This radio is well worth saving. Really, just about any OEM car radio from the 50s or 60s is worth saving. They were made by the millions, but they went to the junkyard in their millions as well.
@@AiOinc1 No they don't. There are very few of these radios left. I've been going to thrift stores looking for this kind of stuff for over 20 years. You almost never find tube car radios in thrift stores even back in the 90s.
@@1marcelfilms A couple years ago, I bought an 85 motorhome with the original Ford factory AM/FM/tape deck. I pulled it out of course since the tape deck needs belts and I put in something modern, but I tossed it in a box and kept it. It's built like a brick. It had a huge metal bracket to support it in the dash.
I have the radio out of a 1955 ford my father bought new. I have been trying to get it to work with no luck. I have a tube tester and all the tubes are good. Haven't been able to find the problem yet. Your video has come at the right time. Thanks. Hoping to communicate with him from the other side. Lol. He left this world in 1998.
There's an old Hillbilly trick for a 6V tap from a 12V car battery. Run a wood screw thru the top center of the battery 'till you make contact with the lead strap connecting the 6 and 8 volt cells.
Mr. Carlson specifically called out your channel so I checked it out. Watched about half of this video (your latest) and subscribed right away. I don't know Jack about electronics, the barest minimum. But I love and admire guys who know every in and out of them. Love to watch channels (electronics or watch repairers, or general restore channels or ANYONE) who really knows their sh!t and does the best job they can. I'll watch a LOT more of your videos shango!
You said you read all the comments. So... Thank you! I appreciate that you are genuine, share your hobby with us, and provide countless hours of education and entertainment to complete strangers. People today are generally entitled and intolerant. Nice to hear a thank you every once in a while... So thanks!
My God! Takes me back to my youth. Non sync vibrators were used with rectifiers. Eg 6x4, 6x5 etc. Synchronous vibrators switched the secondary of the transformer therefore no rectifier needed! thank you for the great memories of the sixties! Keep up the great work. Roger.
Yes indeedy! And don't forget the cold-cathode 0Z4 rectifier tube, the most frequent failure point back in the day). Tube rectification would work using either pos. or neg. ground, Whereas synchronous had to have correct ground polarity or the B+ would be reversed(!) You could change ground polarity by simply swapping the transformer's secondary leads (leaving the center tap as is). I did this when putting a 47 Buick radio in a (pos.ground) 37 Plymouth. Just for curiosiry, I ran a 49 Merc radio (non-sync vibe) on 6V AC. The radio worked, but there was a helluva beat between the vibe and the AC input.
Was sent your way by Mr. Carlson's most recent video and had to subscribe right away. You've really got a great channel here and I'm looking forward to seeing more. Cheers!
My earliest memories are of hearing the AM car radio in my parents AMC Javelin. The tuning knob would no longer operate by this time so the radio was stuck on one station, WLS AM 890 (known as the Big 89 at the time, mid 70's)!
I hardly see old radios from vintage cars being repaired. So this is an actual treat to see. There are a lot of vintage car guys out there but they almost always farm out the electronics repair ( of the radio) or replace it with a new "old look" radio that has hidden inside a CD player of all things. Ebay has tons of Howard Sams car radio books out there but no one ever wants to buy them from some reason.🤔
The cap across the rectifier plates is very important--when faulty will cause vibrator contact burn like you have. Vibrator can be replaced with two 2N3055 and 220 ohm resistors wired up as multivibrator scheme... I repaired a 12V tube/valve fomoco set years ago like that BTW--Love the off-topic commentaries and rants, Keep 'em up!
I don’t comment much because I watch RUclips mainly on my TV. But I enjoy all the videos you do Shango. The Love comes from keeping this up even when the world pulls you down. I learn a lot. Most of my knowledge is from here and other greats.
Super neat resurrection. I was fortunate enough to get to repair the radio from a '56 Ford. The owner somehow got my name from someone he met in a car wash - probably a Ham Radio friend. He said it started blowing fuses. So, of course, he put bigger fuses - 3 1/2, 4, 5 amps. Well, it was the HV transformer that had shorted turns and eventually just shorted hard. Fortunately this was the February that Radio Shack folded it's tent, so I'd just come home with some of those excellent 3 amp 12V CT transformers they have. I replaced the HV transformer with one of those - backwards! And it worked a treat, ~320VAC to the rectifier. The rest of the radio was still fairly aligned and working fine, and Shango (peace be unto him) knows - we don't touch what's working great. I added an electronic vibrator I built on a little PCB strip and it worked better than it did before - quieter with no buzz from the vibrator. I ran it for several nights, 4 or 5 hours at a time since I was worried about overheating. The 'new' perverted transformer ran warm but not hot. This radio used a 3A fuse, so I'm guessing (I didn't take any good photos!) it had 9- and 7-pin miniature tubes. With the bass-ackwards transformer & an electronic vibrator, it measured only about 2.3A running current. It was 12V, negative ground, the modern 'standard'. I remember looking at a chart of models of that era and they were all over the map (6V +ground, 6V -ground, 12V -ground, etc) until about '56 and '57 where they all settled in on 12V, negative ground.
Keeping that buffer condenser at proper capacitance and a 1600 volt rating will will help the vibrator operate correctly. I remember the good old days of hitting a bump and the radio dying. Give it a good slap, and you're off and running again. Great video!
