HMV Consort J8 Transistor Radio Repair, Restoration and Replica 276P Battery 

Thanks Moshe, the battery pack was a bit of fun wasn't it 😀

Agreed. Just conceiving of doing that deserves kudos. That said, I'd have chosen a Mallory brand exterior, rather than Eveready. Just a cooler looking skin.

In addition to the compliments on the coffee cardboard battery pack, I think you would be okay paralleling two packs of brand new carbon-zinc (ordinary or heavy-duty) cells from the same batch, if needing the extra juice, and then not replacing any cells until the whole dual pack has become too exhausted to use. Their chemistry will be close enough to work ok. However I'd expect only one pack of modern alkalines should do great, lithiums even better. Electronic device manufacturers still say don't replace less than all the cells or mix cell types in a series connected pack. There could also be an electronic trick -- use a Schottky diode to isolate each pack within the dual pack. Then the two sub-packs will pull down evenly without losing too much juice.

You are good at fixing radios

@@SeekingTheLoveThatGodMeans7648 using the diode prevents one battery pack from discharging into the other one- but the problem with using the diode, is you lose about .5 volt! Another thing you could try is to use RECHARGEABLE batteries- that would eliminate the need to take apart the battery box...and do rechargeable batteries leak when they are exhausted(?)

Hi Robert, thanks. It's interesting that you say you are picking up component names and functions from the videos. I assumed it would only be electronically savvy folks watching. I'll try and add some extra info into later videos to show what the component is doing, Cheers to England 👋🙂

Thank you Boen Hian Tan, the battery was just a bit of fun but actually come out pretty good 👍🙂

I agree Stephen and thank you. All the best to you in 2023 👍🙂

Hi Clifford, thank you. This was a pretty early effort 🙂

Thanks Robert, I am lucky people want to watch them 👍🙂

Hi Craig, It's a terrific radio that works very well and has great sound too. My Mum carried ours from room to room as she did her housework for may years. Thanks Craig 🙂

Haha... that is something I won't do again Plons0Nard, I lost two years when that went off. I was happy with the battery 👍🙂

Thanks John, take care 👍😀

That's nice to hear Darryl, good luck with yours 👍🙂

Thanks Robert. I think I misread the instructions regarding heating the transistor 😂 The radio I did the shock treatment on is still working so I got a few years out of it but yes, I expect it will fail again 🙂

Thanks Klaus 🙂

Thanks for the tips Jeffrey. I watch Shango but didn't see him do one like mine, I'll have another look 👍🙂

Hi Phillip, I have to get my transistor theory and experience up to scratch if I do any more transistor radios. I guess the theory is similar. Thanks 🙂 Hi to Texas 😀

Thank you Nauman 😃

Hi Carl, that's amazing. I didn't think we had any shortwave stations in Oz. I just looked it up and they are using the old Radio Australia frequency. I will hunt down a radio that goes that high and see if I can pick them up. Thanks for your compliment, cheers 😃

Thank you James. This HMV is the best receiver radio I have. Almost no radio will work inside my house and this one works very well inside. It sounds superb too 😀

ha ha... yes, the battery came out great, well worth the effort. It's a really good radio, a tribute to HMV 😃

HI Life in China, thanks. Yes the battery came out great and was a bit of fun. My wife says my thinking out loud drives her nuts 😄

Hi Pauline, it's a very well made radio good and solid and that is reflected in the sound quality. Thank you for your comment 😀

Thanks Carl 😃

🙂

Hi Big Ears, thank you. There is something about old valve radios that bring back fond memories 😃

Thanks birdie399, yes the battery pack came out really well, thank you for watching 😃

Hi Dean, thank you 👍😀

Hi jonka, yes my first attempt didn't go well although NASA was interested in my launch technology. I did as you describe in another video with a transistor radio and tin whiskers, I used a charged capacitor to zap the whiskers. Thanks jonka1👍🙂

Hi Sincerely, Yes I thought of that and should have mentioned it or done it. In my case I only intended to fit one pack but should have said something if two packs were to be used, either diodes or at least use fresh batteries all from one packet. Thanks for that 😀

...that's what I was thinking-(!)

