Only just discovered your channel. Here because listening to and watching repair work of electrical goods is somehow therapeutic. Additionally the dry humour is hilarious.
While tunning in I hear the voice that says 'here seems to be the slowing rate of increase'. You caught a snippet of the world's crazziness, it wasn't corrosion it was corona. Enjoyed your repair, keep them coming.
You make it look so easy! My Soundesign 2223B is very similar. I had my original Soundesign radio from about 1973: it was my first portable radio. We used my dad’s Montgomery Ward Airline GEN-1463A 6 band radio until we got our own. I don’t know whatever happened to my Soundesign, maybe gave it to a younger sister. I bought another Soundesign 2223B on eBay and it worked pretty well. It crackled when you turned it on or turned up the volume or when you tuned it or changed bands and one day it fell and the tuning needle wouldn’t go down past 900 AM. Turns out the tuning string frayed and it’s been apart since waiting for me to restring and reassemble it. I did spray the crackling controls with that special cleaning spray though.
I made it through a shango066 video with no advertisements in the middle. Good job. I stopped watching his videos a month ago because they were all full of ads. Give me ads at the beginning and/or end and videos are worth watching and I will let the ads play. I know it takes much effort to make video content but ads in the middle just make videos unwatchable. Thanks shango066
I remember when this type of radio was available in the stores. Most transistor radios were smaller, and very few performed well. We bought them anyway. Today, I have a Montgomery Ward unit AM/FM/Weather Band that is powered by alternating current or batteries. The power supply is built in, but because I bought the radio at a rummage sale, I didn't get the AC cord, and as older techs know, most were dedicated cords, so you could not use some other manufacturer's. On mine, I had to re-solder the antenna wire, and rebuild the battery holder and connections. If I remember well, Montgomery Ward electronics were made by Toshiba, but I could stand to be corrected. BTW-- Thanks for keeping vintage electronics repair alive and well.
Hey, Shango066, Thanks for taking the time to put out more videos than usual. Luckily (?), I'm considered "essential" and am actually working overtime. However, things are getting pretty friggin stressful out here. I'm feeling pretty cooked by quitting time these days. Coming home to good You Tube content like this helps a whole lot.
Love this channel, bringing old technology back to life, especially the old TVs where you (unless you’re a pro like he is) would say it never does anything again at first sight. Just imagine the first tune this radio played would have been the beginning of Buck Owen’s “Made in Japan” 😆
My dad had one of these when I was a kid, and I loved turning it on and fiddling with it. He eventually got me one of my own. I do remember the earphone jack was in a different place on mine, but otherwise the two seemed identical.
Wow how cool to hear mockingbirds and doves in an urban area so clearly! I'd like to see a background db reading for comparison for now and when "it goes back to normal". Quick repair!
It's a nice radio, I have one (the ac/dc version) and it's a good performer. Don't sweat the yappy ankle biters, we know your methods and you are doing it in a far more knowledgeable way then just throwing parts at it. In fact you'd shown many times the problems are _not_ capacitors. [Cruzebot explodes.] Thanks for the video!
I just resurrected a 70's 2 meter transceiver by replacing all of the - wait for it - adjustment potentiometers! All of those 40 year old caps are still working just fine. I needed to align the rig though... It was a fun project! Thanks for the vid Sir...
I think the labels might have been put on it later. When I was a kid in the 70s, most people gave their phone numbers as 2 letters, a number, then 4 numbers like TL7-2881 Their label machine was obviously capable of doing the letters. That's my guess.
@@tarstarkusz The two-letter thing was a holdover by the 1970s. Went away with direct-dial long distance which was pretty much everywhere by 1970. Homeowner-priced DYMO label makers appeared about the same time. I'd say that label may well be original.
@@boggy7665 In my area it wasn't common for people to say 867-5309 until about 1980. I remember we had one of those label things with the little dial on top in the 70s. I'm really only going by the recollections of a single digit aged kid, so I might very well be wrong.
I had a Hong Kong knock-off of that radio. Not a Stewart, but I've seen similar Stewarts that looked like mine. It would recharge its 4 "C" cells if you flipped a switch on the front. Had fair FM sensitivity, had a 4" speaker that looked like the ubiquitous 2 1/4" speakers in smaller radios, sounded good bedside at low volume. Except it was top-heavy, and if I bumped the nightstand, over it would go, and all the knobs and the dial cover would fall off and roll under the bed. Good memories.
I have one also. It works very well and has good sensitivity. The FM antenna is broken. I have all if the pieces but haven't decided how to make the repair. There is a story on the internet I believe written by a retired GE Radio Department engineer who recounts Westinghouse selling them a warehouse full of germanium transistors. They redesigned a radio and had a very successful product having sold maybe it was millions of units. If I have time I'll try to find and link the article. Be well and God Bless
Great video! Whenever I get a vintage transistor portable that's DOA, the very first thing I check is the battery connections for corrosion. Then, if it's not the problem, I push and poke at all the components for a bad connection Nine times out of ten, either or both of these steps will reveal the problem. Then, if it's still dead, I suspect dried electrolytic. If I see Nashville, I.T.I. or Sanyo green or blue plastic encased capacitors, I will check those first. From my experience, they all have a very high failure rate.
