Restoring a vintage radio receiver can be a fun weekend project, but it pays to know what you’re up against. Especially in the case of vacuum tube electronics, deriving gremlins in the circuitry is not always an easy process (also take into account the high voltage present in old vacuum tube equipment). [Mr Carlson] has a knack for getting old radios humming again, and his repair of a 1960s General Electric barn find radio receiver is a thorough masterclass in vintage electronics maintenance.
Seriously, if you have ninety minutes to spare, the video (after the break) is a thorough and unabridged diagnosis and repair of a vintage radio, and an absolute must for anyone wanting to do the same. This barn find radio certainly showed its age, and it wasn’t long before in-circuit testing found an open filament in one of several vacuum tubes, but the radio was still stubbornly silent. Further testing revealed that the IF transformers were not up to specification, requiring maintenance and alignment. After fine-tuning both the IF and RF sections of the radio, it definitely looked (and sounded) better.
Fine tuning the radio’s various components helped live up to the “long range” claims, and by the end of the video it’s nearly impossible to find dead air on this radio’s AM dial. If you’ve never had to make fine adjustments to a receiver, especially this vintage, this video has all the details you need. With the plate naked, [Mr Carlson] also took care of some preventative maintenance, including replacing the original filter capacitor with newer components, as well as replacing the mains protection capacitor with an even safer modern alternative.
We can’t get enough of these restorations, so be sure to check out our detailed description of how to restore a WWII aircraft radio.
This post Busted vacuum tube radio from the 60s sings again
was original published at “https://hackaday.com/2022/04/02/busted-1960s-vacuum-tube-radio-sings-again/”