Your videos are so incredibly/bizarrely entertaining! Your amazing electrical expertise and patience, dry humor and commentary while resurrecting vintage American electronics to the soundtrack of our precious country going down the drain while incinerating unlucky flies is to me art of the highest caliber. It creates thought processes that cannot be described. It’s an acquired taste and not for everyone. Thank-you so much!
Awesome video! The reason why the vibrator is sparking like that is because the 1000v buffer capacitor is shot. It the same principle as the points and condenser in a car before electronic ignition. That bad tube looks like it has a 1950 date code. I saw 210 which is the EIA code for CBS Hytron. When restored, that will be one kick ass DXer that will blow off your ears!
I enjoy trying to guess along as you go through a project to diagnose it. It's the way I remember stuff being done growing up. Thanks again for the videos. Peace :)
Totally agree with your comments on the comments. We should be able to say what’s on our mind and agree or disagree without it being the end of the world....enough of that. Thanks for the enjoyable way you present your projects. It sure has helped me improve my trouble shooting. Also love your comments. Your honest thoughts and sometimes frustrations always makes it fun and entertaining. Hope to watch you for a long time.....
Very cool video. I played around with a number of old tube car radios in the early mid 60's, they were easy to get a hold of back then. I had a couple of six volt car batteries that I kept on an old "light bulb selenium rectifier" trickle charger on 24/7. One was a Buick Sonomatic had the best reception I had ever heard.
I like your videos because my late grandfathers hobby was working on stuff just like this and as a kid i used to sit in his basement shop area and he would show me what he was working on. teaching me all about radios and tvs and how they worked. in his last few years he could not do his hobby because of his health. but i put on your videos and we would watch them together. the videos made him happy. he would say things like "this guy realy knows his stuff" he was always having me check to see if u had put out a new video. so thank you. my hobby is kinda related. my electronics of choice is vintage computers 80s-90s stuff.
Decades of stopping discussion of politics and religion have made most Americans incapable of having a healthy / rational discussion about politics and religion.
I built a audio amp using parts from an old car radio like this, mine had a 6V6 6AV6 and cold cathode rectifier. I used the vibrator so I could run it off grid at my solar powered little house. Initially my vibrator did not work, so what I did was tickled it with half wave rectified DC from a old battery charger, and that made it work again. It's important to change the interference suppression capacitors that are on the output of the power transformer. And there are in some cases some resistors on the vibrator contacts, they must be checked because they supress the arcs quite a bit I've put quite a lot of hours on my vibrator powered amplifier, and so far the vibrator shows no signs of getting weaker. So I think the problem in your case is the parts around the vibrator Definitely a cool radio, push pull output is quite awesome for something designed for a car! I bet you could rock the neighborhood with that thing :D
Well, since I know you read the comments, I'd like to say, thank you. I've learned so much being able to look over your shoulder and listen to you work through these repairs. So, thank you!
Love your videos! Just FYI, vibrators run at around 110 hz. This allows for a slightly smaller and more efficient transformer as opposed to 60 hz. Also, your radio uses a non-synchronous vibrator and therefore will work on either positive or negative ground.
Shango, depending on the age( year produced) that would be possibly a positive ground unit. 6v,+ gnd. Lincoln went to 12 v, - gnd in 1955. Just a heads up. I have rebuilt a few of them, along with the Philco Mopar 6 volt radios.
This is certainly a good thing to keep in mind as AFAIK most 6v vehicles are positive ground. However (and I looked at the Schematic shango posted) the input power only feeds the filaments and the vibrator, so the radio doesn't care about polarity. If they used the input power as a biasing voltage then yes it would definitely matter.
I like your stance on the comments, most opinions or choices I'm fine with as long as they respect my opinions and choices. For example, the vaccines, I chose to get it, but I also respect anyone who doesn't trust it, and that's all I'm going to say about it. Also, I agree that the bots are very annoying, I fell for it once and felt stupid after Edit: I had no negative side effects after, and also politics had nothing to do about it for me. I'm a conservative, and even trump recommended to get the vaccine, for what it's worth
@@icondonnied Now they are going to make you get it again. And again. They are talking about 3rd one now. There's a Carnival cruise line boat on the water right now with 100% v rate and a major outbreak. If it worked really well, they would be threatening to withhold it, not strap you down and do against your will. How long before if you want your baby to get the full schedule, that you also MUST give the cv one in order to get the polio etc. (trying avoid YT deleting my comment.)
@@tarstarkusz You can lead a horse to water, then hold his head under so he has to drink. Misinformation and mistrust is the problem no matter which side of the fence you are on. The Olympic athletes were vaccinated and tested before they left for Japan, now they are testing positive. Haven't heard how many are symptomatic or hospitalized. Probably same with the cruise ship. You can carry and pass on the virus, if you are vaccinated, that is a fact. I wonder how many vaccinated cards are faked, sure would not be hard to do.
@@tarstarkusz Do you remember the video Shango made at the beginning of the pandemic where he got a scam call about a free cruise? He pretty much predicted the future right there.