I have one just like that I got from my grandmother in the later 80's, it had the same issue with leaky ni-cads messing up the traces. I did more repairs to mine when I got it to get it running but once I got it going, it lasted to this day now running with a 7.2 volt Li-Po back and some modification to allow said pack to be charged inside the radio.
you are the best man,i watch your videos all the day and at the night before i sleep,top entertainment plus i learn allot of things,hope you will keep uploading videos
I turn 2 turntables and a microphone. Nice video. I had an Emerson radio that had space above 108. I went higher to see what would come in. Every so often I would get airplanes.
Wow you have a gazillion stations around you! We are lucky to get three or four till you get into a different valley up here in the hills of New Hampshire.
Now I don't know much about electronics, but like to learn as I watch. My question is, can you just "wash" the inside of a radio with a solvent or blow with an air compressor so it isn't so dirty to work with and you can get rid of the gloves?? Love the videos , keep up the great work!
makeminefreedom The roach spray most likely detuned it. Douse the pc board with tuner wash. It may get it to work normal again. Roaches love to nest and lay eggs in electronics. Place glue traps inside the electronic appliance. This will attract the critters and kill them and their eggs
I repaired my grandfather's 1960's pocket transistor radio today. By injecting audio into the AF driver transistor, straight on the base, it amplified the signal. On the volume pot side of the electrolytic, nothing! I replace all 4 Sankyo electrolytics as they were all dried out. I wanted to keep it as original as possible, but the electrolytics were all toast.
This has to be one of the very first portable radios to have a rechargeable feature, similar to what we know today for iPhones, iPads, Androids and Bluetooth systems. This GE is kinda rare these days.
Remember this type of radio in the mid 70s it was the kitchen radio when I was kid . 1976 . It started getting distorted after being on a wile. just starting with ham radio . Nothing to loose open it up found a transistor getting hot had some T03 one's from scrap TV s small heat sink and remotely mounted T03 . Had the polarity right value unknown butt it work fine .
But what happened to the solid string of "Rock With You" inclusions? Seems like it's been ages since we've been graced by the tones of the noseless gloved prevert.
Thanks man, another half hour of time spent on something useful! This self imposed isolation isn't to bad for me, I am usually that way anyhow, have been since an accident put me in this friggin chair. Could be worse I guess, could be in a coffin.
i would like to ,thank all of you youtube video makers and radio presenters for keeping us in very high entertainment. my hat is off too you all ,stay safe.
It's true. Not always bad caps, but bad caps can do funky things. But most likely its a transistor or bad solder connection. I agree. Cool video, been working on my 1970 classic hifi again. Also had some problems after full restore was a bad transistor leaking some stuff causing static sound to output :)
This would have been an expensive upgrade back in the day, NiCad was sort of a big deal. Although lead acid was used in some tube sets back and I mean WAY back in the day. Fun video shango066
Not too bad. Though 250mah was pretty pathetic even back then. Even the cheap everyready NiCad cells were an amp hour. But I don't know why they hard wired them in. They should have allowed you to swap them out for regular penlight batteries. It's a pretty nice machine for what it is.
I think when I was a child NiCd‘s were about 600 mAh in AA (perhaps AAA) size but the batteries used in this radio were a lot smaller! Remember it is a two times three stack in a diameter I would assume close to triple A so 250mAh doesn‘t seem to be that far off!
I have some radio shack NiCad AAs from the 90s that still work. Despite the low energy density, the longevity is excellent so long as they are cycled properly.
Different subject but I decided to dispose of the Ni Cads from my rechargeable hand vac. I 'thought' I could parallel charge them through a limited voltage and current. Sort of like you would do for 18650's. Apparently not.
I found one of those at a antique store in Orange California. I was visiting family from the NW. Anyway mine is the AC/DC version in really good shape cosmetically. Just my volume control needs a little help. But does work ok otherwise. To bad the one you have there is so crusty. They where built really well back then. Fun video though. Love it. 😀
Cap swappers really boil my piss and when you tell them that changing all the caps won't sniff out a bad transistor or resistor they get all 'eggy' about it! Thanks for another excellent video from your friends in England.
We refer to changing capacitors as shotgun approach. 9 times out of 10 it not just bad capacitors. Plus rather troubleshoot and repair the item then waste time order 10's to 100's of capacitors and wasting money and time.
6:55 . . . Radio was working fine. Playing "When doves cry" These vertical-design (rechargeable) radios were all the rage in the early 1970s. Many with VHF (Air, Police, Weather), beyond AM and FM.