Totally agree, it's one of the best portables I've seen 😀

Thank you Ivan 🙂

Hi Harald, thank you. I considered adding diodes but didn't bother in the end and only use one bank. If I did add diodes shottky would be a good choice 🙂

Hi Robert, we do see US radios here and some still need the 120 volts to work. I would like to get one or two for myself. There was a grandfather style clock radio for auction last week but the clock required 60htz, we have 50htz so it ran slow here 😀

And, the arrow of both BJT transistor and diode symbols points in the direction of "conventional" current flow (not electron flow, which is opposite to that). While the arrow points out in the NPN, the actual transistor is meant to be busy modulating the flow of electrons from emitter to collector. I believe Benjamin Franklin was responsible for this convention, which was based arbitrarily on the static electricity that arose from rubbing certain dissimilar materials that he documented. "This is electrised positively, till our philosophers give us better." Well, it was positively opposite from that of electrons, the actual charge carriers in metals and ordinary resistive substances. America is weird. And I know it because I live here, with its miles and gallons and degrees Fahrenheit.

Thanks Arthur, that's good info 🙂

Hi Kenneth, thanks, I was happy with it 🙂

Hi Andrew, good idea, I didn't think of that... bit like the old VeeDub or motorbike reserve fuel tank 👍😃

Ha-ha, I remember, I think he was trying to recharge the batteries. I get most of my radio training from Gilligan's Island 😃

Thanks Dale 🙂

Ha ha... Hi Wayne, yes I'm offering my discovery to NASA 🙂

Must have been the effect of the Improbability Drive in the Heart of Gold. Zaphod Beeblebrox mocking about I guess. 😊

Thanks Terry 😀

Hi David, I do a lot of jumping, probably a fight or flight reaction... I tend to flight 😄 thanks David

Thank you Rssuthar 👍🙂

@@DavidTipton101 You are great man 😊👌👆

Thank you Salcon. Happy to do it too 😀

Hi saarike, thanks, that radio was a good find, looks as good as new 🙂

@@DavidTipton101 Nice design and sound.

Thanks Curt, I admit I struggle with transistors, I'm more at home with tube stuff 😀

It's a nice radio Bachir, thank you 😃

@@DavidTipton101 👍❤

Thank you. Thanks Dale 🙂

That's how a lot for radios end up Kenneth, 90% of the ones I get have paint on them 😄

Thanks nrth3rnlb 😃

Thanks Dale 🙂

Hi Doug, thanks for your comment. The desoldering tool is a cheap unit from China. I got mine from eBay for 30 or 40 dollars, would be cheaper where you are. Works well enough on PC boards though but not point to point wireing.

...I have been using a ZD-915 desoldering tool- it works extremely well.

Hi Pufango, thanks for the tip. My transistor knowledge is very poor and I realise a transistor is two diodes but didn't know how to test them. I was pretty lucky to get it working, I will do a bit more transistor work eventually and maybe I'll get better. Thanks again for the tip 👍🙂

Thanks David, this one is built like a tank and works so well 👍🙂

Haha, didn't do me any good either Bruce 😂

luckey it did not go nto hid brain pan, he would be wearing a wooden over coat clutching a bag of flowers ..jeff..

Thank you Reg 🙂

Yikes! I will read all your comments Dale and simply respond "Thanks Dale 🙂" Thanks Dale 🙂

Nothing beats a tube set although this is a really good transistor set 😀

Haha... correct BOE, although I often put my finger on the grids or the volume control to check where the signal stops or starts, anything else is done with a chopstick 😄

Ha ha! yes the battery box was a bit of fun wasn't it? Came out better than I expected. You are correct Phillip, I bypassed the OC170 and went straight to the collector.

Очень легко подхватывает станции SegaKot 111 🙂

Thank you John 👍🙂

This one of the best performing and sounding for it's size I have Duane, it's the only one that will work in my house 👍🙂

Oh thanks HG80335 🙂

Thank you HNIZAR45 Cheers! 😀

Hi Michael, the battery box was a bit of fun 😉 I got the desoldering tool from eBay. Search "electric desoldering gun" should find it. It has a blue case with a rubber U shaped tube on the side 👍

Hi jggmobile, I misspoke in the video, it's not mica sheet, I should have said Micarta sheet or phenolic sheet. Phenolic sheet is readily available 👍🙂

@@DavidTipton101 Thanks David, I’ve been shopping and stumbled across something similar based on PEI. Ultim 2300. It runs nearly $1000 a sheet. Thank God that’s not what you were using.

@@jggmobile Oh dear, I hope you only bought one sheet 😉 I think I got my phenolic sheet from eBay, pretty cheap and delivery included 👍

@@DavidTipton101 Lol, way out of my hobby budget. They must use that stuff on the space station.

Spotlight 🙂

@@DavidTipton101 Aha. I believe a Spotlight store is opening at Taylors Beach(Port Stephens). I'll check it out when it does open.

