Philips RF8 Radiogram Two Chassis Restore - 1965 

Great Job Dave, always enjoyable!

So now the owner has the original chassis and a perfect spare. He must be delighted! Nice bit of gear, excellent work as always.

You're a good man to help that guy out and we all appreciate your skill and resourcefulness. Excellent entertainment, as usual. Thank you.

A great back story Dave and another demonstration of your calm, methodical approach. I think we all enjoyed it as much as you did. BR Mark

"Just to recap" groan. I guess you couldn't resist!

Well done mate. I know the feeling when it all comes together and sometimes when it comes together unexpectedly well. I recently finished a restoration on a set of instruments out of a 1924 Studebaker. It was an enormous effort that challenged every skill I could muster and took me over a year because I kept walking away from the project disheartened. A few weeks ago I finally finished them and the feeling of accomplishment was only something another restorer could understand. Got some dust in my eye too when we saw the stereogram at the end all put together and running. In part that's why my favorite part of your videos is the cabinet restoration, once the internals are in you don't see anything anymore but the cabinet is what you always see. No one will ever see the restored internals of the Studebaker instruments all anyone will see is the dials and the shiny new bezels. It's a shame that these skills are slowly disappearing in this disposable world. There aren't too many people out there repairing electronics anymore. Loved it mate.

That soldering by the other fellow was truly atrocious! Great work Dave!

David Tipton what a cool RADIOGRAm from 1965

Always an adventure going in after somebody who has failed to rectify an issue. Glad you had fun doing it. Absolutely fantastic job!

It takes a 'special' owner, who appreciates the scarcity of a GEM like this, and is willing to spend what it takes to make it both function, and maintain the originality of what's inside. Most of these 1960's classics, are being converted to accept Mp3 players, and made to be 'Bluetooth ready'. On the more 'common' classic electronic items, that's okay, as it will no doubt save them from eating French Fries - fed to them by seagulls at the landfill. (Some years back, I performed a repair estimate on a McMurdo Silver chassis which actually was rescued from a landfill, by a dump truck driver, that had 'fries' stuck to the underside of the chassis) It also takes a repair/restoration tech, who's 'half nutz', and willing to spend 'hours-on-end', chasing after a $1.00 component, which is just off-tolerance enough, to not allow oscillation to take place. She's a BUTE, Dave, which luckily fell into your hands!!

Regards from the Netherlands and get well soon. 👊🏻

Two more rescue jobs! That must make you feel good when you have preserved another radio even for future generations. Imagine being the guy working on these in the 'olden' days and getting paid for it? Talk about a dream job :)

Well Done David! Another piece of heritage lives on. Smashing stuff!

There is a special thrill when you repair a radio that hasn't worked for more than 50 years, and hear it "wake up" and start working again....

I guess the thumbs down for this video is from the previous "repairer". Another belter Dave. Nice to see the second original chassis was repairable too.

I congratulate you on your great restoration work, nowadays technicians no longer want to bother repairing a transistorized device because they have become accustomed as in computers to only change cards, and one of valves for many people is only garbage.

Great job Dave. I again really enjoyed seeing you restoring these. The owner is a lucky guy. 👍

Someone who is willing to drive hundreds of k’s to get a repair done really loves that item. Amazing work too!

Many years ago I worked in the electronics shop in a large hospital. My job was supposed to be taking care of the telephone system. They had one guy "repairing" patient television sets. If he couldn't fix it by swapping modules, it was piled away in a storeroom. I had some free time so I offered to take a look at them as I had been working on electronics since I was a teen. Long story short, I went through the pile of about 30 sets over the next week or so and repaired every one of them. It was good to get them back into service and cleaned out the storeroom which was where I kept my supplies for the phone system. Once you learn proper troubleshooting and are systematic about it, repairs just seem to flow smoothly. It gives you a great feeling of accomplishment to fix something that someone else abandoned.

Dear. Mr. Tipton, You have done an excellent job on the repair of this radio, nice job....

