed, with so much negativity on social media this is a great group of people willing to help each other. The Carmen was good under all the grime, I just cleaned it up. Thanks Ed 🙂

Hi Steve, many thanks to Vern, it will take me awhile to set it up though. The cap came out great, I haven't tried that before. I should have fitted the second lamp but went to so much trouble to keep it original I left it out, it's a bit weird having it at one end. Thanks Steve 🙂

Thanks James, yes he astounds me with his knowledge of radio and a super nice guy. Thanks James, keep safe 🙂

Thank you Stephen, I was very happy with the capacitor, I didn't expect it to go so well. I like to try new things but others should do what they are happy with. Thanks again Stephen 👍😀

Hi Phillip thank you. You are most welcome, feel free to drop in again, take care 👍🙂

@@DavidTipton101 Thanks Dave. See what the future brings

That's quite an achievement being abused in three languages LUCKYLARRY. Most European radios followed the same style, this one is a bit smaller and more basic but similar in layout. The eye looks great. Thanks LUCKYLARRY 🙂

My pleasure Vlad. Having done a bit of reading about Romania since I did the video it sounds like a very nice place to visit. Thanks Vlad 🙂

Yes, I agree, good advice Yisrael S, those Romanians think of everything 😀

Thanks James, I guess we do and I couldn't agree more 🙂

Hi Ricardo, thank you I'm glad you enjoy them. Thank you Ricardo, I am in good health. Greetings from Australia 😀

Thank you alpcns, it is a nice little radio and maybe the only one in Australia. That magnet is huge! I trust you are not suggesting I skewed the translation ever so slightly 🤣

Hi Graham, Blitz has been most generous and put an enormous amount of effort into getting it over to me. I was as surprised as anyone when the case started to appear from under the muck, I left the nicks and slight crazing and it has retained a beautiful patina. Thanks Graham, I look forward to your something, see you for tomorrow's show hopefully 👍🙂

Hi Peter, I agree, I stumbled upon a great hobby and found a lot of friends at the same time, good when you leave your work friends behind. I can imagine a 60s kitchen display, I still remember our 60s kitchen. There is a video I think on YT made in Brisbane in the 60s following a typical Brisbane family, made specifically as a time stamp of life back then. Thanks Peter 🙂

Thank you Burnt Out Electronics 👍🙂

Thanks Buzz, no problem, I love your channel... Cheers! 👍🙂

Yes, not the best idea from a servicing point of view, there is enough high voltage in TVs without making the chassis hot as well. Thanks owwcam 🙂

Thanks Rick, the capacitor come out good, I'll do that again in future. Vern was amazing sending that to me, I hope I can use them like he wanted 🙂

Haha... we work as a team, thanks William 😄

I couldn't agree more, thanks Andy 🙂

Hi Chris, thank you. I know, I couldn't believe it when it arrived, I hope I can do it justice. Cheers Chris 🙂

Hi Rich, I can only get Oxiclean from Costco in Australia but I used a stain remover which worked much the same. I am going to my brothers in Sydney next week, he is a Costco member so if we go there I'll see if I can get some. Thanks for the tip Rich 👍🙂

Thank you Moshe 🙂

Thanks Gregg, yep, not a bad little radio all up. The capacitor process worked better than I expected. Cheers! 🙂

Hi Daniel, I was looking forward to it too, it was a good project. The only medal I ever got was for running third in a school sports day, it was only a ribbon actually 😟 From what i've read Ceausescu tried to do the right thing for Romania but it didn't work as planned 🙄

Hi Harvey, it's an old habit of mine, taught to my by my woodwork teacher at school, thanks Harvey 👍🙂

I wonder if Nadia had one back in the day? Yes, the cap came up good, I'll use that method again. Thanks Ron

Thank you Graham. The phone translate feature works very well, better than when I last tried it years ago. I just cut the tree down, cats land on all four legs... well, most times 😠🙂

Hi Mack, I thought when I started it would be only local sets I would work on but working on sets from different countries has been very interesting. I try to keep them original if possible, this one looks great with the muck cleaned off. Thanks Mack 🙂

@@DavidTipton101 Of course post WW2 the British went on export drives for overseas earnings, the colonies were ideal places to sell, a common language helped too.

