Watched it all and enjoyed it. Now I have a few good questions to ask an old time radio and TV repairman who I admire so much. Thanks. You solder like a champ !
I have a friend who is an expert in rebuilding vacuum tubes in his barn converted to laboratory. It is an amazing operation and all the fellas have lots of experience in the field. I took a course in radio repair long ago and was able to follow the video. Very well done. Thanks.
I've been watching your videos for a while and I'm learning with every new one you post. You're a great instructor! I joined the Navy in 1963 and went through sonar school in Key West Fla. when I was 17. As part of our training we had to put together a radio with parts that had been soldered then un-soldered many times, (readied for the next class) and we were lucky if we could pick up a station out of Miami but most could pick up Havana. We learned the basics. I've started watching your old videos and this one was very interesting and informative and I have to keep stopping it and making notes. Some are just general tips you give as your working and some I've scribbled on the schematic of my current project but all are very informative. Thank you so much for educating all of us who are eager to learn and please keep uploading more.
Such a pleasure to watch a master working. You younger people realize that these guys are who taught us back in the day, I love how he whips that 100 watt Weller soldering gun around. Lots of experience here.
I have learn a great deal from you,also I never seen anyone solder as fast as you with that big old soldering gun,or the speed you solve problems .I Been solder well over 40 years but you are so much faster than anyone I have ever seen.I will keep watching you and maybe if I am lucky buy a tube radio from you I like the sound better
I collect old radios. Have re-capped 2 (leaving in place old values I could not source. You gave workarounds... ) Watching your very efficient algorithm will make my next one much faster. THANKS!
Whoever you are Glasslinger can I come and spend a few months learning some of your stuff please! I have worked on a few old radios and radiograms from the 30s+ 40s including a Marconi 2 valve set. I know when the old engineers die so will the skills that they have. I want to preserve these skills.
Nice job on the restoration Ron! Also thanks for the explanation on fuse specifications. I always thought a 1/2A fuse would blow there at 1/2A. I didn't know it would take a 1/2A continuously and only blow when reached approx 50% higher current value. Tom
That hour just flew away. Very enjoyable video. Nice trick to hide the new caps in the old housing. Just got my first 'oldish' radio a few weeks ago. It is from the 1970'ies though so no tubes 😐, but it is a good starters project for me.
Excellent work! I recently went to repair a 1928 Victrola Radiola but unfortunately found that the interstage tuning coils had shorted out and the variable air caps were destroyed. Amazingly none of the bias and linkage caps were bad. I replaced all but the power supply electrolytics anyway. I ended up scrapping the RF front end and just remaking it into a mono amplifier since it was a lost cause to try to repair. Works great aside from loud 60Hz hum.
This was a great video! Nicely done. Back in 2006 or so I restored 4 Heathkit HW-30 2 meter AM transceivers but I shotgunned them all. Including teflon wire for interconnections, and all new carbon film resistors. Results were excellent but my reasoning for doing that was that I thought since all the components were getting very old the radio would be a non-stop maintenance headache if I didn't. The radios work perfectly now.
I learned so much from this. You are very skilled and should be selling instructional videos and writing books. I liked how you used the signal generator. Maybe a video on the uses of a signal generator?? Thanks Again.
glasslinger I really Love your channel. . Please keep posting Specifically, older radio repair if you can. Thank you for all you have uploaded. They are really great!!
Very nice, it's always a pleasure watching and learning from your videos. One of the things I always look for when buying old electrical stuff is a good original line cord though. So long as they're in good condition and not handled roughly they serve just fine. I'd have left that asbestos in there too :)
If I just had watched your videos 20 years ago. My uncle had an Admiral 'Transoceanic' 1960's tube radio. I barely understood what it did. I think he got the radio as a payment from a traveler visiting the port. Please keep posting more videos sys.
Great lesson = you've given me courage to tackle a newly found Air-Castle. Love your old style sense of humor, the cat holding down the radio, reminded me of Dad...and you're the fastest solderer in the West, or East. Also, no high brow techno-talk. Look forward to more, Subscribed.
Nice. I noticed you don't worry about "J hooking" the new components and don't seem to have any issues. Saves time not to have to do that. I suppose having a hot enough soldering gun helps. I have a Weller too. Good dependable guns.
I was thinking about this vide when i red about another project when a guy built in a RaspberryPie micro PC card in an old radio chassi. This must bee the ideal combination, one needs only the intestines and another, like most people (at least here in my country) wants only the chassi and other visible parts to fill with modern tecnic. It´s good to see that there is still people who salvage even the intestines in thos old radios in working condition. Personally i concidering about building a replica of the chassi so i had to re watching this video again for inspiration! Since i want the same feeling as the original (but i dont vant to destroy real items of historical interst.).
I wonder if that Beitman's book has a schematic for a Herbert H. Horn Tiffany Tone Model 73 C ( a small medium console radio made probably around 1937 or so) radio? It does have a magic green eye and a very impressive Dial Face design with a glass cover instead of plastic. I am in need of such for the repair of my radio as it hasn't been played for many years. The veneer needs some help but the cabinet is in fairly good shape and amazingly the original grill cloth appears like it is new with no tears or stains on the cloth. This is a rare radio and one that is not even listed in the radiomuseum site listings for Tiffany Tone radios.