I heard doves cooing in the background, but it has nothing to do with the song by Prince. There is also another one called Mourning Doves where it coos throughout the day. I heard and seen mourning doves all the time during spring, summer and fall.
So did you call the number and see if Ethel is still around/there to hear it come back to life? I wonder if she ever imagined it'd be repaired by a master in 2020 & shared for all to see?
I was thinking that too. He should have called the number to see if it was even still a valid number but it didn't have the area code on it which is probably why he didn't, although with modern technology what it is, he could have asked his phone what the area code was.
@@0386rm I actually tried looking up the name on my partner's Facebook (I can't stand it myself!) and to my surprise there was one who seemed likely, She studied Radio & Television broadcasting & is going strong. Messaged her asking if she used to live in Ohio & telling her her old radio is now on YT being repaired, which ought to freak her right out whether it is her or not! :) (I really hope it is though, would be nice for her to know the radio still exists and is in good hands since it obviously meant a lot to her.)
@@kilwala2242 Wow, that must be an upbeat and thrilling sort of website to trawl... And dammit, I hope you're wrong, I really wanted her to see this video and get a kick out of it!
Yes battery fumes Shure do a number on such. I have found after repairs is to use q tips and bicarb of soda. To clean the board then use. Clear finger nail polish to paint board to keep out the air out good job. I pull them from the trash bin. And have something to do in the winter. I like tips I see.tks
I have the AC/DC version of that radio in my collection, and man, what a cheaply built radio. I was really surprised that GE put their name on them back in the day, since GE used to make some fine portable radios. The solder joints on the circuit board are just awful. The through holes for the component leads are too big, so when you try to reflow the joints, they burp and pop, leaving bubbles behind in the joint. Mine does not have AVC...jealous.
If you are taking requests, I'd love to see diagnosis of why 70's vintage Panasonic radios have issues with the automatic AC-DC power source switching. I think you have one with that issue in your hoard there (RF-561)
Just to let you know, skycarl and I are fairly certain that the postwar IF XFRMRs without exception, require removal and replacement of ALL of their internal mica caps; you postulated the theory that "time is ensuring they all need replaced".
Had an old radio like that once when I was still a soldier, it walked away one night whilst we were on a field training exercise. Interesting thing though, when I was growing up, I had an uncle, he was a real prick, but he did hire us on for haying and paid good money, hell we got 5 bucks a day for working from sun up to sundown! Now my father's name was Gordon Ericsson, and he knew my uncle well (uncle was married to mom's sister that sort of uncle) and he knew that the old fart would steal anything that was not tied down. So dad purchased a set of letter punches and punched GE on all of his tools. One day my Uncle called dad and asked for help pulling the well on his farm as it had stopped pumping and needed repair. Dad had all the tools necessary for such a chore, so he loaded up the tools and just for good measure loaded me up in the truck as well, and we were off to my Uncle's farm. When we got there the Uncle was prepared, he had "his" tools spread out near the well, and we started the pull, which was quite a chore as it was a very deep well. During the process, dad found his large pipe wrench had gone missing, we looked around, and there, among my Uncle's tools was dad's large pipe wrench, a very expensive tool. So Dad cornered him on this, and pointed out the GE clearly stamped on the side of the wrench. My uncle's reply "Why that's not yours it was made by GENERAL ELECTRIC!" That didn't hold water and dad got his wrench back, along with 3/4 of my uncle's well tool collection that were also GENERAL ELECTRIC marked.
My dad had the AC/DC version of this radio when I was a kid. Later he gave it to me and I’d put batteries in it and take it with me. The cradle that held the 4 AA batteries broke, but that connected to the radio with a 9-volt style connector. So I would just put a 9-volt in it. It worked just fine with the extra 3 volts although it played louder and the volume control was much more sensitive. Not sure what happened to that old radio. Haven’t seen it in at least 35 years.
NiCd are 1.41V-1.47V fully charged, NiMH are 1.45-1.51 fully charged. Soviets used to have NiCd rechargeable replacememt for 9V ZnC bateries called 7Д-0.1 (7D-0.1) meaning it's made of 7 disk NiCd cells with capacity of 0.1Ah. If this radio uses 6 NiCd cells it works in the range of 6V discharged to ~8.8 fully charged. So 2 times 4.2V maximum of LiION/LiPOL will be well in the working range of this radio without dropping diodes.
I had this radio as a kid...I thought it was the coolest radio because I could listen at night a Chicago rock station from NC. The batteries became defective and My dad bought the same radio made by phillips.
wow that was a great find in finding the problem..I don't see any integrated circuit anywhere. I remember working at the apartment store Brooklyn downtown and selling radios and calculators using the first big integrated circuits.Well this must be from the early late 70s or early '80s where nickel cadmium batteries we're starting to get popular always individual cells you're really used I think for radios it was like a groundbreaking idea to start installing rechargeable batteries don't you think?
