NORDMENDE Rigoletto 59 restoration & repair Part 2 

Arise, Sir David, Knight of the order of the Stuffed Capacitor. Yes, it's coming along nicely. Let's see what I can do with the cabinet. Just about to watch your latest. Cheers

How about a plug from Dave in light of the "Tipton Capacitor" honorary title. Love to see Don break the 1k subscribers mark 👍

I declare thee the “Knight of the chopstick restringing”. It helped me immensely 😊

@@chris_vk3cae Me too! lol

@@electronicsoldandnew Cheers Manuel. Knighthoods all round, I say!

Hi Greg Firstly, I live in Perth, on the West coast of Australia. We get lots of SW from Indonesia and SE Asia in general. I have also noticed an increase in Chinese language SW broadcasts, some of them coming in very strong. Hard to tell where they originate from. There are also some Chinese English language broadcasts from time to time - early evening our time. They tend to swamp anything from Europe or the USA I am developing an interest in Short Wave listening / DXing. Until recently I didn't have a good receiver and don't currently have anything that will receive SSB. I used to be into CB radio when I was younger (in the 1970's) but lost interest when it went UHF / FM. It just wasn't the same. No, I don't have an Amateur license might consider it in the future. Thanks for your interest! Cheers

Thanks ThoMe. I dare say I’ll know a few more words of German by the time I’m finished! Wima Malt Drops, eh? There’s another one I haven’t changed - it’s a darker red - more brown but otherwise similar. Are they the same type of cap? Maybe I should change it too? Yes, the cabinet will be interesting. I’ll try for the high gloss finish but I don’t know how I’ll go with that.

@@Donno308 Hi Don, these Wima's vary in colour, and if Wima is written on it, I would change it. Have a good weekend, Thomas

Hi Phillip. Yes, I imagine the FM modules would be fairly interchangeable between models. In fact there are a lot of similarities between brands, eg. Grundig, Nordmende, Telefunken etc. Thanks for your interest! Cheers

Cheers Roger. That seems like a logical approach. I must admit I was blundering around a bit with this one.

Thanks. Glad you're enjoying it!

Hi Kevka. Firstly, thanks for subscribing to my little channel. Caldeira’s channel is awesome. I was watching it long before I started doing my own videos, along with David Tipton. Unfortunately German radios are hard to get in Australia. I’m enjoying working on this one though and I’ll get another one if I can. The next part will be delayed a little as I’m on holidays. Cheers

Hi Stuart. Thanks for this insight. It does explain why I wasn’t getting the results I was expecting. I didn’t really consider the rectified ac waveform - just treated it as dc. No wonder I was getting confused. At present the radio is working well without a resistor, the increased output being compensated for by the ac input going to the 240V tap. Do you think that’s a safe way to go or is the resistor necessary for other reasons? Cheers

@@Donno308 I think that if the voltages are correct, no resistor will be necessary. I'd certainly keep it on the 240v tap, as there is the 6.3 volt heater supply to consider also.

Thanks! The cabinet needs a lot of work though.

Thanks! I get most of my capacitors etc. from Carl's Capacitors & radio parts but Digikey have a range of caps that Carl doesn't usually carry. If you're doing a Grundig you should check out Electronics Old and New by M Caldeira (if you haven't already) He knows more about Grundigs and other German radios than I ever will. Unfortunately I live near power lines, an (electric) railway line and every other kind of QRM imaginable. It takes a pretty good radio to get through all that.

Thanks Chris. Our line voltage does fluctuate a fair bit. I haven't made my mind up yet but I do notice the sound quality on FM deteriorates if the voltage is a bit low. I haven't made my mind up yet.

You certainly have a point, Michael. I have a 1000 ohm / volt analogue meter and the radio is still on the bench. I'll re-check the voltages and see what I get. I might need that resistor after all.

@@Donno308 It will probably be OK straight from the rectifier. It's mostly an issue measuring voltages on valves via high resistance.

That kind of makes sense. I was wondering how it could possibly have been changed around ... Thanks for the advice.

I guess it depends on where you live. In 2000, Standards Australia issued a system Standard, AS60038, with 230V as the nominal voltage with a +10% to -6% variation at the point of supply. That said, most days it varies from 235 to 240 ish here in Perth.

@@Donno308 Here in NZ, yesterday, we had no volts at all!

Agreed!

Totally agree. But try explaining that to RU-vid ... Bastards!

Hmm I'll check that, thanks I have previously had a comment that the audio was too quiet so I did increase it, maybe too much. It's hard to tell how it will come out when it's published.

Thanks. I'll try some vinegar on a spot that's covered by the knob and see how it goes. Cheers