Man oh man, you did it again seeing the vibrator running along side the radio is another classic. Way back I used to connect a record player to the audio section of these radios and listen to the high quality push pull amp thru the 6x9 oval speaker. Another great job. Thanks
I used to have a TV repair shop. I like how you get down to business troubleshooting and have some fun too. Maybe if an item is a keeper it could eventually get all its caps changed. But always good to get it basically working first to make sure some unobtainable part is not bad first. No matter what you do there will be someone unhappy. If you change the caps then you used the wrong brand or mounted them wrong or whatever
Reminds me once i had an antique radio so i recapped all the black crap caps and then it still wouldnt play. it turned out to be some tiny coil inside a tin can so it was scrap
@@1marcelfilms your problem is exactly shangos point……. he diagnoses the problem because he knows the systems inside out……. he would have diagnosed your I.F. can failure before spending any time or money on the caps.
I do not make comments at all well one time before today. I am a ham as I am sure you are too. I wanted to say, Thank You Shank for your countless hours of work and dedication to people who want to learn to diagnose and old fashioned learning skills from you. I appreciate all of your videos and the great humorous comments you make. There are lots of skills I do not have as my shop teacher at vo tech school in the 11th grade year in the first semester retired from my shop, radio and television repair. Needless to say my other class he taught, Amateur radio course for beginners, was shot to crap! So I had to have study hall for 2 years of school. Nobody took over his classes. I have been watching and learning from you for years now. Thank you and keep this incredible work of yours up! You rock!
I have some vague memories as a kid of trying to fix an old car radio, couldn't get it to work but I thought the tunning system was pretty cool. Your videos are always entertaining.
I follow a number of old car restoration channels that would love to have their old car radios fixed. Interesting video... Can just smell the bugs frying...
I love watching you work thru your process troubleshooting. Watching a skilled master at work. The knowledge you have just can't be learned in a classroom, only the school of hard knocks. Keep em coming sir.
Real Zenith brand electronics (the older stuff) really performed and lasted a long time. Not like the modern day throw away Crosley stuff. Once you get that radio working it will be a DX magnet away from L.A. area. Love it 😀
Most of the old car radios back in the day had great sound but killed the battery pretty fast if the car wasn't running, also with the old weak generators they had took forever to charge a battery.
I really like your troubleshooting style and dry humor mixed into the videos. The jokes are funny even when I don't agree with them. (Which does not happen very often) I think It is good to laugh, and enjoy humor, even at our own expense.
I very much enjoy watching your videos and learning about electronics troubleshooting. I watched the documentary, Coming from Japan because you mentioned it. It really opened my eyes.
I had a very similar model. It's made by Zenith. I added an aux input and a switcu that would cut the RF tubes to save current. Would play my CD player. With the radio section running, typical for a Zenith radio, it would pull in stations from across the nation. Superb radio.
I remember riding in my dad's '64 Ford F-100. He installed a Realistic AM radio in it, and somehow managed to buy a tube model. It had to warm up before it started working, and it was always tuned to 690 AM (KHEY-the country station), especially at noon when Paul Harvey came on the air.
mostly what goes wrong is the capacitors, first if they look bad test them then change the bad ones, at least that is what i did on my 53 ford and it still sounds beautiful after 30 plus years.
Wow. Reminds me of an old tube CB radio I once had. It was 23 channel AM/ SSB with a vibroplex as that radio. It ran on 12 volts and completely working!!!. Wish I still had that 😢
I grew up with a 51 Chevrolet. 6 volt vibrator type radio. Don't go to your favorite parking spot with your lady love and run the radio or you will be walking home. Ask me how I know. Keep up the great work and commentary.
I'd bet this thing sounds *amazing* with both halves of the push-pull working. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing a full-on restoration of this thing. Like you said, it probably performed *beautifully* back when it was new.
Had a Ford radio in 1968. Someone changed the 6 volt tubes and vibrator to 12 volt. On 12 volts it worked really good. Lots of bass. After 10 minutes of cherry red 6v6 plates resistors would smoke and I would shut it off. Turned out the flathead V-8 truck it was in had burned all its exhaust valves and wouldn't start on 6 volts anymore so they put a 12 volt battery in it. I know because I wound up with the truck!
Back in the day, the Buffer cap was replaced with every vibrator replacement, hands down (at our shop at least). Just found your channel yesterday BTW. Checked in with your CTC-16 project.
I've got a 1950 ford custom with the ivory button version of this radio. 51 has the chrome buttons. With 6 volts positive ground. This video has been very educational for me. Mine stopped working a couple years after I got it. Completely silent but the vibrator is still working.
@9:29 i remember when i was 16 at my old gf's house tapping the inside of a valve cb power amplifier and one of the big capacitors blew up in my face (some of it went in my eye) i ran so fast to wash my eyes out, it stung for hours after, till this very day i have never tapped anything mains related whilst it was plugged in
We used a common fix, we could go down to PEP-BOYS and get Volt a drop. That was resistance wire in coil form mounted on a piece of heavy duty Ceramic . Boy you want to burn your fingers go ahead and touch one while the Radio is on. Make sure the polarity is connected to the radio because in the 40s there was no grounding standard as the auto could have a frame that had a negative or positive per-say. There were cars and semi-Trucks and even tractors with 8 volt and 24 volt systems.
Loved the fly zapper. It reminded me of a time on the chow line at Nellis AFB back in the mid 70s, on the swing shift. There was a big rectangular zapper mounted high on the wall. So I'm waiting to order my cheeseburger, and a nice big fat fly heads on over to the zapper. I wait patiently..."come on, come on, go in there..." and in he goes. Just a fairly loud hum, then it goes to a buzzing. Must have sounded kind of like the electric chair with Ted Bundy wired into it, doing his little dance. Then the fly starts glowing. I mean a bright white light, for at least five seconds, maybe more, while the buzzing got even louder. That fly put on one hell of a good show!