Another challenge sorted, two chassis sorted, great job Davis

I just watched this a second time, and it it was great this time around, too. Thanks for taking us along.

Hi David. Hope you are keeping well. There is nothing worse than following someone else's poor work. You did a superb job with these units, and I hope the owner is happy. Again another superb and enjoyable video. Cheers Chris

Excellent video!! Those intermittent issues can be quite a frustrating puzzle. With enough time and obscenities we usually persevere! Lol

Yet another cracking adventure - your methodical approach is second to none - absolutely loved it

Man that was fun, great job at getting these back up and running.

Once again Dave you never cease to amaze and entertain; you had to A) repair the damage caused by the previous "tech" B) fix any other faults which may have been masked by the 'bodge repair' and C) achieve a successful outcome to make the owner a lot happier in the end - *_all at the same time_* . You have enormous patience and I am sure the owner appreciates the long hours and effort that went into getting this one working properly. 😃👍

I dont understand anything about this, but i do respect this man for knowing his stuff!

I really enjoyed watching this. It feels like I'm there in your shack, drinking tea and looking over your shoulder. Brilliant!

I enjoyed that! So many memories. I was a Radio Apprentice/Technician in training at Philips Hendon SA through most of the 60s. I remember those RF8s. We worked on them in the Lab. I just about remember all those components and tubes (valves) I'm now 77 and my memory must still be intact. 😁

It's a chilly autumn morning in sweden. I get a notification sound from my phone and.....YES! It's Friday, Tiptonday, Radioentertainmentday. Thanks David, I'll enjoy this with a couple of cold ones tonight😃

Your a gentleman Dave to not name and shame the butcher who diced and quartered the radio. It certainly sounded great through its own speakers. I hope you are doing really well mate and well on the road to recovery

Good grief what a mess! Burned wire, bad solder, sparking valve, bad resisters and icky noises! You took the time to rebuild them and now they sound fantastic! The owner will enjoy listening to his radio for years to come.

Good on you Dave. You're a bloody star. Well worth the owner's long road trip.

Your magic touch works wonders once again. Thank you for this video.

Hi mate I 'm from India. Amazed at your patience in setting this radiogram all right. Cheers !!!

David, many thanks for another excellent program on fixing radios. I hoping your health gets a lot better mate. God Bless you and your family.

What a great job! You help preserve the magic for people. I sure hope you are doing well and staying safe “beneath your radiant southern cross. “

Another fantastic radio adventure. The receiver circuit was fascinating. Keep up the great work. Always a joy to watch your videos.

Great job. Just out of curiosity, can you estimate how many hours you worked on that project? I’m doing a video on the topic of “dump or repair” related to the problem of getting good techs to actually focus on this type of work as a job that pays them a decent wage, and obviously we both know what the conclusion is going to be 😊 It really boils down to hobbyists doing these things and not looking at the clock ⏰

Another fine video from which I learned much. It's hard to find good info when one is new to a hobby, and I'm glad I found yours.

You Good Dave, the Philips RF8 Radiogram Is a great example of the leap between hand wiring and circuit boards. Points to Phillips for at least using tube sockets that get the heat off the board. Can't get used to manufactures not putting the frequency on the dial.

Thanks again Dave for the best hour of my week. I hope you're doing well and I'll join you next time.

Extensive cleanup, previous ”mechanic” gets a D-. Dave gets A+! 👍

The David Touch, better than factory, thank you for this fiesta of repair!

Love the pride you put in to your work Dave👍

Brilliant job as usual. I'm glad the owner brought the cabinet back to life to do justice to your work. That will be the first time I've ever seen a Philips mustard cap faulty. I was sure it was going to be a noisy carbon resistor. I guess there's a first time for everything. Very enjoyable to watch.

