Restoration Inspection - How Well Did They Do? 

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Mr Carlson, After seeing all of your videos I know that you will not let this set leave your bench without bringing it back to factory standards and upgrading it to be a higher safety standard.

Yes, please complete the alignment with a video. Although I've done restoration alignments quite a few times now, it's always a privilege to see this work done by a true master - I have so much still to learn and I know the radio will be better than when it left the factory!

I restored this same model radio about 10 years ago! Fantastic! I still have it on my piano. I definitely have to go back and evaluate my work after watching this. Thank you!

I restored this exact radio about 3 years ago with good results but now am tempted to go back in and check some of the resistor values that I may have assumed were ok. One thing I've learned with these old radios after watching your videos is .......never assume .

At the very least the across-the-line capacitor should be replaced...and as long as you are in that area you might as well add the fuse holder and fuse. Aaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnndddddddddddd it really wouldn't be fair to the set, let alone the owner, if you didn't do a complete alignment! So, yeah, do it!!!

These videos are incredible. You were the one who inspired me to start fixing radios, and now I have a zenith clock radio that wakes me up every morning.

Such a fine radio, Paul. Of course we want to see the last miles of the road. i bet you will do it, too ;-) Nobody switches off Freddy Mercury at "We are the champions, my " ;-)

For long-term reliability the capacitors in those IF cans should have really been done. We know that style have chronic SMD and it's just a matter of time

It needs the across the line capacitor replaced with a safety type one and do a full alignment.

Paul, That new FLUKE is a man-machine, isn't it? Thanks for the video, I enjoy all of your work. WIll you show us more about your new antenna?

Paul, as long as either the Customer will pay for the work needed _OR_ you want to make this as more content for your channel, please go all out with tuning/aligning this radio, along with implementing the needed & recommended safety modifications, and refinishing the Bakelite body and straightening the clear plate, along with removing the excess glue. I'm sure that _your_ standards make you want to make it as perfect as you can, but either the Customer or RU-vid must pay for your time & efforts.

Nice radio Paul, odd that the last tech did a reasonable job with caps and resistors but apparently didn't align it. You know if you want to sleep at night you will fix a few things and align it 😉🙂

Changed it from Stromberg Carlson to a Carlson's high quality Radio 😃

Absolutely do the alignment (easy to state that from my kitchen table while eating a bagel and drinking my coffee).

In the past, I've seen (and, I'm sure you have too) "restored" radios that were actually a butchered up hack job, with some of them being downright dangerous. In many cases, only enough was done to make the radio play weakly on the strongest local station with the volume wide open. It's for those reasons that I rarely buy restored electronics, unless I know who did the work. Even though there were some things that should have been done to this radio before you got it, I'm glad to see it wasn't a total "hack job."

Another brilliant teaching video & I thank you. Err..... have you ever considered getting a sidekick named Stromberg?????

You are an excellent teacher. Many You Tube tutorials feature hosts that really know their stuff but can't explain it to others. You obviously "know your stuff" and have the gift of being able to explain it as well. Thank you very much for these videos.

Mr Carlson's Sir nice Explain About Radio Repair. Thanking You sir.

I have always enjoyed any of the projects that you chose. And I still believe that you are from the future. As a retired Electrical Engineer with NASA, I worked with many professionals, but never one that knew everything about different aspects of the trade. Mr. Carlson seems to know all aspects, whether it be tube type or SMT, and it just doesn't jive with his age. What's going on ???

Did you make another vid restoring this radio? Hope so. Will search for it. As a side note...My dad was born in 1921, & he passed in '87. He was an electronics engineer who loved vacuum tube circuits. Among other things, he designed/built EEG & EKG amplifiers for the USN. I remember he designed a very quiet, but powerful SS mic preamp & housed the power supply separately, outside of the preamp. Got watch him restore a couple of Altec mic preamp, one w/ a compressor. He would have loved your channel.

..Боже, какими мы были примитивными всего лишь 90 лет назад..(((.. От огромных горячих вакуумных баллонов - к микроскопическим приборам, охлаждаемых жидким гелием..

Hi Paul - Previous Geezer did a clean jobbie in there, change-out the line cap & peak-up the alignment & dial tracking. Sweet little AC-DC unit - Thanks for the video there. Best regards, Tony in S-Africa...