I don't think tube car radios have polarity. I had a 54 Nash that was wired negative ground instead of positive and the Motorola radio worked fine. Even when I converted it back to the original positive. I think the reason is the vibrator creates ac current and it has no polarity. The rectifier determines the polarity when it's running.
But isn't it strange to you that all these conspiracy theories got right? Radio is propaganda you only notice it when you're not addicted to it and watch TV or listen to it..
I had an old Valve car radio years ago that I found at the tip, cant even remember the name of it, but on the underside it had some kind of TO-3 Transistor on the bottom of it as well. I found it funny when later in the video you said "this TV from a transformer", oh by the way we are in lockdown number 5 at the moment or is it 6?
The vibrator was fascinating I've never seen that before and some funky flexing going on that the camera showed perfectly, is there anything across the contacts to snub or suppress stuff ? I wonder what the contacts are made of and if they would have been plated originally....cheers.
Have you noticed that there is another classic rock station out of San Francisco? It is an old station I guess, having never lived in California, I wouldn't know. I am pulling it off my WIFI radio. I would guess that if there isn't another station running over it, you should be able to pull her in, if she has any power at all. It is listed as: 1260 KYA Golden Gate Great Oldies.
A pair of 6V6GT in AB push pull with 250v on the plate and -15 on the grid puts out a healthy 10 watts of audio. You are lucky is uses common octal tubes, the Delco 6 volt radio out of a '49 Pontiac I am working on uses loctal tubes, two 7C5 outputs and 8.5 watts audio output. No signal idle current @ 6v is 7.06 amps, "A" circuit 7 amps, "B" circuit 60 MA
A perfect start to Sunday .... I love a vibrator early in the morning !..... Dan has treated us to an organ this weekend too...... Marvelous , love your channel , I've learnt so much from you ! Your humorous outbursts make me laugh out loud .... Blambooblance. ... Merch I tell ya ! ...I'd buy a t shirt with "Black Beauties Matter " on it for starters !!
I remember Dad putting a radio in his '50 Ford pickup that was out of a '54 Ford car, when he went to replace a tube in it there wasn't a tube chart in it, my uncle gave him another radio like it but turned out one was made by Zenith and the other by Motorola, the one you have was for 49-51 Ford cars and 51-52 Ford trucks,Ford used a similar style radio in the early sixties on full size cars and Falcons up until around 63
I found the original owners manual with schematic and posted five pictures of it in the channels Community tab
You make very good videos,i learn a lot from them, greetings from Spain
Isn't that always how it works out. You find the schematic after you get the radio playing. 🤬🤬🤬☹️
great job getting the radio to work
Vintage Radio bouns
Nice receiver and great job!
This radio is well worth saving. Really, just about any OEM car radio from the 50s or 60s is worth saving. They were made by the millions, but they went to the junkyard in their millions as well.
Is that why they show up at junk stores for $4 a piece in crates of dozens
@@AiOinc1 No they don't. There are very few of these radios left. I've been going to thrift stores looking for this kind of stuff for over 20 years. You almost never find tube car radios in thrift stores even back in the 90s.
@@tarstarkusz The oldest radio i ever seen in the thrift store was a early 80s pioneer one i bought.
@@1marcelfilms A couple years ago, I bought an 85 motorhome with the original Ford factory AM/FM/tape deck. I pulled it out of course since the tape deck needs belts and I put in something modern, but I tossed it in a box and kept it. It's built like a brick. It had a huge metal bracket to support it in the dash.
I like the car radio resurrections, glad to see another on the channel.
I have the radio out of a 1955 ford my father bought new. I have been trying to get it to work with no luck. I have a tube tester and all the tubes are good. Haven't been able to find the problem yet. Your video has come at the right time. Thanks. Hoping to communicate with him from the other side. Lol. He left this world in 1998.
There's an old Hillbilly trick for a 6V tap from a 12V car battery. Run a wood screw thru the top center of the battery 'till you make contact with the lead strap connecting the 6 and 8 volt cells.
So cool !
Who needs a warranty anyway
Mr. Carlson specifically called out your channel so I checked it out. Watched about half of this video (your latest) and subscribed right away. I don't know Jack about electronics, the barest minimum. But I love and admire guys who know every in and out of them. Love to watch channels (electronics or watch repairers, or general restore channels or ANYONE) who really knows their sh!t and does the best job they can. I'll watch a LOT more of your videos shango!
You said you read all the comments. So...
Thank you! I appreciate that you are genuine, share your hobby with us, and provide countless hours of education and entertainment to complete strangers. People today are generally entitled and intolerant. Nice to hear a thank you every once in a while... So thanks!
My God! Takes me back to my youth. Non sync vibrators were used with rectifiers. Eg 6x4, 6x5 etc. Synchronous vibrators switched the secondary of the transformer therefore no rectifier needed! thank you for the great memories of the sixties! Keep up the great work. Roger.
Yes indeedy! And don't forget the cold-cathode 0Z4 rectifier tube, the most frequent failure point back in the day). Tube rectification would work using either pos. or neg. ground, Whereas synchronous had to have correct ground polarity or the B+ would be reversed(!) You could change ground polarity by simply swapping the transformer's secondary leads (leaving the center tap as is). I did this when putting a 47 Buick radio in a (pos.ground) 37 Plymouth. Just for curiosiry, I ran a 49 Merc radio (non-sync vibe) on 6V AC. The radio worked, but there was a helluva beat between the vibe and the AC input.