@@neilforbes416 After an extensive search it looks like they aren't available anymore. It was made by EK tools and called a circle cutter. I saw a Martha Stewart circle cutter which looked similar, they may have bought EK tools out.

@@DavidTipton101 Awwwww.... what a bummer! I could've really used something like that. Did you ever get an old 45, the label of which was badly worn and you could barely make out the title? Well, a sheet of self-adhesive photo paper and one of those cutters, plus Microsoft Publisher, you could create a new label that could be applied over the top of the worn one.

Thank you Ettoredipugnar 🙂

Ha-ha, good story Kenneth, that would be disappointing 😉🙂

Thanks TLTGM, all good fodder for the memory banks 🙂

@@DavidTipton101 I am like you, more "biased" towards tubes than transistors in most of my discrete technological pursuits. But I did study transistors in electrical engineering school when the later dinosaurs roamed the earth. I also took school holiday jobs in TV repair shops, which still saw a fair number of pieces of tube type equipment and the occasional solid state unit. The two technologies have different design approaches. Tubes are more about being voltage amplifiers; bipolar junction transistors such as those in this radio, about being current amplifiers. The advent of the field effect transistor, whose voltage driven action is analogous to that of tubes, made possible our computer revolution. Pinpoint FET devices replaced the huge tubes that were found in early computers; and unlike tubes it is possible to make them in both P and N-type polarities, which decreases power consumption and increases speed of the logic compared with using only one polarity. (A P-type tube would have to be made of antimatter and would use positrons. It will never be found in your shop because the first thing it touched, including the air, would cause a world shattering explosion, lol. But P-type semiconductors use these cool things called holes.) Anyhow, if you troubleshoot more BJT transistorized sets, consider current to be paramount in their operation, with voltage being only a secondary thing. This is the case for both older germanium and modern silicon devices. It's easier to measure voltages than to measure currents, for one has to break the circuit if it is not possible to find a resistor present in the current flow. Another restoration channel I watched recently showed a technique of putting a transistor socket, commercial or homemade, on a transistorized board to reduce wear and tear of rework. This would also make it easier to measure currents. The general principle of the BJT is that the flow of current from emitter to collector is modulated by current into the base, measured in positive sense for PNP and negative sense for NPN. The two are related by an amplification factor that is sometimes called "beta" -- and "beta" can vary with overall base current. If insufficient voltage with respect to collector circuit impedance is present to support the theoretical collector current (as when there is a load resistor) then the transistor will "saturate" at a small fraction of a volt from emitter to collector, drawing all the current in the emitter to collector loop that the external circuitry will allow it to draw that way. When a BJT transistor actually fails due to junction deterioration or overload, usually it either measures shorted or open. Intermediate conditions are rare. I hope this will fill you in, in a nutshell, about what's going on with BJT transistors. Actual intuitional skill with it is something I don't have much of.

@@SeekingTheLoveThatGodMeans7648 That's a good tip regarding the current V voltage. I know how a transistor works but lack the in depth required to service them with any certainty. The second part of you comment makes perfect sense, thank you.

Hi Rune, thank you 😃

Hi Anthony, yep, this was my first journey into transistors so testing the blighters was not a strong point 🙄

@@DavidTipton101 I think you did quite well I have worked in the electronic service industry despite what everybody thinks it's still going strong in the medical and industrial areas. Are you based in NSW?

Thanks Anthony. Mt Cotton, South East Queensland 🙂

@@DavidTipton101 Did you work as a serviceman doing valve equipment before? You have a very good setup in terms of equipment. One thing I notice these days compared to before test equipment is very cheap these days because of china. I am shocked at how cheap digital oscilloscopes are these days.

@@anthonysunay7916 No electronic servicing experience Anthony, I was an aircraft engineer (TAA and Qantas), after retiring I looked for a hobby, radio restoring seemed a good choice but I had to start from scratch, I watched many RU-vid videos and read many blogs, I also have a few new experienced friends I can ask for advice when needed 🙂

Hello Faleeh in Iraq 🙋‍♂️

No Cosimo, broadcast band only. It was standard for Aussie radios to display the radio station identifier for all stations in each state. There are 6 states on the dial with the associated stations for each state on this radio, strangely, the two territories don't get a mention but I guess their stations are on there somewhere 🤔

Ok, I have seen this on German radio's too, for stations in various European countries. I think it adds a nice look to the radio face.