I recapped few things, then I realized that in many cases they will not affect the performances as many people expect. In my recent Rubin 714 resoration i only replaced one cap in the audio output and 5 caps in vertical output.
When he was showing the circuit board at about 2 minutes in I thought, why is there a push to talk button in a radio.. Then I realized it was the AM/FM switch..
Hi shango066, I have a old solid state allied 8 band model 2682, I can receive am an swr 1-2 but nothing on fm vhf or ps1 an2 what would cause this capacitors, any help would be appreciated thanks
@@Phantom-darkness there's one on Ebay www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-General-Electric-GE-P977E-Portable-Solid-State-AM-FM-Transistor-Radio/163743131762?hash=item261fd9e872:g:3~AAAOSwK89cQppe
I like how the IF transformers and one of the audio transformers are all crooked on the board. you don't see that too often, they tend to put them on at 90 degree angles instead of "freehand"
I come to your channel when I want to watch something real and meaningful. I go to Mr. Carlson's channel when I want to feel like punching the shit out of something.
Would you be interested in fixing up an old GE AM radio the model is p-875-a it’s got low output and I’m sure some caps are bad. I would just want to see this thing work again sometime :) it’s got a huge am rod antenna and it’s got a good performer on the one band it’s designed for :) I also have a zenith trans oceanic with no sound except on FM so. Would you be interested in these to fix them up? I would love to hear them again
They have an IF transistor that is common to go bad in the am IF circuit You can swap the fm transistor into the am IF circuit and see if it solves the problem. They are plug ins and the same transistor is used in fm and am circuits of the Zenith Royal 3000
You shouldn't ever solder to the top of a li-ion cell, as there is a plastic membrane underneath the button that melts, breaks the hermetic seal, and the cell explodes and makes fireworks (sometimes days later, when you least expect it), they sell 18650 holders. I like seeing this old radio work again, though. cool..
I got a 977A that came from a garage sale. Works OK battery or AC. No work, no alignment, no recap, no nothing done to it. GE radios don't get much respect which is reflected in the low prices, usually.
Did anyone ever tell you what an entertainer you are? Can't get enough of your work.
Only just discovered your channel. Here because listening to and watching repair work of electrical goods is somehow therapeutic.
Additionally the dry humour is hilarious.
TinyMaths Shango is a master at both.
fixing things is the ultimate anodyne to our throw away society
the dry humor is the best because it is the untold truth that not many speak of due to lack of spine
Ethel would be very happy to know you fixed her old radio.
While tunning in I hear the voice that says 'here seems to be the slowing rate of increase'. You caught a snippet of the world's crazziness, it wasn't corrosion it was corona. Enjoyed your repair, keep them coming.
You make it look so easy! My Soundesign 2223B is very similar. I had my original Soundesign radio from about 1973: it was my first portable radio. We used my dad’s Montgomery Ward Airline GEN-1463A 6 band radio until we got our own. I don’t know whatever happened to my Soundesign, maybe gave it to a younger sister. I bought another Soundesign 2223B on eBay and it worked pretty well. It crackled when you turned it on or turned up the volume or when you tuned it or changed bands and one day it fell and the tuning needle wouldn’t go down past 900 AM. Turns out the tuning string frayed and it’s been apart since waiting for me to restring and reassemble it. I did spray the crackling controls with that special cleaning spray though.
I made it through a shango066 video with no advertisements in the middle. Good job. I stopped watching his videos a month ago because they were all full of ads. Give me ads at the beginning and/or end and videos are worth watching and I will let the ads play. I know it takes much effort to make video content but ads in the middle just make videos unwatchable. Thanks shango066
I appreciate the comment. I had pretty much figured that out and turned it off. Thanks for your support
My family had the AC/DC version of this radio. Me and my sister listen to it while eating breakfast before going to school. Brings back good memories.
I remember when this type of radio was available in the stores. Most transistor radios were smaller, and very few performed well. We bought them anyway. Today, I have a Montgomery Ward unit AM/FM/Weather Band that is powered by alternating current or batteries. The power supply is built in, but because I bought the radio at a rummage sale, I didn't get the AC cord, and as older techs know, most were dedicated cords, so you could not use some other manufacturer's. On mine, I had to re-solder the antenna wire, and rebuild the battery holder and connections. If I remember well, Montgomery Ward electronics were made by Toshiba, but I could stand to be corrected. BTW-- Thanks for keeping vintage electronics repair alive and well.
Hey, Shango066,
Thanks for taking the time to put out more videos than usual. Luckily (?), I'm considered "essential" and am actually working overtime. However, things are getting pretty friggin stressful out here. I'm feeling pretty cooked by quitting time these days. Coming home to good You Tube content like this helps a whole lot.