Was sent your way by Mr. Carlson's most recent video and had to subscribe right away. You've really got a great channel here and I'm looking forward to seeing more. Cheers!
We should have a drinking game for every time the word vibrator is mentioned. lol
"I love my vibrator!" Geez, Shango, that can so be taken out of context.
A clean vibrator is a happy vibrator.
My earliest memories are of hearing the AM car radio in my parents AMC Javelin. The tuning knob would no longer operate by this time so the radio was stuck on one station, WLS AM 890 (known as the Big 89 at the time, mid 70's)!
Listened regularly, now just talk
That old radio is quite a work of physics with the combined mechanical and electrical oscillations!!!
That u-joint is called a "rag joint." Larger versions were also part of steering columns too.
lol i knew i recognized that name, so 'U' not in radio? Really clever, thanks.
yup i have an old cub cadet that uses rag joints on the driveshaft.
I hardly see old radios from vintage cars being repaired. So this is an actual treat to see.
There are a lot of vintage car guys out there but they almost always farm out the electronics
repair ( of the radio) or replace it with a new "old look" radio that has hidden inside a
CD player of all things. Ebay has tons of Howard Sams car radio books out there but no one
ever wants to buy them from some reason.🤔
I’m learning about my 65 radio. I m gonna fix it, I think that’s nuts, but original stuff is so interesting!!
The cap across the rectifier plates is very important--when faulty will cause vibrator contact burn like you have.
Vibrator can be replaced with two 2N3055 and 220 ohm resistors wired up as multivibrator scheme...
I repaired a 12V tube/valve fomoco set years ago like that
BTW--Love the off-topic commentaries and rants, Keep 'em up!
I don’t comment much because I watch RUclips mainly on my TV. But I enjoy all the videos you do Shango. The Love comes from keeping this up even when the world pulls you down. I learn a lot. Most of my knowledge is from here and other greats.
Super neat resurrection.
I was fortunate enough to get to repair the radio from a '56 Ford. The owner somehow got my name from someone he met in a car wash - probably a Ham Radio friend.
He said it started blowing fuses. So, of course, he put bigger fuses - 3 1/2, 4, 5 amps. Well, it was the HV transformer that had shorted turns and eventually just shorted hard.
Fortunately this was the February that Radio Shack folded it's tent, so I'd just come home with some of those excellent 3 amp 12V CT transformers they have. I replaced the HV transformer with one of those - backwards! And it worked a treat, ~320VAC to the rectifier.
The rest of the radio was still fairly aligned and working fine, and Shango (peace be unto him) knows - we don't touch what's working great.
I added an electronic vibrator I built on a little PCB strip and it worked better than it did before - quieter with no buzz from the vibrator. I ran it for several nights, 4 or 5 hours at a time since I was worried about overheating. The 'new' perverted transformer ran warm but not hot. This radio used a 3A fuse, so I'm guessing (I didn't take any good photos!) it had 9- and 7-pin miniature tubes. With the bass-ackwards transformer & an electronic vibrator, it measured only about 2.3A running current.
It was 12V, negative ground, the modern 'standard'.
I remember looking at a chart of models of that era and they were all over the map (6V +ground, 6V -ground, 12V -ground, etc) until about '56 and '57 where they all settled in on 12V, negative ground.
31:00 "I'm using this TV out of a Transformer" I'm not sure why but I got a good laugh out of that.
At least you will have a working radio after the EMP hits.
It would be useless as the EMP would have knocked all the stations off the air.
@@dougbrowning82 hey look up! Or you’ll miss the sarcasm flying by!!
Keeping that buffer condenser at proper capacitance and a 1600 volt rating will will help the vibrator operate correctly. I remember the good old days of hitting a bump and the radio dying. Give it a good slap, and you're off and running again. Great video!
Your videos are so incredibly/bizarrely entertaining! Your amazing electrical expertise and patience, dry humor and commentary while resurrecting vintage American electronics to the soundtrack of our precious country going down the drain while incinerating unlucky flies is to me art of the highest caliber. It creates thought processes that cannot be described. It’s an acquired taste and not for everyone. Thank-you so much!
Love to see Shango066 make a solid state version of a Vibrator.
Awesome video! The reason why the vibrator is sparking like that is because the 1000v buffer capacitor is shot. It the same principle as the points and condenser in a car before electronic ignition. That bad tube looks like it has a 1950 date code. I saw 210 which is the EIA code for CBS Hytron. When restored, that will be one kick ass DXer that will blow off your ears!
I enjoy trying to guess along as you go through a project to diagnose it. It's the way I remember stuff being done growing up. Thanks again for the videos. Peace :)
Great to see an old car radio getting some love, really fond of these things
I am learning a lot here. You are a great teacher Shango. Thanks!
Totally agree with your comments on the comments. We should be able to say what’s on our mind and agree or disagree without it being the end of the world....enough of that. Thanks for the enjoyable way you present your projects. It sure has helped me improve my trouble shooting. Also love your comments. Your honest thoughts and sometimes frustrations always makes it fun and entertaining. Hope to watch you for a long time.....
