How NOT to Restore a Vintage Radio

[n2ize]

This article is titled , "How to breath New Life into a 1950's AM/FM radio". It should really be titled "How to DESTROY a 1950's AM/FM Radio".

http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Breathe_New_Life_Into_a_1950s_AM/FM_Radio (http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Breathe_New_Life_Into_a_1950s_AM/FM_Radio)

[K7SGJ]

What a waste of time. Probably would have been a lot quicker to fix the tube set, and cheaper, too, with a little creative parts scrounging.

[NQ6U]

Well, it's from Wired. They're desperately trying to remain relevant by chasing after the "maker" movement that's been growing among a segment of younger folks over the past few years. Unfortunately for them, they have no one on staff who really understands it. I was given a recent issue of the magazine; it had "How To Make Stuff" splashed across the cover in large letters but when I turned to that section, it concentrated on stuff like rapid prototyping machines that cost thousands of dollars rather than on realistic techniques for actually making anything.

[W3WN]

That article wasn't about "restoring" a clasic radio. It was about disembowling it and making the case a front for a cheap Radio Shack radio.

That's not restoration. That's raping and pillaging.

(And it's not even the #6 Dance!)

[N8YX]

That article wasn't about "restoring" a clasic radio. It was about disembowling it and making the case a front for a cheap Radio Shack radio.That's not restoration. That's raping and pillaging.(And it's not even the #6 Dance!)But I'll bet they whopped and whooped on that radio purty good!

[w2amr]

What a waste of time. Probably would have been a lot quicker to fix the tube set, and cheaper, too, with a little creative parts scrounging.And it would sound a lot better. What a Rube Goldbergish piece of crap.

[kb2vxa]

Not surprising considering who wrote the article.

[n2ize]

Not surprising considering who wrote the article.

Oblivion ???

[N6YG]

This article is titled , "How to breath New Life into a 1950's AM/FM radio". It should really be titled "How to DESTROY a 1950's AM/FM Radio".

http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Breathe_New_Life_Into_a_1950s_AM/FM_Radio (http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Breathe_New_Life_Into_a_1950s_AM/FM_Radio)

Damn what a shame! Anyone who would subject a piece of vintage gear to a hack job like that should be keelhauled..

[W1GUH]

The trouble with restoring a vintage AM/FM radio, and, for that matter short wave receiver, is that no matter how good a job you do, it's NEVER going to sould like it did back in the day. Unless you're fortunate enough to pick up an LDE of, say, Jean Sheapard or Chuck Greer or Imus when he was funny.

[KE6LYU]

Damn what a shame! Anyone who would subject a piece of vintage gear to a hack job like that should be keelhauled..
Agreed,
It is a waste, unless it is damaged in some mechanical way, at the most it required replacing the old dried out caps and a fresh set of tube`s and a good cleaning...less work that what he posted.
Lets re-invent the radio and make it sound like $3 worth of Chinese plastic.

73
KE6LYU

[W3WN]

Now it's one thing if someone had come across a radio case/cabinet that had already been disembowled. I could understand a situation like that using a "modern" radio behind the faceplate.

But to butcher an existing chassis like that? Rape and pillage.

[n2ize]

Damn what a shame! Anyone who would subject a piece of vintage gear to a hack job like that should be keelhauled..

You said it. One of the whole objects of "breathing new life" into an old radio is to get that old circuitry working again. The whole idea is the warm glow of the tubes and that rich mellow tube sound. As Phil Rizzuto would have said... "the guy who wrote that article is a HUCKLEBERRY !!".

[NQ6U]

You said it. One of the whole objects of "breathing new life" into an old radio is to get that old circuitry working again. The whole idea is the warm glow of the tubes and that rich mellow tube sound. As Phil Rizzuto would have said... "the guy who wrote that article is a HUCKLEBERRY !!".

John, after a week of just cruising the ham bands with my newly-resurrected Drake R-4A, I have to join you in singing the praises of tube receivers. The Drake is far more pleasant to listen to than my Icom rig.

[n2ize]

John, after a week of just cruising the ham bands with my newly-resurrected Drake R-4A, I have to join you in singing the praises of tube receivers. The Drake is far more pleasant to listen to than my Icom rig.

