Philco Alabama New Zealand Radio Repair 

Thank you, David. I was visiting my mother recently and she asked if I'd be able to fix her radio while I was there. Thanks to some random things I've seen you do I was able to get it back in order! Made me a hero for a day. Thanks again!

The capacitor can stuffing was slick. Then you recapped and aligned the radio, but there was still about 20 minutes left in this video. Something else was going to happen. It did. What started off as a routine repair, ended up taking us on a crazy transformer winding journey. SO WELL DONE. Thank you so much, David.

I have to admit that I was hoping the owner would ask you to fix the transformer! Also enjoyed the way you re-rolled the capacitor can. All in all, a very nice job.

The time, money and heartache you can save yourself by winding your own transformers is undeniable! Great stuff. That advert at the end was much more entertaining than most!

Interesting little set, I noticed the old can cap was made in the UK by plessey, Philco made both radio & television in the UK since the 1930's. Very impressed with the transformer rewind, got it spot on, good for the next 60+ years!

OMG - LOL. The old Martin Molly show. That was the best drive time radio show ever.

When I wake up and see a new video on David's channel I know it's gonna be an awesome day 🎉🎉🎉

Well, I'm a little late to the show, but again fantastic work Dave. The transformer rewind was definitely a labor of love. Great stuff! Thanks for sharing your video's, they go well with my cup of coffee :^)

Anyone that can rewind a transformer and get it to work in a radio , gets two thumbs up from me. 👍🏻👍🏻 I wouldn't attempt to do it myself!🔥 Just one of the amazing electronic repairs you can do Dave! The advert at the end had a goose who was named Dave! LOL

Dave, not only is your work so good but also your discernments about all aspects of restoration are remarkable!

Great video! Personally I love the cap re-stuffing. Rewinding the transformer, fantastic!

Thanks for another great restoration, David. The Goose air travel movie had me in stitches. Brilliant.

Even Dave has a mentor? That guy must be the Einstein of radio restoration! 🙂

Another beautiful job Dave. Love the rewinding of the transformer. It's something that has always mystified me but you make it look like child's play

I worked for Philco-Ford in the early 1970's as a TV Tech and Parts Inspector in their lab. They had just started manufacturing the first all solid state Philco TV's when I was there. This was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA. Also, production was being shifted to South America around the same time.

It's funny, 99% of RU-vid electronics guys treat a bad xforner as an insurmountable barrier to repairing vintage gear. I love how you just dig in and get the job done Dave.

Hi Dave, thanks for another great video. I waited until today to watch it as my wife wanted to see it as well! What a lovely little radio. I to spotted the Plessey capacitor can as soon as I just saw the "P". They were quite a common brand in the UK before they were taken over in the late 80's. The New Zealand Airways commercial was pure gold. We have a shared sense of humour. Hope you are fully recovered now and working on a new interesting project.

Never doubted for a second that rewound transformer would work like a charm.

The commercial at the end was hilarious! Beautiful job winding up the transformer. Very nice!

That transformer rewind was amazing Dave, spot on mate! Cheers to another successful reconditioning!

Another great job. Clearly shorted turns on the primary increasing the ratio and giving you a high output voltage and high circulating current in the shorted turns generating heat. Great entertainment as always. Cheers Bob

Hi Dave. Sorry to hear you were ill. Your sounding better though. Always enjoy you rebuilding parts, especially the transformer. The NZ add was hilarious. Take care. Say hi to the misses for me.

Every time, like a new book, I read and watch with pleasure, if the author is David. Greetings from Russia !

Nice work on the cap and transformer. That low filament voltage was weird (even in light of the earlier version of the schematic). I imagine if you had a few shorted windings on the secondary or filament windings, they'd just be sitting there dissipating heat and power in the transformer and doing nothing else acting like another independent secondary load (and not really otherwise affecting things).

Dear Mr. Tipton, The way you did that capacitor is very impressive, What a nice job you have done....

It seems to rewind a transformer is child's play for an expert radio tech like you Dave! Very good work all around on this one, very good work for sure.

Oddly satisfying work on this wonderfully named radio.

let's twist ... and rewind .... transform .... hairspray.... as always fascinating David!! and that advert is truly great fun!!

Nice video, I worked for Philco in the 70s as a tv design engineer, Philco was American based, in Philadelphia (Phildelphia Electric Battery Company). I think this must have been licensed to the NZ company from a U.S. design. Since it was in a plastic cabinet, the U.S. version must have been hot chassis, and the 240 V design added a power transformer and changed the tubes(valves).

الحمد لله على سلامتك يا صديقي و شكرا لمشاركة الفيديو

I know the chap in the commercial, but for the life of me I can't say the name, please help me out. Thanks again Dr. Dave for all the hard work. Please be safe.

I loved the Philco repair and especially the transformer rewind David, but that last bit was hilarious!!!!!

ReStuff & ReWind my kind of work ! No shortcuts " DAM THE TORPEDO'S FULL SPEED AHEAD" .Got to love it. 73 Leo

That’s a fantastic job on the Philco, good reception picking up those Kiwi channels 🤣🤣

This was a great Friday morning for me - Dave has a new Radio Adventure for us 😊 Great one, thanks.