Very cool video. I played around with a number of old tube car radios in the early mid 60's, they were easy to get a hold of back then. I had a couple of six volt car batteries that I kept on an old "light bulb selenium rectifier" trickle charger on 24/7.
One was a Buick Sonomatic had the best reception I had ever heard.
"All you need for KNX is a detector diode." LOL In my part of town KRLA almost plays out of my toaster. :D
Good chance KNX was listen to on this radio when the vehicle was new. Think about that....
Ahahahah here in Rome , radio Maria repeaters Will Cook toast for you out from Thin air
😅😅😅😅
@@shango066 I came across a picture of the knx station with it was much newer. Had 50s cars parked out in front.
KNX is playing 24/7 in my fillings.
Wish I could get some peace....
I like your videos because my late grandfathers hobby was working on stuff just like this and as a kid i used to sit in his basement shop area and he would show me what he was working on. teaching me all about radios and tvs and how they worked. in his last few years he could not do his hobby because of his health. but i put on your videos and we would watch them together. the videos made him happy. he would say things like "this guy realy knows his stuff" he was always having me check to see if u had put out a new video. so thank you. my hobby is kinda related. my electronics of choice is vintage computers 80s-90s stuff.
Decades of stopping discussion of politics and religion have made most Americans incapable of having a healthy / rational discussion about politics and religion.
I built a audio amp using parts from an old car radio like this, mine had a 6V6 6AV6 and cold cathode rectifier. I used the vibrator so I could run it off grid at my solar powered little house. Initially my vibrator did not work, so what I did was tickled it with half wave rectified DC from a old battery charger, and that made it work again. It's important to change the interference suppression capacitors that are on the output of the power transformer. And there are in some cases some resistors on the vibrator contacts, they must be checked because they supress the arcs quite a bit
I've put quite a lot of hours on my vibrator powered amplifier, and so far the vibrator shows no signs of getting weaker. So I think the problem in your case is the parts around the vibrator
Definitely a cool radio, push pull output is quite awesome for something designed for a car! I bet you could rock the neighborhood with that thing :D
Well, since I know you read the comments, I'd like to say, thank you. I've learned so much being able to look over your shoulder and listen to you work through these repairs. So, thank you!
Love your videos! Just FYI, vibrators run at around 110 hz. This allows for a slightly smaller and more efficient transformer as opposed to 60 hz. Also, your radio uses a non-synchronous vibrator and therefore will work on either positive or negative ground.
ah good to know. yea it sounds a bit faster than 60 but i didnt think much of it. No wonder it didnt like 60hz being fed into it
Shango, depending on the age( year produced) that would be possibly a positive ground unit. 6v,+ gnd. Lincoln went to 12 v, - gnd in 1955. Just a heads up. I have rebuilt a few of them, along with the Philco Mopar 6 volt radios.
This is certainly a good thing to keep in mind as AFAIK most 6v vehicles are positive ground. However (and I looked at the Schematic shango posted) the input power only feeds the filaments and the vibrator, so the radio doesn't care about polarity. If they used the input power as a biasing voltage then yes it would definitely matter.
I like your stance on the comments, most opinions or choices I'm fine with as long as they respect my opinions and choices. For example, the vaccines, I chose to get it, but I also respect anyone who doesn't trust it, and that's all I'm going to say about it. Also, I agree that the bots are very annoying, I fell for it once and felt stupid after
Edit: I had no negative side effects after, and also politics had nothing to do about it for me. I'm a conservative, and even trump recommended to get the vaccine, for what it's worth
I got bullied into getting it. I kinda regret it. Haven't felt right since...
@@icondonnied I'm sorry to hear that. Again, I wasn't pressured in any way, I just decided it was worth it for me
@@icondonnied Now they are going to make you get it again. And again. They are talking about 3rd one now.
There's a Carnival cruise line boat on the water right now with 100% v rate and a major outbreak.
If it worked really well, they would be threatening to withhold it, not strap you down and do against your will. How long before if you want your baby to get the full schedule, that you also MUST give the cv one in order to get the polio etc. (trying avoid YT deleting my comment.)
@@tarstarkusz You can lead a horse to water, then hold his head under so he has to drink. Misinformation and mistrust is the problem no matter which side of the fence you are on. The Olympic athletes were vaccinated and tested before they left for Japan, now they are testing positive. Haven't heard how many are symptomatic or hospitalized. Probably same with the cruise ship. You can carry and pass on the virus, if you are vaccinated, that is a fact. I wonder how many vaccinated cards are faked, sure would not be hard to do.
@@tarstarkusz Do you remember the video Shango made at the beginning of the pandemic where he got a scam call about a free cruise? He pretty much predicted the future right there.
I subscribed because of your comments. The older I get, the more I want to work on even older stuff. Great video.
Man oh man, you did it again seeing the vibrator running along side the radio is another classic. Way back I used to connect a record player to the audio section of these radios and listen to the high quality push pull amp thru the 6x9 oval speaker. Another great job. Thanks
I used to have a TV repair shop. I like how you get down to business troubleshooting and have some fun too. Maybe if an item is a keeper it could eventually get all its caps changed. But always good to get it basically working first to make sure some unobtainable part is not bad first. No matter what you do there will be someone unhappy. If you change the caps then you used the wrong brand or mounted them wrong or whatever
Reminds me once i had an antique radio so i recapped all the black crap caps and then it still wouldnt play. it turned out to be some tiny coil inside a tin can so it was scrap
@@1marcelfilms your problem is exactly shangos point…….
he diagnoses the problem because he knows the systems inside out…….
he would have diagnosed your I.F. can failure before spending any time or money on the caps.