You are a future AM'er. How is the AM scene on the west coast ? When I was first licensed back in the mid 80's the bands were chock wide open and I was regularly working cross country AM on 10 meters. Round 29.00 mc or slightly above. Worked lots of "6" stations on AM in those days.

[WØTKX]

The Synchronous AM (SAM) mode on my Flex3000 is the bomb for listening to AM.

Zero beat first in DSB mode, and kick it in.

Excellent QSB fix... weak stations do a little better as well.

[W1GUH]

The Synchronous AM (SAM) mode on my Flex3000 is the bomb for listening to AM.

Zero beat first in DSB mode, and kick it in.

Excellent QSB fix... weak stations do a little better as well.

Ditto for the Sony 2010

[W1GUH]

John, after a week of just cruising the ham bands with my newly-resurrected Drake R-4A, I have to join you in singing the praises of tube receivers. The Drake is far more pleasant to listen to than my Icom rig.

I say the same thing about both my TR-3 and my TR-7, expecially the TR-7. Don't think it's so much hollow vs solid state -- the TR-7 has an analog PTO with no phase noise. That's my subjective call, anyway.

AND (wonder if this can be done in the R-4?) the TR-7 has a ver easy mod (one common resistor) to have NO filter. Makes the TR-7 a WONDERFUL SWL receiver. The AM is superb! So is the SSB, as a matter of fact.

[KE6LYU]

You are a future AM'er. How is the AM scene on the west coast ? When I was first licensed back in the mid 80's the bands were chock wide open and I was regularly working cross country AM on 10 meters. Round 29.00 mc or slightly above. Worked lots of "6" stations on AM in those days.
I operate mobile often, yesterday I spent some time rolling through that AM sub band on Ten and it was silent.....I am hoping that as the cycle swings up, this will improve.
I love 10 meters, it is a great big band full of lots of room and is a ton of fun when the band is open.

73
Jeff

[N8YX]

I operate mobile often, yesterday I spent some time rolling through that AM sub band on Ten and it was silent.....I am hoping that as the cycle swings up, this will improve.
I love 10 meters, it is a great big band full of lots of room and is a ton of fun when the band is open.

73
Jeff
29.000 or 29.100 - where's everyone hanging out these days?

[AA4HA]

The Wired article made me taste vomit.I

Thanks, I needed a refresher on why I stopped reading Wired several years ago.

Tisha Hayes, AA4HA

[NQ6U]

The Wired article made me taste vomit.I

Thanks, I needed a refresher on why I stopped reading Wired several years ago.

Tisha Hayes, AA4HA

I was a charter Wired subscriber and still have a copy of the first issue but I gave up on reading it about the time the magazine was sold to Condé Nast. It had gone from cutting edge to merely silly even before the sale.

[KE6LYU]

If there is anyone, we used to dial up around 29.100.......but you know how the old radio`s drift like a sailboat in the wind......
Most modern rigs suck on AM, Give me My FT 101 to rock 10 AM.

73
KE6LYU

[KK4AMI]

I almost succumbed to modern electronics in rebuilding the old AM radio in my 49 Chevy Pick up. But noooo... I replaced all the tubes and even found an NOS 6 volt vibrator! Truck is not coming around very fast, but I play the radio in the garage with a motorcycle battery charger.

[N8YX]

If there is anyone, we used to dial up around 29.100.......but you know how the old radio`s drift like a sailboat in the wind......
Most modern rigs suck on AM, Give me My FT 101 to rock 10 AM.

73
KE6LYU
Had an FL-101/FR-101D combo which I described a few years back on WWDX. Also had an FT-201/FR-101S combo. Sold them all to an IN ham who worked for GE in Cincy; I believe he went SK in the last year or so.

My IC-751As will do a creditable job on AM TX. I'm going to mod my TS-940s over the winter for low-level AM at the pre-driver stage instead of that exalted-carrier carp which Kenwood tried to pass off...

[W3WN]

There used to be a group of local OT's who met several times a week on 10 meter AM.

After midnight.

They were called The Ghosts.