Just watched Shango066 test out some vintage CB radios. Love see what to happens if you connect a CB to that new antenna!

Do the restore. I appreciate your persistence to accuracy.

I know a lot of people want to see the details on fixing this, but personally, I'd like to see you restore more test equipment. Preferable an old oscilloscope, maybe a big tektronix tube scope like a 555, with lots of discussion about the theory of the scope, the awesomeness of tektronix, and the uses of the various plugins.

Hey Mr Carlson love your work...i have been watching your videos and I learn a lot... Watching you from Trinidad and Tobago 🇹🇹🇹🇹in the Caribbean...

Paul, by all means, please do your usual thorough restoration, that is, replace the out of tolerance components, add a fuse, align the radio and restore the case to its former showroom glory. I'm still learning the ropes so all your resto videos are very welcome learning aids for me. Thanks!

A Stromberg CARLSON in the CARLSONS LAB getting the Carlson treatment

If the previous tech is watching this, he could be doing lots of face palming, having the master of Electronics looking at his work.

Yes Paul give it some goodness, I also recommend anyone to join on the patreon, Paul's even taught me some New tricks, along with different ways of actually doing the job the proper effective way .

Yes! Please align. It's 1/2 Mhz off at the low end of the band.

Stromberg-Carlson! Never heard of that brand, but it has your name on it so it should be good!😊

"Did bakelite just become breakalite???" OOF!!

With the dial as far out as it is, the usability of the radio is reduced. I think you have to take some action and the owner will thank you for it.

How do you determine the fuse value required for safety? 10/10 for this vid...

It's always amazing what a good antenna can do for any receiving equipment at any frequency.

OK, got to call this one as being a bit disingenuous. The value of this radio is around $50, and I have seen them go for as little as $5. A TOTL restoration that people are shouting out here would be around $200, that would include axial caps which are much more expensive than radials (and yes, those chemicons are real), an alignment, which shouldn't really take that much time, proper this and that, etc. So, spend $200 for radio worth $50, really? I am a professional and don't touch these radios as it just isn't worth the clients money (my time) and most old radio collectors won't pay it, either. I work primarily on tube amplifiers, like Scott, Fisher, McIntosh, etc. where there is no problem spending the money to get a proper restoration, but a cheap old radio? That is a different story! And I would bet the person who paid to have this restored sure didn't pay $200, probably around $50 for the repair/restoration, so you can't fault the tech for not getting paid enough to do a Carlson restoration, I mean, really now.

The job was done reasonably well by the looks, a fuse inline and a properly rated across-line cap should at least be added though. And alignment by the master tech ought to be obligatory because its always a pleasure to watch :-)

Mr Carlson, appreciate your meticulous work and would definitely want to see the tracking correction. I have completely restored a Philco 42-322 with all new wires, caps, and even rewound the oscillator coil transformer. The radio tracking is way off, and came to a conclusion of mismatched capacitance of the oscillating section. So, hope to see your work.

I agree you should do your restorations, especially, no, Essentially the safety aspects- the fuse and AC rated capacitor. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you Paul! Like always, I learned a lot.

Please realign the set. 65 years ago, when I was working on radios like this, I would tweak the screws to get maximum sound out without knowing what the the right way was. I learn a lot by watching you do it while explaining the reason for the adjustment. Many thanks.

very interesting mr carlson thank you

I'd like to see what it takes to get the dial to track again. Please continue.

Hey Mr Carlson would that be a Double-Double you’re sipping? 🇨🇦

Stromberg Carlson. Any relation?

I think I'm going to take to calling it breakelite now.

As I have the same radio .it's a no brainer Mr C lol Regards from over the pond

Is that Morse code on the dial face? Or just some decorative thing? Nice to see someone out there do a reasonable, if not perfect, job. I vote the set gets the Carlson treatment. Goodness knows you've worked on much worse, so this should be easy, right? 😁👍 (Insert "What could possibly go wrong?" meme here.)

Mr. Carlson, Years ago I learned resistor color code mnemonic that starts “black zero the midnight hour…brown penny one among many…red cherries grow in pairs….?….yellow dog has four legs….” Have you (or anyone) heard of this? I’ve forgotten a few but would like to relearn as it keeps me from counting on my fingers. Thanks from a huge fan!

Yes, Paul...Please tweak and peak this fine old Stromberg Carlson radio receiver. Regards!

