Forgotten treasure

RE: Forgotten treasure

neilk — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 16:07:48 GMT

Hi Fabio - great post! I hope you can restore it to it's former glory. [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-7f221e47-f242-40a9-be7a-649d23d57b7e/contentimage_5F00_1.png:16:16]

The view of the chassis with the row of valves reminds me of the one I repurposed back in the mid 60s, with no respect whatsoever for it as a future collectors item!

The RF side had died and RF was not and never has been my thing! My parents bought a new one and I was allowed to do somenthing with the old one

I poked around underneath the chassis, until I identified the start of the audio section and then literally hacksawed the chassis in 2 to make the bit I wanted smaller. I then hooked up an old turntable that had I scavenged from a jumble sale record player and hey presto I had my own record player. Sadly, I didn't have any records of my own at that time, but I was able to borrow one from a friend! I think it was an "Animals" LP.

Neil

RE: Forgotten treasure

jw0752 — Thu, 21 Feb 2019 21:59:13 GMT

Hi Fabio,

Thanks for this great post and my own memories that it triggers. Like you my Grandmother had a radio that played Polka music every morning as she worked to make breakfast for the men returning from their early morning farm chores. Being young I got to sleep in and by the time I wandered into the kitchen the air was loaded with the smell of bacon, eggs, and perhaps fresh baked bread. The polka music as always happy and has left me with thoughts of Grandma when I hear it now. I still have the radio but I have not turned it on in perhaps 10 years. You inspired me to give it a try so here is a short video of Grandma's 1950s vintage Radio.

[View:https://players.brightcove.net/1362235890001/NkxiVJdjx_default/index.html?videoId=6005401968001:740:466]

I found that to get good sound out of this old radio I had to turn the band switch back and forth to clean the contacts. I may go back in tonight and use some de-ox-id contact cleaner for the switch and potentiometers.

Thanks Again for showing us your Grandma's Radio. I hope you can get the Eye working as they were pretty cool to use for tuning a station.

John

RE: Forgotten treasure

shabaz — Thu, 21 Feb 2019 20:40:52 GMT

Hi Fabio,

It was nice to read the history of the radio, and it has been kept safely, the front panel also still looks really great!

Here is the schematic:

[View:/resized-image/__size/620x454/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-7f221e47-f242-40a9-be7a-649d23d57b7e/8510.contentimage_5F00_208129.jpg:620:454]

RE: Forgotten treasure

DAB — Thu, 21 Feb 2019 19:25:42 GMT

Hi Fabio,

Great post.

Try moving the valves (aka tubes) in their sockets. They sometime oxidize, which alters the connections.

From the sound of the audio, I would say you might need to replace some of the power supply capacitors.

I think you can rejuvenate this classic with just a few minor tweeks.

DAB

RE: Forgotten treasure

genebren — Thu, 21 Feb 2019 18:55:46 GMT

Great to have your fond memories intact and faced with the opportunity to do a restoration on a great piece of vintage gear.

Gene

RE: Forgotten treasure

14rhb — Thu, 21 Feb 2019 18:45:58 GMT

Hi Fabio,

A truely fantastic piece of vintage tech and it sounds like you have some great memories of it. Thanks for sharing the photos. Hopefully in time you'll get the components you believe have deteriorated back and working.

Rod