The ability to diagnose is the difference between a true mechanic and an R&R man.
Thank you for bringing a bit of joy in these difficult days. Really appreciate it. Looking forward to the next one.
Love this channel, bringing old technology back to life, especially the old TVs where you (unless you’re a pro like he is) would say it never does anything again at first sight. Just imagine the first tune this radio played would have been the beginning of Buck Owen’s “Made in Japan” 😆
My dad had one of these when I was a kid, and I loved turning it on and fiddling with it. He eventually got me one of my own. I do remember the earphone jack was in a different place on mine, but otherwise the two seemed identical.
My uncle gave me a radio just like this when I was a kid. I loved the leather case and the carrying strap. Used it for many years.
That's awesome! Did your radio come with an earphone plug, and did you get a mono earphone?
Wow how cool to hear mockingbirds and doves in an urban area so clearly! I'd like to see a background db reading for comparison for now and when "it goes back to normal". Quick repair!
Hey shango066. My home town is Akron Ohio and I know the address that was on your GE radio. That’s only a few miles from my house.
I hear birdies, that's a sure sign of bad capacitors
It's a nice radio, I have one (the ac/dc version) and it's a good performer.
Don't sweat the yappy ankle biters, we know your methods and you are doing it in a far more knowledgeable way then just throwing parts at it. In fact you'd shown many times the problems are _not_ capacitors. [Cruzebot explodes.]
Thanks for the video!
My mom has a AC DC version
Still working been awhile since it was used
Listened to it a lot when I was a kid in the 70’s and 80’s
That radio looks so familiar, I don't think I had one, but it was a very popular radio in the 70s, a good performer.
Good work, nice to see old radios live again!
I just resurrected a 70's 2 meter transceiver by replacing all of the - wait for it - adjustment potentiometers! All of those 40 year old caps are still working just fine. I needed to align the rig though... It was a fun project! Thanks for the vid Sir...
I’m loving these extra videos may I say you are keeping me sane in these bad times I admire the amount of effort you go to
Thank you
Cool - I used to live a few miles away from the address shown on that radio. I'm sure it was out there long before I was born though. Pretty cool.
I think the labels might have been put on it later. When I was a kid in the 70s, most people gave their phone numbers as 2 letters, a number, then 4 numbers like TL7-2881 Their label machine was obviously capable of doing the letters. That's my guess.
@@tarstarkusz The two-letter thing was a holdover by the 1970s. Went away with direct-dial long distance which was pretty much everywhere by 1970. Homeowner-priced DYMO label makers appeared about the same time. I'd say that label may well be original.
@@boggy7665 In my area it wasn't common for people to say 867-5309 until about 1980. I remember we had one of those label things with the little dial on top in the 70s.
I'm really only going by the recollections of a single digit aged kid, so I might very well be wrong.
I had a Hong Kong knock-off of that radio. Not a Stewart, but I've seen similar Stewarts that looked like mine. It would recharge its 4 "C" cells if you flipped a switch on the front. Had fair FM sensitivity, had a 4" speaker that looked like the ubiquitous 2 1/4" speakers in smaller radios, sounded good bedside at low volume. Except it was top-heavy, and if I bumped the nightstand, over it would go, and all the knobs and the dial cover would fall off and roll under the bed. Good memories.
I had the AC/DC version, after an alignment, this thing was an amazing and very serious DXer! I now gravitate towards GE's. ~Jack, VEG
I have one also. It works very well and has good sensitivity. The FM antenna is broken. I have all if the pieces but haven't decided how to make the repair.
There is a story on the internet I believe written by a retired GE Radio Department engineer who recounts Westinghouse selling them a warehouse full of germanium transistors. They redesigned a radio and had a very successful product having sold maybe it was millions of units. If I have time I'll try to find and link the article.
Be well and God Bless
Thats cool! Would be interested in reading it if you find it. Thanks! ~Jack, VEG
Great video! Whenever I get a vintage transistor portable that's DOA, the very first thing I check is the battery connections for corrosion. Then, if it's not the problem, I push and poke at all the components for a bad connection Nine times out of ten, either or both of these steps will reveal the problem. Then, if it's still dead, I suspect dried electrolytic. If I see Nashville, I.T.I. or Sanyo green or blue plastic encased capacitors, I will check those first. From my experience, they all have a very high failure rate.
Love your channel. When I was a kid & those were current, all I knew how to do if it wasn't working, was to wreck it worse.
I have one just like that I got from my grandmother in the later 80's, it had the same issue with leaky ni-cads messing up the traces. I did more repairs to mine when I got it to get it running but once I got it going, it lasted to this day now running with a 7.2 volt Li-Po back and some modification to allow said pack to be charged inside the radio.