Why the Americans didn't use two-pole line switches on these things?

Restore!!!! I am an artist an architectural artist, I am fascinated not only by the inner workings of electronics but I appreciate your wealth of your knowledge in this area. It all sounds like Gobley goop to me LOL But I find it very interesting and intriguing….Listening to your program I think I know about 1% and I’m being generous of what you’re saying perhaps the rest of it will sink in but still you keep me entertained I enjoy your show

I always do a full alignment on any radio receiver or transmitter I work on. So long as you don't break tuning slugs (only once) it is pretty non-destructive ;-) Thanks for sharing. So my point is, yes, align it!

Hot damn! After I started watching your videos I started to notice when a tube radio would show up at thrift stores. The second such radio I bought was this model of Stromberg Carlson. I blame you for this. I would love to see this restoration spruced up.

I think a (re) restoration is in order.

Hi. What is the model number of your cool new Fluke meter?

Carlson radio for Mr Carlson.

Gee, I had hoped to see a complete video with any needed work finished, but it wasn't touched. Please finish a radio which seriously needed the Carlson Touch!

Mr. Carlson, I definitely want to see you finish this out. It doesn't feel quite right for that radio to pass through your lab and go back out in the wild in less that "Mr. Carlson's best" condition. :)

With regard to breaking the neutral rather than the live, I noticed this after restoring a number of European sets. They all had it wired this way. I asked around in my local forums and was told that back in the day the view was that running the live so close to the volume control introduced hum in the set so best to keep the live wire away from that pot. Health and safety it seems was not such a big thing back then.

I for one, will never turn down a alignment video from Mr. Carlson...of course! Also, this is for me the fascinating part of your trade, its the one that I have been researching and gearing up for as a hobby. I will never be in your caliber, but I would love to soak up whatever knowledge that is coming from you!

yup,,, I would enjoy watching the re-alignment of the Stromberg Carlson radio,, :-)

PERFECT timing Paul! I recently received an RCA Victor 8-x-541 in very good cosmetic condition. Just this week I went through and came up with my parts list and ordered my first round of them. I did not power it up as I found a completely dead B+ supply cap and a bad Detector/AF/AVC tube. As always, you gave me a few things to consider! Looking forward to your sharing more on the Stromberg Carlson and other vintage gear.

yes, I vote for the alignment

I found a 1943 GE table top radio model 740 in a dumpster but it looks like a restoration is possible. Anything you want to make a video of?

18:11 The X/Y rated caps, like in the hybrid amp repair, you put line to chassis back in, "death cap", while most people remove them during the three prong upgrade. Any place to learn about the pros and cons either leaving them in or taking it out all together, when going from two wire power to grounded/earthed chassis?

hello Mr. Carlson...:) do you have a repair video for the: Tenma 72-6628 0-30vdc 3amp power supply? we have a couple that quit working, nice when they did work. thanks a lot... 😊

Hello Paul. Didn't you restore an almost identical radio fairly recently? The thumbnail had me thinking RU-vid was recommending one of your previous videos. Also, the previous technician used X2 capacitors for coupling, but a standard poly cap for the line capacitor?! Isn't that back-to-front?

It could certainly use your magic touch! I wish I lived closer to you, I'd be one of your best customers!

Please do the alignment. One of the things I like is the details you explain in a easy simple way for people to understand. Great work.

I never get tired of complete alignment! this radio has a few interesting issues to get resolved but none of them are as interesting as the alignment tracking--always a cool project. Thanks in advance...

I'm not sure If I'm just seeing a false shadow (if it is, ignore this comment) in the video (22:16), but I notice you point to a conductor calling it the "neutral" (identified conductor). It may very well be connected that way (if the plug end is also flipped), but according to the Canadian Electrical Code, that is your "line" (ungrounded conductor). CEC, identified conductor: "a raised longitudinal ridge(s) on the surface of the extruded covering on certain flexible cords, either of which indicates that the conductor is a grounded conductor or a neutral" Hope this finds you well! Love your videos!

What part of Canada are you based out of Mr. Carlson? I'm asking because where I live in Elkhart, Indiana USA I can pick up several stations from Ontario and Quebec Canada in the evening and late at night. One of them is an oldies station out of Toronto at 740 AM and a couple of French speaking stations out of Quebec.