@@simonmorris3964 I dont have anything to test cans
I do not make comments at all well one time before today. I am a ham as I am sure you are too. I wanted to say, Thank You Shank for your countless hours of work and dedication to people who want to learn to diagnose and old fashioned learning skills from you. I appreciate all of your videos and the great humorous comments you make. There are lots of skills I do not have as my shop teacher at vo tech school in the 11th grade year in the first semester retired from my shop, radio and television repair. Needless to say my other class he taught, Amateur radio course for beginners, was shot to crap! So I had to have study hall for 2 years of school. Nobody took over his classes. I have been watching and learning from you for years now. Thank you and keep this incredible work of yours up! You rock!
Stupid auto correct. I wrote shango and it says shark. Lol
I have some vague memories as a kid of trying to fix an old car radio, couldn't get it to work but I thought the tunning system was pretty cool.
Your videos are always entertaining.
Thank you from me as well. We appreciate how you share your expert knowledge and tips to troubleshoot and repair all these vintage electronics.
I follow a number of old car restoration channels that would love to have their old car radios fixed. Interesting video... Can just smell the bugs frying...
I love watching you work thru your process troubleshooting. Watching a skilled master at work. The knowledge you have just can't be learned in a classroom, only the school of hard knocks. Keep em coming sir.
Shango.. Never be afraid to give your opinion...especially when it's the truth.. Thanks for your knowledge, wisdom , humor and your candor.
Real Zenith brand electronics (the older stuff) really performed and lasted a long time. Not like the modern day throw away Crosley stuff. Once you get that radio working it will be a DX magnet away from L.A. area. Love it 😀
I don't know crap about the stuff you fix . I just like your videos . And I have learned much . Thank you.
Thanks Shango. I enjoy your videos and give you credit for putting your hands where I wouldn't dare to put my own.
Most of the old car radios back in the day had great sound but killed the battery pretty fast if the car wasn't running, also with the old weak generators they had took forever to charge a battery.
Keep them coming! You make great videos. I've picked up a lot of tips from all of these.
2 shango videos in a week , is a good thing!
Another great interesting video from Shango. You're definitely one of a kind
Just gotta say, love watching/listening to you, it's like listening to my dad when he worked on radio's in the Corps, thanks for uploading
This brings back old memories. I started out working on car radios back in the 1960s when I was a kid.
I have to say, i love your videos, they teach me a lot of electronics stuff and its interesting
I really like your troubleshooting style and dry humor mixed into the videos. The jokes are funny even when I don't agree with them. (Which does not happen very often) I think It is good to laugh, and enjoy humor, even at our own expense.
Wow, your channel has been recommended on Dr. Carlson's Lab channel.
I very much enjoy watching your videos and learning about electronics troubleshooting. I watched the documentary, Coming from Japan because you mentioned it. It really opened my eyes.
Thank you again for all the wonderful content!
Nunca pensei que existia rádio automotivo valvulado! Imagina o consumo do aparelho! Parabéns pelo seu empenho!
Thanks Shango love the burning bug intermission. Nice resurection diagnosis.
The "meat lovers special" comment caused uncontrollable laughter for me. Great content on this radio repair.
I had a very similar model. It's made by Zenith. I added an aux input and a switcu that would cut the RF tubes to save current. Would play my CD player. With the radio section running, typical for a Zenith radio, it would pull in stations from across the nation. Superb radio.
I can hear Mr Carlson giving you a stern look. It would be neat to see him go through that unit.
Who cares what he thinks?
I remember riding in my dad's '64 Ford F-100. He installed a Realistic AM radio in it, and somehow managed to buy a tube model. It had to warm up before it started working, and it was always tuned to 690 AM (KHEY-the country station), especially at noon when Paul Harvey came on the air.
27:00 "TV Out off a transformer" That gave me a good chuckle
mostly what goes wrong is the capacitors, first if they look bad test them then change the bad ones, at least that is what i did on my 53 ford and it still sounds beautiful after 30 plus years.
Love it! Those old car radios had a lovely tone but ran the battery down pretty fast especially if idling in traffic & a generator vs. alternator.
Wow. Reminds me of an old tube CB radio I once had. It was 23 channel AM/ SSB with a vibroplex as that radio. It ran on 12 volts and completely working!!!. Wish I still had that 😢
Very interesting, push pull unit. Really enjoyed this, thanks.
I will listen to old handmade tube radios for the rest of my natural lifespan. That characteristic sound is just irresistible!
I grew up with a 51 Chevrolet. 6 volt vibrator type radio. Don't go to your favorite parking spot with your lady love and run the radio or you will be walking home. Ask me how I know. Keep up the great work and commentary.
Nice to see an Tube Car Radio Video, Thank you.
I'd bet this thing sounds *amazing* with both halves of the push-pull working. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing a full-on restoration of this thing. Like you said, it probably performed *beautifully* back when it was new.
Had a Ford radio in 1968. Someone changed the 6 volt tubes and vibrator to 12 volt. On 12 volts it worked really good. Lots of bass. After 10 minutes of cherry red 6v6 plates resistors would smoke and I would shut it off. Turned out the flathead V-8 truck it was in had burned all its exhaust valves and wouldn't start on 6 volts anymore so they put a 12 volt battery in it. I know because I wound up with the truck!