Hi Jeffrey, thank you. I watch all the folk you mention too. I don't remember Shango doing one like this though. Glad you enjoy all these peoples videos. Cheers 😀

@@DavidTipton101 I just 👎 noticed the 🐕 dog and gramophone logo on the front of this 📻 radio, making it a PERFECT addition to your 🏡 home. I think I've 👀 seen the🐕 dog and gramophone logo on a lot of records. I think it's a record company who uses it. This 📻 radio must have been an exclusive of that record company. By the TWO dials, and TWO dial pointers, this 📻 radio's gotta have one COMPLEX dial cord, in series, or TWO dial cords, separately. Do 👎 NOT 🔥 burn either one (or, one, if it is) with your soldering iron. This is 946 degrees, enough to completely ruin a dial cord job, must ya slip by accident. In ANY radio, if ya must replace a dial cord, or have one in question of being replaced, ALWAYS replace the spring on the dial pulley, because these little springs can stretch, wear out, or break. A slipping dial cord is 👎 NOT always a problem with the dial cord itself. It can be these little springs, 👎 not properly providing tension. Replacing these springs involves taking the dial string system apart, but just take 👎 note on getting it back together. I REALLY 👍 like this 📻 radio, and hope to find one in a thrift store for $5.00. For that 🐕 DOG and GRAMOPHONE symbol. I 💘 love IT!! They don't always 👌 know their stuff. Your friend, Jeff.

@@DavidTipton101 Also, that BEEFY FERRITE ROD antenna. It 🏃 runs the entire length of the inside of the 📻 radio. This compliments the 🐕 dog, and gramophone logo on the front. The 🌟 STARS around it, and the ALUMINUM speaker grille. I'm going to guess that this 📻 radio is a 1963 model. I 👍 like the style of the 📻 radio dials. I do 👎 not know if this 📻 radio has ball bearing tuning, but this will compliment things even further, if it does have. Your friend, Jeff.

Thank you Ghulam 👍😀

Thanks Robert 😃

Yes, that's correct I misspoke. Thanks Dale 🙂

Hi Jay O, not yet but maybe in the future 🤔🙂

Thanks Dale 🙂

Hola Juan, gracias por tu comentario. Estoy muy feliz de que te guste mi radio. Gracias amigo 👍😃

Hola amigo hello amigo son reamente lindo par mi son un tesoro chao ..rucio yo tenia el pelo tanlindo por eso medisen asi

@@juaneduardobravosunega3026 Gracias juan 😃

Hello grasias amigo usted es tanparesido a un consejal que hay aqui en linares . chao ... Juan

@@juaneduardobravosunega3026 Obrigado Juan

Hi Dennis, I've had a number of quires about the desoldering tools, I'll see if I can sneak it in somewhere, thanks 😃

Yes... Thanks Dale 🙂

Sim, é um rádio muito bom 😀

I'm sorry Jatinder, I don't know what you mean 🤔

Hi 984francis, now you tell me 🤦‍♂️ Cheers 😄

Hi Raden, thanks 😃

Thanks Dale 😢 Wait...what! it is 🙄

Hi Lynton, yes, I'm not so good on transistors either, I have to muddle through them too 😄

@@DavidTipton101 I learnt transistors in electronics at school, TTL chips were in Book 5 that I never got to !. I have been having to teach myself valves. I have some electronics books from the mid 1960s and they spend a lot of time teaching how to convert from imperial measurements to SI units then finally get into most of the electronics therory, I still cannot follow capacitance in AC circuits ( as in valences and electron holes - to me the theory and reliable mathmatics models fall down as it appears electrons (and other atomic particles), dont behave as expected in all situations.

👍

Hi BillsOldiesUK, thank you 🙂

Thanks Abdul 😀

🙂

@@DavidTipton101 I had a "feline" you might use that emoticon!

Hi Seiskid, this is the only radio that will work in my house with the built in loopstick antenna and it works well. They were well built and sound good too 😀

Thanks Sam 👍

Thanks Jeff, I started out learning about tube radios and am reasonably comfortable with them now but I have trouble following transistor circuits. I will get better with more experience... I hope 😀

Hi Akif Limon 👋

These radios work very well, it's about the only radio that will work in my house. The caps should fix yours 👍🙂

Hi Lori, thank you and you are welcome 😃

Thanks Nicholas, looks like there are two nuts in the world, cheers

You are absolutely right TheCondoInRedondo. The DMM but is only a guide for voltages

Thanks @HDXFH. I have spoken to Bill about this battery 🙂