I remember when i was a boy if you walked into a Salvation Army resale store you would found lots of old Table Top Tube Radios. I think the old tube radios seem to have a richer more mellow sound compared to the new transistor models.

What is the value/inductance of the inductor you placed near the radio's oval loop antenna?

It’s fun to see any restoration videos he makes because you get all the details and always well explained in the process. Irregardless of whether you get it or are just curious, you will learn something. That’s a win win!

Question! Would a 1D8GT still pull current if the anode voltage was 22 volts? The data sheet for it says 45 volts minimum for the pentode and triode sections but I have heard from many people that there were tubes which went as low as 20 volts. Is 1D8GT one of them?🤔

9:54 not much to those contents, considering that huuuuge case they were in! btw, all of this, including all the talk about 'the' neutral line that only can be supposed to be neutral, and only if, etc, again reminds about the total ridiculousness of all things electricity in America. I am enticed - but it is just a thing of the moment - to start thinking these things were instated by REPUBLICANS. Go figure: dumb, unprofessional, hardheaded, absolutely refusing to even get informed about much better standards that already exist, are known, and are implemented already on a much broader scale worldwide.

Those radios came in two basic versions, 5-tube versions for strong-signal areas like near cities, and 6-tube versions with an added untuned RF amplifier stage for out in the boonies. Even more deluxe, and even scarcer, they might add a second tuned RF variable cap and inductor for higher gain and selectivity. You can tell these apart as they not only have 6 tubes but also a third variable capacitor stage. This one has the extra RF amp tube but it isn't a tuned stage, so not a lot of gain or selectivity there. The old resistors are often 30% or more high in value. That's not so crucial for those many megohm ones in the AVC circuit, the design tolerates high values there very well, as there is very low currents through those. Plus they're in a negative-feedback loop, so that compensates for resistor drift too. I usually leave those in unless they're like over 150% of marked value. If you move the switch to the hot side, that's fine, but it will increase the background hum level as the volume pot is then just an inch or so away from the hot AC line. Also I think after new rules around circa 1940 banned having a directly hot chassis, yours looks like it's from the 1950's, so it has a nominally floating chassis, grounded to the AC line with a small capacitor for RF grounding. You should note that it's important to not accidentally ground the chassis while changing capacitors.

I think that's good enough. Nice job.

I wish you would film fixing/restoring amateur equipment.

I recently had one of these to work on. The customer didn't bring the cabinet --- man, what an UGLY thing! The speaker was falling apart and the voice coil was open (not my problem to solve), but a few new capacitors did a lot of good.

Gotta love the Robertson fasteners.

Love those knobs..have em on a Canadian 39 Philco Bakelite unit I am restoring. ANY tips on a safe stripper ?

Great one Paul. I love this tech videos. You are great. I was hoping for a complete episode....maybe the next one 😊. Thanks and peace 🌈

Yep, it definitely needs a tweak or two. Also, there's a lot of noise even on strong stations using your antenna - that's not something I've noticed with any of your own repairs.

Mr Carlson, what do you mean by "absolete value" fuse? Restore the radio.

Dear Mr. Carlson. Would you be interested in restoring a Yamaha MX-1000U amplifier?

This makes me want to send you my 70s Technics audio receiver that I bought that was restored. It came with a rather large bag of old caps and I saw the new ones inside. But who knows if they did it right. Seems to work great!!! But seeing your videos I doubt any of this was done besides recapping lol

No need to fully restore again, just touch it up a bit and align it. Swap the X-capacitor (for a new one or with one of those already present if of the right value), place some tabs for the electrolytics, add a fuse. On the other hand, I would have probably restuffed the electrolytics and not used bright yellow caps but that's not really necessary.

Please refresh my memory on the dots vs dashes on this old radio dial scale. Are the dots: Alignment points? Certain old emergency radio frequencies? Thanx.

Yes Paul, please do your magic on it. That's a great radio.

I love all of your restorations, but I feel like the real interest in this one particular radio, is the fact that it was designed with the help of a friend, and your Grandfather I.E., Carlson. HiHi

Alignement Video 👍👍👍👍

Mr Carlson, have you considered replacing the mains switch with a double pole switch?

Yes, by all means, please let us enjoy a further restore and fully align this little jewel.

heck yes

Too long and slow for my taste, haven't watched any videos till the end yet, bye