Much respect and since I've found your channel I'm trying to catch up on old vlogs. Keep on truck'n. I like your style but why not wear a apron to save some of your clothes you must go through a lot of wardrobe.
You apparently have done this for years....I read some comments on here on how you are being rough with the parts, but most of the hobbyist today do this for fun, and not for a living... back in the day a repairman would make 10 calls a day and would do exactly what you do in the video, you must of worked in the field doing this stuff... I remember our TV repairman came out to replace the power switch on TV... he threw parts and tubes around and into his tube case and thought nothing of it... Nice video!
Those old caps are usually covered/sealed with beeswax. You can sit it in a tin in the oven and heat it till the beeswax runs and wipe it off the paper to read the value. I do that and rebuild/repack the cap with new cap and fill with beeswax to look like the original.
That doesn't appear to be a AA5 radio, as I don't think they started making them until the mid-40's or so. I suspect that the tube filaments are wired in parallel, hooked up to that transformer. Looks like you've done this a few times, as you make it look this task look so easy! I am aware that radios of that era often didn't have the standard 455 kHz IF. Excellent video, thanks for sharing!
Thanks!!! It's a Zenith 10-S-153. All five knobs are missing. Can you help me with that? Also, theold cloth covered power cord is a dry, rotted and frayes. I'd like to start there and see if I can get it fired up. Thanks again for your time!!!
You can get the cloth covered wire on ebay under lamp cord. Be sure to do some work on the radio before plugging it in to keep from burning up stuff! Zeniths are bad for capacitors, you probably will have to replace all of them.
For cloth covered wire I'd recommend Sundial Wire since their stuff is made entirely in the USA, which is very important to me and I'm sure many others.
I've got an old radio that I'm repairing. Thanks for your help. I'll let you know how it goes. The case is broken so I'll probably build a plexiglass box to show off the tubes.
I enjoyed the video very much thank you. Great hints and tips for troubleshooting. Very useful. Curious what the next video will be about. Kind regards Paul.
A lot of older British Radio and TV sets used brass screws and I used to save my bees wax capacitors to use the wax on the end of my screwdriver to help remove and refit them. I still have my AVO 160 valve tester.
As always excellent video. So descriptive and clear. I am presently working on tube type Fisher preamp! Changing out most of the paper caps. Mr Carlson made a video identifying the foil end from the core. I can't see the difference. Is it important? Thanks for the great video.
old man but it does make it interesting to have an old radio and fix it hear newer music on it, its like a strange occurrence to see something old have such a direct contact with something new
question are you still working I would love to see you working in my old car radio is from the 50's it has not worked for years , if you are love to get it to you please let me know. my father was a tv service man and he would say that with all this foreign stuff he was going to run out of work . too bad he passed away... anyhow if you can't i will understand thanks
glasslinger I really like your channel. I look forward to the next upload you do. Specifically, older radio repair if you can. Thank you for all you have uploaded. They are great.
I don't know if you ever watched Carlson's lab mr. Carlson I suggest you do you're good but he's the best I learned a lot from both of you but I don't see you giving any heat safety precaution Airy advice
Carlson is very good but I think he carries on too much. (opinion) I like to get things done, pronto! At one time I was in business repairing radios and TVs and had to get things done fast to keep satisfactory cash flow. Watch my videos for no-nonsense get-it-done-fast repair.
A scope is not necessary but is helpful. A signal generator is necessary. First check the antenna input coil. These are common to be burned out. Then start with the audio stages, injecting a signal to the grid of the first audio stage. Then the grid of the I.F. stage, use a 460khz modulated signal. Each stage towards the front end should give a vastly greater volume.
I get all my caps from Mouser. Note that they have a $12 minimum shipping charge so you need to buy a batch of capacitors to keep the shipping reasonable. Buy a small amount and you can end up with the shipping being half the cost!
(480) 820-5411) Antique Electronic Supply, Tempe Arizona. They are family run business. A little more expensive but knowledgeable. Person to person ordering or on-line. Don't be in a rush. Relax.
I thought tubes went out. Do TV tubes get burnt out or is replacing easier than cleaning? It used to be a small business for kids to strip junked TV sets of tubes and resell them.
Being an old radio enthusiast,t I admire the simple explanation of how you go about repairing these radios. I don't have all the needed electrical gadgets that help with every task, like oscillators, however, I manage. I recently obtained an old radio and would like to change all the capacitors, however, not being an expert at reading the specs and not having much info on them, how can the only info on the current ones like " .035-1000-544 or .015-400-16" be read or interpreted?
Those numbers look to be the value in MFD and the voltage. The last numbers I don't know. You can use more common 400 volt capacitors for all of the old radios. The values for most of the capacitors are not critical at all and something close will work fine. For example the rare .035 could be replaced with a .047, which is a common value. Simply use the closest common value and you will do fine. Good luck on your repair!
glasslinger I got a old early 40s Zenith 66501m am radio only one tube lights up. What could be wrong with it that could cause only one tube to light? Is there a way I can check the radio with a multi meter to see what is wrong with it? I have a schematic for it. also will a schematic tell me which side of capacitors are positive and negative?
you can use the multimeter to test the filaments of the tubes. Read between pins 2 and 7 for continuity on the X10 ohms scale. Count clockwise from the alignment ridge on the center post. The old diagrams were drawn with the negative end of the filter capacitors towards the bottom of the page.