Brilliant Dave! I'm sure the owner will be over the moon with 2 working chassis 📟📟 👍

Communications between a client and the person doing repairs cannot be overdone. Even the smallest detail can mean saving the person doing the work hours. Not to mention saving money on those hours spent looking for what’s wrong. Great job again Dave!

Your videos are great examples of how to problem solve.

Well done David. Lots of identical bits to play with. “I popped down the shop for some bits”. Wish I had that luxury nearest one to me is over a hundred miles away! Used to be everywhere but no longer. Hope you are feeling better and the treatment is being successful. Take care. Lynton.

Another beautiful job, Dave. Thanks, and welcome back. You've been missed.

Excellent! My Rule #1 for any early-PWB radio or tuner is to clean and resolder every single PWB joint, suck it clean and resolder all of them, fixing anything suspicious I find along the way. It's particularly important when someone has been hacking on it, or it was originally a kit. In many cases with FM tuners, just degeneration of the solder alone seems to cause problems time and again.

Another nice job! I hope you are well. That 3rd one is just looking at you like a lost puppy 🐶

I paired my first reel to reel tape recorder with one of these. My first pirated music collection back in the late 60's. The Beatles and Rolling stones. The sound was awesome. Thanks for another wonderful trip down memory lane.

Dave, meticulous and beautiful troubleshooting and repair. Those are very nicely constructed radios. Kudos again for your persistence in clearing _ALL_ the troubles and for finding those dangerous boogers at the end. Thanks for another great adventure. Those 6GW8/ECL86 have become greatly prized ($35 - $50 USD) whereas one can buy a 14GW8/PCL86 for $4.

Well done, David! Ah, fixing other's mistakes... I did that for years. It paid the bills, so it was all good, but rather frustrating at times. Cheers!

Great video and great troubleshooting technique Dave! Really good work getting somebody else's mucked up work. I bet that guy is going to be SO HAPPY. Really excellent work as always Dave, I wish I had your skills and knowledge.

Another fine video...Thanks, Dave...I'm glad to see that you're back at it...

Well done ! I must admit that I thought you'd go all the way and make all 3 chassis work. But 2 out of 3 dead ones is a real deal ! Thanks for the video !

What a nice restoration! Well done.

Hello from Paris ( France).

Another excellent adventure Dave. Great as always. Hope you are doing well my friend .

After watching pretty much every one of your videos I think the original question "_can_ you fix these Dave?" might be more properly phrased "_will_ you fix these Dave, please?" I can't imagine there being too many radios of this vintage that you would be unable to fix, no matter what previous horrors had been visited upon them! Enjoyed the process of tracking down the more cryptic intermittent faults. So thanks again for an excellent video, but an extra "thank you" for sharing your Medical situation, your disclosure has motivated _me_ to pay more attention to my health and I've just had my PSA checked because you reminded me how important it can be. Best wishes.

Thats a proper job! That soldering job could be the worst I ever seen, it really needed your salvation. Hope you are doing wel!, Dave!

Thanks David. I always look forward to your videos. Cheers, Jim

That was a fun adventure. Guys lucky he found you. And the people who run the shop should be ashamed of themselves

Beautiful radiogram, sounded great, and there's spares too. Amazing to see all the issues and you in Poirot mode unlocking the mysteries. Kind of the owner to share the final outcome. Thanks for posting David, trust you're doing well Regards from the UK

Can't believe I'm only just finding your channel now David! Love your work, in fact just last weekend I finally got my dad's GE RS8V1 stereogram from the same year as that Philips, 1965, onto my bench. He got it off of a work colleague in around 2003 or 4, and it was working fine then except for the turntable, a seized BSR which had at some point replaced the original Garrard AT6 it came with, at that point long gone. At this point it hasn't seen power for at least 15 or so years, so preliminary checks has shown most of the original Ducon electros are either way out of spec or just dead, the ceramics are testing fine, and so far no open resistors but we will see how we go. At least the chassis has never been messed with. Gonna change the electros and then bring her up slowly and see how she sounds after all these years. I'll be sure to post some videos, this is my first valve chassis that Ive played with, my limited experience is with 1970s PA and disco sound and lighting equipment, of which I hope to get more videos up of soon! Take care and great work David!!