Hi Dave I love the way you fearlessly go ahead and rewind the transformer. I watched this the other day and today thought it is just as well the owner gave the go ahead ,because I reckon all that carbonised enamelled wire was acting like a resistor shorting turns. Sooner or later it would fail possibly catching fire with all that wax and paper it was made of. And I noticed you did a great job of the rewind just feeding the wire by hand. Modern enamelled wire is so tough it can be bunch wound and never short. I am told you can twist this wire tightly together walk on it and it will not short. I liked the fun with the kiwi overdubs.

Fascinating watching you do the math and wind the transformer. Great stuff. Ad at the end was a nice touch. Love your sense of humor. Thanks David. 73 de KB7ICI....Bill

When it was all but done and 50% of the video to go, I think everyone knew that transformer was getting rewound. Thank you for another fascinating video Dave

Dear Mr. Tipton, That is a nice sounding radio and the radio cabinet shown early was just so nice, you do such good work, great job.

Much kudos for the transformer rewind, and the cap restuff was masterful. you are definitely one of the best radio restorers on the net. Please treat yourself to a bottle of Coopers. Cheers from the UK, Steve.

Rewinding the transformer looks like a lot of hard work, even with the winder. But a good job on adapting the winder seems to have made it easier. Great watch, lots of humour - especially regarding the Kiwis (if I'm allowed to call them that). Had a holiday of a lifetime with my then partner, now wife travelling down NZ - Auckland to Queenstown 3 years ago. Thanks again for sharing another great repair job. Always look forward to seeing them.

1000th Thumbs Up! Really enjoyed the Xfmr rewind. I think the other one was a first-class fire hazard! Now both you and you customer have peace of mind! Really loved the advert!

Thank you for sharing. Great job on the transformer. Cheers!

It's a radio of quality knows how to receive Kiwi stations. Nice work David.

Hahahahahahaha your humor is great Dave. I loved the transformer calculations and winding. Beautiful work!

Radio manufacturers choice of product names often make me giggle. A radio named after the exotic and mysterious locale of... Alabama.

Another lovely episode from your workshop. Sorry you've not been well, but clearly your sense of humour didn't suffer. Really enjoyed the video, seeing the Plessey parts reminded me of my Uncle who worked for the in the 60s here in the UK.

That Inexpensive transformer winding machine is paying off. Dave your radio skills keep multiplying every adventure you seem to pull another rabbit out of a hat. I wonder what other amazing innovations you have come up with out side your hobby, but I guess you'd have to stab another channel for that, thanks for the great adventure.

Hi David. Another great radio journey. That transformer really did need some attention and watching you unwind and rewind it was mesmerising. I’m sure the owner will be well chuffed with it. Loved the air New Zealand ad at the end as well. Cheers Graham

Hi Dave, Good to hear you are over the worst of the mystery virus: we have to be vigilant as best we are able. The Philco is a neat looking little radio - I can certainly see it’s appeal. It is not too dissimilar looking from the 1957 Bell Colt. A few of those ‘budget’ New Zealand valve radios might not look much internally, but the ones I’ve seen and heard work exceptionally well. The same can be said about the Philco Alabama radio - and a very attractive little radio! also! I was happy to see the mains transformer rewind was a success. Those types of job can easily go wrong, especially if one does not have a coil winder with a turns counter - a nice bit of kit you have for doing that type of work. As always, another superb radio repair video my friend. For the love of God, stay safe, all the best from Phil.

Thanks David! You actually answer more of my quastions withot asking then the forum i tried, they just say "its working, be happy"... Great work and your twist is outstanding....

You are the King, Guru !!!

Sorry to hear you were a bit under the weather David, take care..Wonderful video, so much learned especially that transformer winding, so cool...Love the advert at the end, just so funny..Thanks again for sharing, your expert knowledge..What a treat as always..Ed..uk..😀

That is the best transformer rebuild video I have seen. Good job.

Nice rewind, David! Thank you for using my calculator, it is really nice to see it being put to good use :)

Brilliant thank you. Made me go look at what kiwi radios I have stashed and I have a couple of later philcos and 4 little Bell radios of varying colours. Might pull one out tonight and have a play after my piece of kiwi pav....all the best.

David senin çalışmalarını türkiyede radyo tamir eden ustalara gösteriyorum hayran oluyorlar ve senin çalışman gibi bir iş mümkün olmadığını söylüyorlar çok güzel bir iş yapıyorsun teşekkürler

Hi David. Superb job yet again. You have got transformer rewinds off to a fine art. The set turned out really well. Love the advert at the end, it really made me laugh. As always I thoroughly enjoyed watching. Cheers Chris.

You are quite amusing with that little skit on the radio. Winding the power transformer is a great idea if you have the gear - which you do. Well done!

David Tipton you did a good job at re building the tranform

Amazing video David! Interesting to note that the temperature rise formula is for copper wire only since the temperature coefficient of resistance of copper is 0.393% per degree Celsius. I do not believe I have watched a single video of yours and not learned something in each one. Thank you sir!

love your humour & those old ads in your intro. thanks for the vids mate

Hope you never stop, brilliant.