Holy shit! That tube layout chart made me laugh. That is a tabletop radio or a guitar amp in a car!
ford and zenith, two great companies
Two 6V6's....that thing should kick butt. I've got a few old car radios that I'm thinking of fixing and putting them in a cabinet for home use.
Back in the day, the Buffer cap was replaced with every vibrator replacement, hands down (at our shop at least). Just found your channel yesterday BTW. Checked in with your CTC-16 project.
Out where you live, if everything got dead quiet I would be expecting an earthquake to hit any second now.
or another riot
I've got a 1950 ford custom with the ivory button version of this radio. 51 has the chrome buttons. With 6 volts positive ground. This video has been very educational for me. Mine stopped working a couple years after I got it. Completely silent but the vibrator is still working.
@9:29 i remember when i was 16 at my old gf's house tapping the inside of a valve cb power amplifier and one of the big capacitors blew up in my face (some of it went in my eye) i ran so fast to wash my eyes out, it stung for hours after,
till this very day i have never tapped anything mains related whilst it was plugged in
I enjoyed the J&J and Pizer action. Also I gotta fix one of these so very helpful. Need to fix my Ambassador's radio.
There’s nothing like the smell of burning flies in the morning.
We used a common fix, we could go down to PEP-BOYS and get Volt a drop. That was resistance wire in coil form mounted on a piece of heavy duty Ceramic . Boy you want to burn your fingers go ahead and touch one while the Radio is on. Make sure the polarity is connected to the radio because in the 40s there was no grounding standard as the auto could have a frame that had a negative or positive per-say. There were cars and semi-Trucks and even tractors with 8 volt and 24 volt systems.
Loved the fly zapper.
It reminded me of a time on the chow line at Nellis AFB back in the mid 70s, on the swing shift. There was a big rectangular zapper mounted high on the wall. So I'm waiting to order my cheeseburger, and a nice big fat fly heads on over to the zapper. I wait patiently..."come on, come on, go in there..." and in he goes. Just a fairly loud hum, then it goes to a buzzing. Must have sounded kind of like the electric chair with Ted Bundy wired into it, doing his little dance. Then the fly starts glowing. I mean a bright white light, for at least five seconds, maybe more, while the buzzing got even louder. That fly put on one hell of a good show!
I don't think tube car radios have polarity. I had a 54 Nash that was wired negative ground instead of positive and the Motorola radio worked fine. Even when I converted it back to the original positive.
I think the reason is the vibrator creates ac current and it has no polarity. The rectifier determines the polarity when it's running.
I love politics and religious discussions. Only if everyone agrees with me. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 😜jk
Hey, that's a dog whistle to sides and topics i disagree with!
I agree.
But isn't it strange to you that all these conspiracy theories got right? Radio is propaganda you only notice it when you're not addicted to it and watch TV or listen to it..
Its more fun when someone disagrees
(34:32) The fly got its booster of Pfizer
I had an old Valve car radio years ago that I found at the tip, cant even remember the name of it, but on the underside it had some kind of TO-3 Transistor on the bottom of it as well. I found it funny when later in the video you said "this TV from a transformer", oh by the way we are in lockdown number 5 at the moment or is it 6?
The vibrator was fascinating I've never seen that before and some funky flexing going on that the camera showed perfectly, is there anything across the contacts to snub or suppress stuff ? I wonder what the contacts are made of and if they would have been plated originally....cheers.
Thank you for your videos! Enjoy them !
The transition from "Get the signal tracer on this thing" to the bug zapper cooking a fly was very funny :)
Have you noticed that there is another classic rock station out of San Francisco? It is an old station I guess, having never lived in California, I wouldn't know. I am pulling it off my WIFI radio. I would guess that if there isn't another station running over it, you should be able to pull her in, if she has any power at all. It is listed as: 1260 KYA Golden Gate Great Oldies.
Feeling a bit cold? Turn on the radio. It doubles as a heater!
Another great video, I have been learning alot from your videos. Even the silent ones!
31:02 love the jumble! (at least it shows that I was paying attention in class) :) Great video, learning so much with each upload! thanx
A pair of 6V6GT in AB push pull with 250v on the plate and -15 on the grid puts out a healthy 10 watts of audio. You are lucky is uses common octal tubes, the Delco 6 volt radio out of a '49 Pontiac I am working on uses loctal tubes, two 7C5 outputs and 8.5 watts audio output. No signal idle current @ 6v is 7.06 amps, "A" circuit 7 amps, "B" circuit 60 MA
A perfect start to Sunday .... I love a vibrator early in the morning !..... Dan has treated us to an organ this weekend too...... Marvelous , love your channel , I've learnt so much from you ! Your humorous outbursts make me laugh out loud .... Blambooblance. ... Merch I tell ya ! ...I'd buy a t shirt with "Black Beauties Matter " on it for starters !!
I remember Dad putting a radio in his '50 Ford pickup that was out of a '54 Ford car, when he went to replace a tube in it there wasn't a tube chart in it, my uncle gave him another radio like it but turned out one was made by Zenith and the other by Motorola, the one you have was for 49-51 Ford cars and 51-52 Ford trucks,Ford used a similar style radio in the early sixties on full size cars and Falcons up until around 63
It's my birthday and I get an extra shango vid what a great gift .:}