I think I was one of, if not the last, to get a certificate for ragchewing with them for at least 10 minutes.

Would love to work them all, one more time again... back when I had an HT-37 and an SB-301...

[w2amr]

If there is anyone, we used to dial up around 29.100.......but you know how the old radio`s drift like a sailboat in the wind......
Most modern rigs suck on AM, Give me My FT 101 to rock 10 AM.

73
KE6LYU
Once you replace the old drifty components in the VFO, most old transmitters pretty much stay put after warm up.

[w2amr]

I almost succumbed to modern electronics in rebuilding the old AM radio in my 49 Chevy Pick up. But noooo... I replaced all the tubes and even found an NOS 6 volt vibrator! Truck is not coming around very fast, but I play the radio in the garage with a motorcycle battery charger.
Hello, now you have my interest. A 49 Chevy pick up? Are you going to leave it stock? Any pictures?

[KK4AMI]

Hello, now you have my interest. A 49 Chevy pick up? Are you going to leave it stock? Any pictures?

I haven't done anything with the body yet. Its sitting outside in the original bad bondo and grey primer that its last owner left it in. I am putting a 55' 235 in to replace the babbit bearing 216 and changing the knee action shocks to standard. Other then that it will be original. All I have done so far is fix components (engine, generator, horn, radio, heater, etc)

[w2amr]

I haven't done anything with the body yet. Its sitting outside in the original bad bondo and grey primer that its last owner left it in. I am putting a 55' 235 in to replace the babbit bearing 216 and changing the knee action shocks to standard. Other then that it will be original. All I have done so far is fix components (engine, generator, horn, radio, heater, etc)Sounds like a fun project. I remember those old Chevy PU's were a bear to steer . BTW, I believe all US made car and truck gas engines had/have babbit bearings. bi metal, or tri metal, poured old, or inserts newer.

[n2ize]

If there is anyone, we used to dial up around 29.100.......but you know how the old radio`s drift like a sailboat in the wind......
Most modern rigs suck on AM, Give me My FT 101 to rock 10 AM.

73
KE6LYU

Actually I've heard some modern rigs that sound pretty darned good on AM stock...with no mods. Every now and then I'll hear someone fire up a newie on 75 or 40 m and provided they don;t punch it too hard they sound pretty clean with some nice range (fidelity). The old plate modulated rigs (boatanchors) that many of us still use tended to sound very restricted and scratchy until you got into the rig and started doing some mods to the audio section. The FT101 is quite good on AM. With a few relatively basic mods it can really provide some nice sounding audio with a pretty flat response from DC to the upper end of what the human ear can hear. Much cleaner on the scope than my old Viking 2. Even with extensive mods the Viking tends to saturate somewhere in the midrange making it sound muddled. I always had to run it with a EQ with the midrange backed way down to compensate for that midrange spike and keep it sounding clean.

[n2ize]

Once you replace the old drifty components in the VFO, most old transmitters pretty much stay put after warm up.

yeah, on the model 122 VFO it was a matter of getting that big power resistor out from the bottom of the chassis and moving it upstairs. Once I did that it was pretty solid. When I would watch my freq counter the thing showed barely any drift.

[W3WN]

I haven't done anything with the body yet. Its sitting outside in the original bad bondo and grey primer that its last owner left it in. I am putting a 55' 235 in to replace the babbit bearing 216 and changing the knee action shocks to standard. Other then that it will be original. All I have done so far is fix components (engine, generator, horn, radio, heater, etc)Sounds like you're going to have fun.

My friend Steve W3SRL did a project like that a few years ago. Got his hands on 48 Willys Jeep and basically rebuilt it from the ground up over about 8 years or so. http://www.earlycj5.com/technical/brakes/early-cj-disk-brake-swap/

I have pictures of it around somewhere from when he was done, and he has some posted (http://barflyracers.com/showpost.php?p=10325&postcount=1) online (http://rides.webshots.com/album/324163205iqBdlZ) as well.

Ironically, he mentioned at a hamfest a few weeks back that he's going to sell it for a variety of reasons, and start anew on another Jeep (tho of more recent vintage)