I had the ACDC version, my 14th B-Day gift. Loved it, used it a lot, then not so much after I bought my first stereo receiver some 18 months later.
you are the best man,i watch your videos all the day and at the night before i sleep,top entertainment plus i learn allot of things,hope you will keep uploading videos
I turn 2 turntables and a microphone. Nice video. I had an Emerson radio that had space above 108. I went higher to see what would come in. Every so often I would get airplanes.
Wow you have a gazillion stations around you! We are lucky to get three or four till you get into a different valley up here in the hills of New Hampshire.
Now I don't know much about electronics, but like to learn as I watch. My question is, can you just "wash" the inside of a radio with a solvent or blow with an air compressor so it isn't so dirty to work with and you can get rid of the gloves?? Love the videos , keep up the great work!
As usual, great video and thanks for your time and effort for posting. 👌👌👍👍 Stay safe and healthy. 😷😷
My parents had a radio like this. Once they sprayed it with roach spray it was never the same again.
makeminefreedom The roach spray most likely detuned it. Douse the pc board with tuner wash. It may get it to work normal again. Roaches love to nest and lay eggs in electronics. Place glue traps inside the electronic appliance. This will attract the critters and kill them and their eggs
I repaired my grandfather's 1960's pocket transistor radio today. By injecting audio into the AF driver transistor, straight on the base, it amplified the signal. On the volume pot side of the electrolytic, nothing! I replace all 4 Sankyo electrolytics as they were all dried out. I wanted to keep it as original as possible, but the electrolytics were all toast.
With this interwebs thing, I might have worked miracles too relative to what I did those many years ago.
This has to be one of the very first portable radios to have a rechargeable feature, similar to what we know today for iPhones, iPads, Androids and Bluetooth systems. This GE is kinda rare these days.
Remember this type of radio in the mid 70s it was the kitchen radio when I was kid . 1976 . It started getting distorted after being on a wile. just starting with ham radio . Nothing to loose open it up found a transistor getting hot had some T03 one's from scrap TV s small heat sink and remotely mounted T03 . Had the polarity right value unknown butt it work fine .
got to 11:05 mins in clip, almost got complacent thinking this radio was gonna escape the "Rap Curse" lol, it didn't
But what happened to the solid string of "Rock With You" inclusions? Seems like it's been ages since we've been graced by the tones of the noseless gloved prevert.
Thanks man, another half hour of time spent on something useful! This self imposed isolation isn't to bad for me, I am usually that way anyhow, have been since an accident put me in this friggin chair. Could be worse I guess, could be in a coffin.
i would like to ,thank all of you youtube video makers and radio presenters for keeping us in very high entertainment. my hat is off too you all ,stay safe.
Thanks for the extra videos...and as always.. the great content. You rock!
It's true. Not always bad caps, but bad caps can do funky things. But most likely its a transistor or bad solder connection. I agree. Cool video, been working on my 1970 classic hifi again. Also had some problems after full restore was a bad transistor leaking some stuff causing static sound to output :)
This would have been an expensive upgrade back in the day, NiCad was sort of a big deal. Although lead acid was used in some tube sets back and I mean WAY back in the day.
Fun video shango066
Not too bad. Though 250mah was pretty pathetic even back then. Even the cheap everyready NiCad cells were an amp hour.
But I don't know why they hard wired them in. They should have allowed you to swap them out for regular penlight batteries. It's a pretty nice machine for what it is.
I think when I was a child NiCd‘s were about 600 mAh in AA (perhaps AAA) size but the batteries used in this radio were a lot smaller! Remember it is a two times three stack in a diameter I would assume close to triple A so 250mAh doesn‘t seem to be that far off!
I have some radio shack NiCad AAs from the 90s that still work. Despite the low energy density, the longevity is excellent so long as they are cycled properly.
Different subject but I decided to dispose of the Ni Cads from my rechargeable hand vac. I 'thought' I could parallel charge them through a limited voltage and current. Sort of like you would do for 18650's. Apparently not.
@@thomasguilder9288 I
I found one of those at a antique store in Orange California. I was visiting family from the NW. Anyway mine is the AC/DC version in really good shape cosmetically. Just my volume control needs a little help. But does work ok otherwise. To bad the one you have there is so crusty. They where built really well back then. Fun video though. Love it. 😀
Cap swappers really boil my piss and when you tell them that changing all the caps won't sniff out a bad transistor or resistor they get all 'eggy' about it!
Thanks for another excellent video from your friends in England.
We refer to changing capacitors as shotgun approach. 9 times out of 10 it not just bad capacitors. Plus rather troubleshoot and repair the item then waste time order 10's to 100's of capacitors and wasting money and time.
6:55 . . . Radio was working fine. Playing "When doves cry"
These vertical-design (rechargeable) radios were all the rage in the early 1970s. Many with VHF (Air, Police, Weather), beyond AM and FM.
I heard doves cooing in the background, but it has nothing to do with the song by Prince.