Another great job! That's a really nice looking radiogram too. Thanks!

Pardon my absence . I’ve Been busy with other things lately. Doing family Ancestry . So I’ve got Irish relatives in Australia! When my great Grand Parents cam here to the USA His brother went to Australia. That was A very unique Radiogram!

Man, what a fantastic job. As the Americans say: you are the MAN (Y)

Another fine repair. I hope you are progressing well with your treatment. Best of luck.

A lot of really great trouble shooting ideas Dave. Really nice job.

Another Totally Terrific Tipton Tube Triumph! It is amazing what you can do considering the state of these chassis, and the appalling soldering - not to mention the mains boobytraps in there! Talk about butchered equipment! You did a fantastic job on this, as always. Also nice to see the completed sets in the cabinet - with even a lovely Akai reel-to-reel recorder sitting next to it. I hope you are well and recovering nicely!

I really enjoyed this video and I’m thrilled that you had fun doing both radios, thank you for taking us along on another adventure.

By the way, those images of the sparking tube were great! Never got to see that before. Well done

You're a saint! Nice job; well done; great result.

Good one David.

Dodgy solder joints everywhere! Good idea checking and replacing out of spec components. Not surprised that all those resistors were all bad. Carbon composite types literally wear out prematurely from the era they are from. Love your repair style Dave. Great video of the work involved! Steve

HOWZAT indeed .... this was far more enjoyable than I expected and I thought the sound was excellent. Like you I thought it a great pity you didnt have the complete radiogram....... if only to see you clean it !!! Boy didnt it present well , would be a privilege to own a working model .Good to see a client not afraid to spend a couple of bob and take a 400k trip in his stride to get what he wants .As always David when I see your name in my suggested I know it's time to sit back and enjoy 😁😁😁

Super work there, David; really enjoyed watching this video.

Had the exact same problem this week on a little CW transceiver built kit I bought. Didn't work until I pressed down on an op-amp or two. A few mins of re-soldering joints and it burst into life.

You did a great job Dave !

Yes Dave, Thanks for the enjoyment, It makes ya feel real good.

Amazing jop dive thank you for your amazing video

Nice repair David. I see the one thumbs down must be the other unsuccessful repair person. Thanks for sharing with us and take care!

David! Glad to see you're still alive! Yeah, troubleshooting the trobelshoooter or upgrader is a challenge all in itself. Always a joy to watch you on your channel.

Sure hope your doing well Dave. Keep us posted. Good video. 👍

David you are actually getting to be good with troubleshooting problems now. I have watched you for a long time and it is clear to me that you have improved a great deal; best of all watching you has also improved my own understandings and results. Thank you so much for that sir!

Great vintage equipments by Philips and equally great restoration. Thankyou for sharing your experience.

Thanks Dave! Just what I needed. Its never easy to clean up someone elses mess and saving a butiful piece.

Another fantastic job David!

Friday just got even better-great work as always Dave, a trio of Dutch Gold!

Thanks Dave, absolutely brilliant as always!

Thanks Dave. Really enjoyed that one.

You know it's bad when a client walks in the door with not one but two spare parts units haha, 27:30 I actually prefer to hear the sound coming out of the speakers when you are doing those adjustments, Not only do we get a visual from the analog meter, the audio helps me make understand more what is doing what if that makes sense.

Beautiful job David. I don't think I could solder that badly if I tried. Horrible for a supposed tech. You have a very happy customer and very happy and admiring subscribers lol. 73 de KB7ICI....Bill

Is good to see you working on those chassis! I can't get used to the dials you use in Australia, with letters instead of the actual frequencies.

Hi Dave; Enjoyed this. I found it most interesting. Noticed the owner's Akai reel to reel. Very kind of you to repair his chassis and a spare chassis for him.