Hi Mark, thank you. I am flat out, I think I replaced work with other work at home. I don't have a barn or loft, it's all scattered about the house so the wife doesn't notice 😈😉

Hi Bob, I agree completely about generous people. My capacitor turning effort was doomed from the start even with a sharp tool, I will improve it next time. The intermittent fault was an unsoldered wire on the speaker 18:51 🙂

@@DavidTipton101 I wonder if putting the cap in a drilled out block of wood would help

Thank you Percy, I loved Max and 99 when I was growing up 😂

@David Addition to the first comment, Fantastic job on re-stuffing the cap it came out great, your little coil for testing the oscillation reminded me of when I used to make Metal detector coils, which are basically AM radios just much lower down in the MHz wavelength, Long story short, I used a small to medium size modern round Choke coil which I stuffed into a 1/2 inch pvc tube, to look at the frequency with the scope much like you did, It could be an easier way for others to make themselves an oscillator probe.

Hi patprop74, thank you. I time the video release to coincide with your morning coffee, it's the least I can do 😉 I small coil in a plastic tube is all you need, I happend to have the coil I made before and it worked. I might do what you suggest and show it on a video in the future, Thanks patprop74 👍🙂

@@DavidTipton101 Very kind of you to time your videos with my coffee addition schedule David lol hope all is well there for you?

@@patprop74 All good here thanks, I hope it's the same with you. I try to time it with everybody's coffee 😄

Hi Chris, I'm very well thank you. The Carmen was typical of European radios of the time but it worked well considering what it is and I like to look of it, the golden cabinet sets it off. Thanks Chris 🙂

Thank you Nelson, my coil was much too big, a smaller insulated coil would do the trick 🙂

Hello from Australia Muscai in Romania. I hope I did your countries radio justice 🙂

I finally got to do it, I had other projects I needed to finish but I really wanted to do this one. Thanks Caius 🙂

Hi John, thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's a great little vintage radio community certainly. Thanks again John, all the best for your day too 👍🙂

Thanks John, I've learned a lot about Ceausescu since. I will put Romania on my bucket list 🙂

Hi Ian, thank you for your very nice comment. Cheers 👍🙂

I'm sorry you can no longer work on radios but we are more than happy to share our adventures with you. I hope you continue to get something from these videos. Take care proudsnowtiger 🙂

Hi zx8401ztv, compared to how it looked at the start it is a massive difference and it followed the European radio stylings to the letter. The keys came up like new thankfully and the end roll on the cap surprised me too, who'da thought. I removed the cloth and soaked it for 24 hours in a prewash soaker. Those coils were best left alone 😄 Thanks zx8401ztv 🙂

Thank you Chris, take care 👍🙂

Yes, me too, they looked dismal to start with. Thanks John 🙂

Yeah, I checked out that guy's listings too, he has a lot more than just old radios. Some really cool stuff there.

Thanks Jerry, I'll have a look. Good luck with your radios 🙂

Thank you Amaraltimimi, my pleasure 👍🙂

Thank you Jammerk40, I'm glad you enjoyed it 👍🙂

Hi ymz5, thank you. Good luck with your amp. You are absolutely correct, there is no reflex at all, where did I get that idea from? Thanks for alerting me to that 👍😀

Hi Gary, it was very generous indeed and an interesting radio. I hope I did it justice. I'm in pretty good health, thanks Gary 😀

Thank you Richard, it did work out well 🙂

Hi Ion, it is quite possibly the only one like it in Australia. I didn't know there was a Carmen 4 model and the guy that told me about the resisters also told me later it only applied to the Carmen 3 (and 4) I will fit a second dila light, it looks odd with only one. Thank you for your story, it is very interesting. Thank you again for watching and take care in Romania 👍😀

Hi Fibber's Closet, I was a bit surprised it rolled so easily, I expected it to crimp a bit. Haha, don't bother with the old caps, they are fine 😄 Thanks FC

Thanks Orion, I'm happy to acknowledge other Tubers, even though it's the same subject most have a different approach to presenting it which is pretty amazing. I like Shango too, he certainly knows what he is doing and he shows what he is doing 🙂

Hi mguess, the community feel is fantastic especially for retired people like you and I can make a new set of friends after our working life. I checked your channel and subscribed, I'll have a look around a bit later, cheers 🙂

Thanks Dennis, you sure know your German, I was starting to think I had made a few minor translation errors but you have reassured me 👍🙂😂

Pretty easy to check with a scope. You might see the oscillator waveform by just placing the probe near the osc grid 👍🙂

Thanks Volktales, thanks for watching 🙂

Haha... Blitz may have embellished a bit there or my German isn't as good as I thought. Thanks John 😄

Hi SIXSTRING63, Vern has been greta and super helpful to me. I haven't heard of Buddy, I will check him out. I convinced Vern to show us his cabinet work in what turned out to be a number of entertaining videos, he did a fantastic job of the two radios he did. Yes he said about returning to Thailand a number of times, I didn't know Covid had thwarted his plans. Thanks SIXSTRING63 👍🙂