There is also another one called Mourning Doves where it coos throughout the day. I heard and seen mourning doves all the time during spring, summer and fall.
Growing up in the '60s, this exact model was our main radio. Did we buy it? No, it was obtained at the Blue Chip Stamps Redemption Center!
So did you call the number and see if Ethel is still around/there to hear it come back to life? I wonder if she ever imagined it'd be repaired by a master in 2020 & shared for all to see?
I was thinking that too. He should have called the number to see if it was even still a valid number but it didn't have the area code on it which is probably why he didn't, although with modern technology what it is, he could have asked his phone what the area code was.
Alexander Scotten
Akron area codes are 234 & 330
@@0386rm I actually tried looking up the name on my partner's Facebook (I can't stand it myself!) and to my surprise there was one who seemed likely, She studied Radio & Television broadcasting & is going strong. Messaged her asking if she used to live in Ohio & telling her her old radio is now on YT being repaired, which ought to freak her right out whether it is her or not! :) (I really hope it is though, would be nice for her to know the radio still exists and is in good hands since it obviously meant a lot to her.)
The lady passed away in 1976. An image of her grave marker is on findagrave.
@@kilwala2242 Wow, that must be an upbeat and thrilling sort of website to trawl... And dammit, I hope you're wrong, I really wanted her to see this video and get a kick out of it!
* rotates the dial *
* catches a channel, tunes in further *
_" .... and in other news ... Shango066 did a nice job repairing this device.. "_
Yes battery fumes Shure do a number on such. I have found after repairs is to use q tips and bicarb of soda. To clean the board then use. Clear finger nail polish to paint board to keep out the air out good job. I pull them from the trash bin. And have something to do in the winter. I like tips I see.tks
thanks for the extra videos Shango066
I have the AC/DC version of that radio in my collection, and man, what a cheaply built radio. I was really surprised that GE put their name on them back in the day, since GE used to make some fine portable radios. The solder joints on the circuit board are just awful. The through holes for the component leads are too big, so when you try to reflow the joints, they burp and pop, leaving bubbles behind in the joint. Mine does not have AVC...jealous.
If you are taking requests, I'd love to see diagnosis of why 70's vintage Panasonic radios have issues with the automatic AC-DC power source switching. I think you have one with that issue in your hoard there (RF-561)
Just to let you know, skycarl and I are fairly certain that the postwar IF XFRMRs without exception, require removal and replacement of ALL of their internal mica caps; you postulated the theory that "time is ensuring they all need replaced".
Had an old radio like that once when I was still a soldier, it walked away one night whilst we were on a field training exercise. Interesting thing though, when I was growing up, I had an uncle, he was a real prick, but he did hire us on for haying and paid good money, hell we got 5 bucks a day for working from sun up to sundown! Now my father's name was Gordon Ericsson, and he knew my uncle well (uncle was married to mom's sister that sort of uncle) and he knew that the old fart would steal anything that was not tied down. So dad purchased a set of letter punches and punched GE on all of his tools. One day my Uncle called dad and asked for help pulling the well on his farm as it had stopped pumping and needed repair. Dad had all the tools necessary for such a chore, so he loaded up the tools and just for good measure loaded me up in the truck as well, and we were off to my Uncle's farm. When we got there the Uncle was prepared, he had "his" tools spread out near the well, and we started the pull, which was quite a chore as it was a very deep well. During the process, dad found his large pipe wrench had gone missing, we looked around, and there, among my Uncle's tools was dad's large pipe wrench, a very expensive tool. So Dad cornered him on this, and pointed out the GE clearly stamped on the side of the wrench. My uncle's reply "Why that's not yours it was made by GENERAL ELECTRIC!" That didn't hold water and dad got his wrench back, along with 3/4 of my uncle's well tool collection that were also GENERAL ELECTRIC marked.
I like your taste in AM talk radio.
Cool radio & quick fix too.......Stay safe & love you. xoxo
I love simple repairs like that. What bothers me is how much longer will those foil traces last
My dad had the AC/DC version of this radio when I was a kid. Later he gave it to me and I’d put batteries in it and take it with me. The cradle that held the 4 AA batteries broke, but that connected to the radio with a 9-volt style connector. So I would just put a 9-volt in it. It worked just fine with the extra 3 volts although it played louder and the volume control was much more sensitive. Not sure what happened to that old radio. Haven’t seen it in at least 35 years.
Nice little radio. Funny how a little troubleshooting precludes the need to replace dozens of innocent caps and transistors.
#savethecaps
Don't forget #BlackBeautiesMatter (BlackBombsMatter?)
What a beautiful radio!
How do you charge them? Is there a jack for a dc wall wort?
I had that very radio in the mid 70's. Except mine was not rechargeable. Someone gave it to me broken and I fixed it. It had good sound.
Thanks Shango.