Pretty cool you can rewind those transformers like that. Always fun to watch your videos!

Everything seemed to be going too well and the video was only half over so I somehow knew you would be rewinding that tranny. It was a treat to watch and a great result. Vey nicely done as usual.

Hey 👋, Mr. Tipton!! Very impressive with that tune at 17:30 🕠. It sounds so 1950’s. I do not know the name of it. Your radio 📻 repairs 👩‍🔧 are still very awesome 🤩. You’ll do very good 😌 on resurrecting that radio 📻 dial. I don’t know 🤷‍♀️ about the dial cord, or the dial light 💡 on this thing. Always remember that a majority of these radios 📻 are kind of like 👍 a Christmas tree 🎄 light 💡 set. That is, that the power 💥 is cut off to the entire radio 📻, in the event that the dial light 💡 burns 🥵 out. This is a safety feature to avoid electrical shocks, overheating 🥵 power 💥 cords, and/or fire 🔥. It also protects the radio 📻 from further damage, such as to the circuitry. Your friend, Jeff.

Another cracking journey - thank you so much for sharing

That radio has so few parts, yet sounds really great! And the transformer rewind was a treat. Thanks for posting.

Great work once again David!

Thank you for sharing the transformer temperature method, I have a Heathkit amplifier with a transformer that gets worryingly hot and that is just the method I needed for testing it. Whish you good health! George.

Love the comedy as much as your skilled restoration. Cheers from Melbourne 🇦🇺

Thanks Dave love your vids ,there down to earth and most enjoyable

Wow. The sound was fab.

Excellent job on rewinding the transformer. I'll have to eventually work up the courage to rewind one myself. I have an audio output transformer on a BIG tube amp I need to rebuild. Also, that commercial at the end was too funny! Thanks David!

Great video Dave. I always learn a lot from them. Always great to see you. Take care. 😃

Excellent video as usual!

Your work is exquisite and inspiring! Thanks for your video

Even though I've seen you do this before, I still marvel at the way you rebuild a power transformer. Well done David.

Another awesome video Dave, Thank you mate these videos bring balance to the universe. Cheers!

Good morning David. Well you had me going at the start of this video, I thought how on earth can you get the same station so clear in three different places. Great video and the audio on that little radio was very crisp. You take care. Terry

Thank you for your always entertaining work, as for the technical aspects, my head hurts,

And another great repair done. Fantastic work on the power transformer rewind and impressive to say the least. Keep up the good work and will be looking forward to the next installment.

Thank you David; I’ve just discovered your videos, they are excellent. I like your gentle expertise.

Good work there, such a nice sound from that set as well!

Nice work, handy when you have a decent workshop of tools!

Absolutely fantastic job on this radio. Great video 👏👏👍

Professor Tipton from Australia does it again!!🍺🍺🍺

Great restoration as always mate. Loved every minute of it. Loved the funny stuff as well hope you and Mrs T are well and can't wait for the next restoration.

Thank you for the video Dave. Just love to watch your work. Really liked this video with you showing and explaining the process of how you rebuild/rewind the transformer.

I hope you feel better soon David..Another fantastic video mate 👍. Take care my friend ❤. Best wishes Terry uk 🇬🇧 ❤ 👍.

David, this episode is grand. Good stuff here going the extra mile Smiling all the way

Thank you Sir David! wonderful to wake up and find another adventure. Nice radio. Sounds terrific. Hope you're feeling better!! THANK YOU!!

Hello David, What I took away from this restoration, prompted me to order in some Presspahn Transformer Insulation Paper. I have a few cans to stuff. I liked this technique a lot and I like your can edge rolling technique to seal up too. Thank you. Cheers Peter

Much enjoyed, David, coil winding always very interesting to watch.

David, brilliant display of knowledge and workmanship. I love your rewinds... its so cool to watch how you do it.. excellent stuff Mate.

Great restore as always Dave, loved the ad too. 😄

Luckily that virus did not affect your sense of humour. Great commercial for Air NZ!

Great educational video thanks from England 🇬🇧

Another cracking little radio project. Love the details like how you roll the end over on that capacitor and now you have me wanting to build a transformer . I don't need one at the moment but it looks fun.

Hi, I just came across this video. I used to do safety approvals testing of electrical equipment in a former life and had to assess transformer winding temperature rise by the rise in resistance method. The formula for calculating temperature rise is :- Ambient, t1 (°C) is the ambient temperature in the immediate area of the sample at the beginning of the test (with no power applied to the sample). Ambient, t2 (°C) is the ambient temperature in the immediate area of the sample at the end of the test. R1 (Ω) and R2 (Ω) are your resistance measurements corresponding to Ambient, t1 (°C) and Ambient, t2 (°C), respectively. Δ T (K) is the change in resistance as calculated: ΔT= R2 / R1(k+t 1)−(k+t 2) Note: k=234.5 for copper windings and k=225.0 for aluminum windings . Hope this might be of interest, assuming there was no change in ambient temperature I concur with your temperature rise I got 38.67 degrees C temp rise.😏👍🇬🇧