Hi Mirek, thank you. The Polish capacitor lives to see a few more years 😀

The cabinet come up very nicely, thanks Greg 🙂

Thank you and welcome Don 🙂

Thank you Otto, cheers! 🙂

Thank you EuroScot, that could explain the muck on it all right. The uptake of mantle transistor radios was pretty slow in Australia, people still preferred valves. The international support is amazing, not a competition but support between RU-vidrs. Your cats are very welcome... and multilingual too 😀

Hi Beaky Twitch, all it needed was a little TLC, I'm glad I was able to do it 😀

@@DavidTipton101 A Romanian engineer friend who has got two of these particular radios says you need to connect ant to a long wire, and gnd to ground. He also says to use vintage repair methods to repair vintage equipment . That means to orient your mains connection so that the chassis is at 'cool side' when switched on. And then beware because if you then switch the radio receiver off, the chassis and it's gnd connection may go 'hot'. (They use a spst power switch). Isolation transformers are very expensive and few people who service radios have got them. I service and line up old radios and I have a Variac/dim ulb but no isolation tranny.

@@beakytwitch7905 OK Beaky Twitch, lets see how I have it: I have it connected to a Miniwhip and ground 👍 I have the active wire into the on/off switch and the neutral connected to chassis 👍 Haha... sorry, I thought you had a longer list there, I should have read it better first. The isolation transformers are expensive but I always use one, better than being dead or blowing up test equipment. Thanks Beaky Twitch 👍🙂

Hi Phil, Blitz is amazing, he went well beyond what was expected to send me the radio and wanted nothing in return. It works very well and is surprisingly sensitive for a 4 valve set, I wasn't sure what to expect when I opened it up but it was fairly normal construction and of reasonable quality. Blitz was happy with the result, he left a comment as well. Thanks Phil, take care 🙂

That's exactly what it looked like 15743 Hertz, I wondered if it had been used in a factory, it must have been good for everyone's health 😲 The magic eye worked pretty good, I think it was fairly new. Thanks 15743 Hertz 👍🙂

Hi Johnny Blue, thank you for the translation, Google translate didn't do a bad job then that is pretty much what I thought it said. Your big radio would be in perfect condition I bet. Thank you for watching, I'm glad you enjoyed it 🙂

@@DavidTipton101 It reminded me of my dad always swapping parts in a very old black and white TV set. He managed to keep that thing functioning for a long time. The radio was in perfect condition a while ago, but it has nod been used in a long time. The lack of FM is a deal breaker these days. Watching you restoring yours made me think of trying to see if ours still functions. I'll do that first time I'll go back to my parent's house. Thanks for the video!

@@johnnyblue4799 Yes, FM is the thing these days. I hope your radio still works.

Thanks Radio-Ged. It work remarkably well all things considered 🙂

Thanks Robert, I am having second thoughts about the bulb too 🙂

Thank you Malcolm 🙂

Hi Kenneth, thank you. I well remember Ceausescu's name, he was in the news a lot so I guessed he was a bad egg but couldn't remember the details. He visited Australia at some point as well. Thanks Kenneth, I always look for your comment 🙂

My please Don, you deserve it 👍🙂

Thanks Paul, it was nice to only have to clean up the cabinet and preserve it's original looks. I couldn't agree more Paul, just look through the comments to see what a fine group we are👍😀

Thanks LtKernelPanic. I hope you get to your radios, a new shop sounds nice too. I'll have to talk to Buzz about releasing his videos on top of mine 😄 Yes, Manuel got some of Carl's capacitors, he has used a few in his repairs since. Thanks LtKernelPanic 🙂

Didn't it polish up beautifully, thanks Manny 👍😀

Thank you and thanks for watching Bruce 😀

That's not a lot of exclamation marks Steve!!!! 😉 Thank you! it turned out great! and worked surprisingly well! 😄

Hi Stephen, thank you. "Kitten Rescue - Where are they now?" has a certain ring to it. Haha... thanks Stephen 😂

Thank you Adam 🙂

@@DavidTipton101 it's weird. I've no clue about electronics, it actually scares the crap outta me. My uncle on the other hand is (retired) an electrical engineer , I remember all the dismantled radios when I was a kid in his room when he was studying. Anyway he shared a video of yours with me a year or so ago and I've been addicted since. At least I know what a capacitor is now lol. Thank you for giving me a love that I never would have dreamt of having.

@@adampurcell7119 Wow that's great Adam, I hope you go to bigger and better things. Thank you for the feedback 👍🙂

Thank you Bernd 🙂

Thank you Colin 🙂