I used to have one of those, about 40 or so years ago.
NiCd are 1.41V-1.47V fully charged, NiMH are 1.45-1.51 fully charged. Soviets used to have NiCd rechargeable replacememt for 9V ZnC bateries called 7Д-0.1 (7D-0.1) meaning it's made of 7 disk NiCd cells with capacity of 0.1Ah. If this radio uses 6 NiCd cells it works in the range of 6V discharged to ~8.8 fully charged. So 2 times 4.2V maximum of LiION/LiPOL will be well in the working range of this radio without dropping diodes.
just like the radio I had while in florida in the 70's
I had this radio as a kid...I thought it was the coolest radio because I could listen at night a Chicago rock station from NC. The batteries became defective and My dad bought the same radio made by phillips.
Did you recap it?
it feels weird hearing modern songs on old radios lol
wow that was a great find in finding the problem..I don't see any integrated circuit anywhere. I remember working at the apartment store Brooklyn downtown and selling radios and calculators using the first big integrated circuits.Well this must be from the early late 70s or early '80s where nickel cadmium batteries we're starting to get popular always individual cells you're really used I think for radios it was like a groundbreaking idea to start installing rechargeable batteries don't you think?
It cleaned up nice. Good radio. Dad had one.
I recapped few things, then I realized that in many cases they will not affect the performances as many people expect. In my recent Rubin 714 resoration i only replaced one cap in the audio output and 5 caps in vertical output.
Were did you end hooking oscope too to see the S curve? Inductor ?
My parents had one of those when we were kids Shango . Damn i had forgot all about that . So many things like this over the yrs got tossed . :(
KJazz, YOWSA! Got the app and listening in the UK 👍
When he was showing the circuit board at about 2 minutes in I thought, why is there a push to talk button in a radio.. Then I realized it was the AM/FM switch..
GE used to be notorious for poor solder joints on their TV's, probably the same for their radios.
I find circuit-sleuthing relaxing; and shango066 keeps it...kind, gentle, quiet, and interesting.
It would be good to see the effect of the IF alignment on the S curve.
I believe it would affect the positive and negative amplitude.
Hi shango066, I have a old solid state allied 8 band model 2682, I can receive am an swr 1-2 but nothing on fm vhf or ps1 an2 what would cause this capacitors, any help would be appreciated thanks
I like it here
It's a sanctuary from the madness that is the world today :) If you're new here, I'm sure you'll love Shango's work.
By the way did you recap the trace ? Lol l
LMFAO
Quite different from the pocket-sized GE that was my late Dad’s. I might have it somewhere. Strictly 9V battery I think.
Where did or how did you learn to do the troubleshooting?
Study electronics.
They used it lots for sure.
I’d like to find one those. Nice looking unit.
@@Phantom-darkness there's one on Ebay www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-General-Electric-GE-P977E-Portable-Solid-State-AM-FM-Transistor-Radio/163743131762?hash=item261fd9e872:g:3~AAAOSwK89cQppe
So how you will charge the two lithium batteries in series? ☺️
Cool, I had one similar to that in the late 70s, but mine was labeled as Kmart brand.
I Watch these videos and get a full entertainment experience.
Sounds good. Good repair. I never used a scope very often. How do I drop 12 volts dc to 9 volts dc? Do I put 2 diodes in series?
I like how the IF transformers and one of the audio transformers are all crooked on the board. you don't see that too often, they tend to put them on at 90 degree angles instead of "freehand"
I come to your channel when I want to watch something real and meaningful. I go to Mr. Carlson's channel when I want to feel like punching the shit out of something.
The vintage electronics community likes Rush.
Would you be interested in fixing up an old GE AM radio the model is p-875-a it’s got low output and I’m sure some caps are bad. I would just want to see this thing work again sometime :) it’s got a huge am rod antenna and it’s got a good performer on the one band it’s designed for :) I also have a zenith trans oceanic with no sound except on FM so. Would you be interested in these to fix them up? I would love to hear them again
sort of but with the shutdown shipping is an issue. i have zero interest in going to the post office to ship them back
They have an IF transistor that is common to go bad in the am IF circuit You can swap the fm transistor into the am IF circuit and see if it solves the problem. They are plug ins and the same transistor is used in fm and am circuits of the Zenith Royal 3000
When i was a kid, you could win a radio similar to that when the fair came to town.
Rather cheap inside but they worked :-D
What a nice radio, I like it.
You shouldn't ever solder to the top of a li-ion cell, as there is a plastic membrane underneath the button that melts, breaks the hermetic seal, and the cell explodes and makes fireworks (sometimes days later, when you least expect it), they sell 18650 holders. I like seeing this old radio work again, though. cool..
I got a 977A that came from a garage sale. Works OK battery or AC. No work, no alignment, no recap, no nothing done to it. GE radios don't get much respect which is reflected in the low prices, usually.