+RestoreOldRadios Thanks Don. Apologies it's transistors and not vacumn bulbs! These Hacker sets were built for ease of maintenance so it should be relatively easy to restore. Unlike some of your efforts :)
This project will certainly be worth the effort Andy. Hacker produced luxury products that certainly looked good, performed well, and sounded close to Hi-fi. As you say, AF-type transistors were prone to developing intermittent, internal, connection faults. I’m tending to find those types of transistors are not so easy to come-by these days. It will be a superb radio once you’ve completed the repair/restoration work. Regards, Phil.
+SteelCity321PB Thanks Phil. Yes, AF transistors (124/5/6/7 to replace AF114 /5/6/7) are getting quite expensive now. I haven't tried silicon PNP in these yet but may have to think about it one day. About time you got your cine camera out too!
+Andrewausfa You may have to go the Soviet/Russian surplus route on those, a la Shango066, finding some North American made germanium types is often a problem too, unless you are lucky enough to find a cash of NOS ones from a closed down service shop or from a old hobbiest's stash. The one major drawback is that the packaging is often quite different, but apparently the Soviet/Russian made germaniums were manufactured well into the 1990s and apparently don't suffer the same ailments as European or North American transistors from the 1960s do with internal shorts and intermittents.
Hello Andrew, are those old styled circular transistors still available? What's the cause of not picking up many stations across the dial? Im amazed that you can so quickly diagnose problems. Wonderful project-look forward to seeing and hearing it when your finished.
Hi Clay, hope you're well. Those old transistors are beloved over here, they get tin whiskers growing from inside the metal case which eventually touch the transistor junction thus ending life. They are so common in 1960s sets here that we know before the set arrives there is bound to be an issue. You can still occasionally pick up NOS but they're likely to be bad. Regards - Andrew
some sets from other brands used two batteries but fed one side of the speaker from 'mid point' junction of the 2, saving using a coupling capacitor, this causes problems such as distortion if one battery goes down before the other or the two halves of the output stage become unbalanced, you could fit a capacitor in series to reduce unbalance problems, ..in many cases the actual signal stages run on 6 to 9 volts so in theory they could be modded for single battery use, the worst ones are ones that use 6v pp1's as these are long obsolete, and you need to rig up battery holders for AAs or C cells,
i have 2 of the first Hacker models, type RP10 but their innards are totally different, one with the dreaded Mullard AF117's in the RF stages, OC types in the AF, and quite complex current and temperature stabilised output stage using small selenium rectifiers, the other uses Ediswan(Mazda) black 'top hat' transistors in a more 'conventional' circuit..
Andrew - A very nice project I'll be eagerly following. Hope all is well. Best, Don
+RestoreOldRadios Thanks Don. Apologies it's transistors and not vacumn bulbs! These Hacker sets were built for ease of maintenance so it should be relatively easy to restore. Unlike some of your efforts :)
***** I'll be eagerly watching. Best, Don
i love those old dials with all the stations om them
+Mark E Hi Mark, indeed I do too, most are gone now. Thanks for watching.
This project will certainly be worth the effort Andy. Hacker produced luxury products that certainly looked good, performed well, and sounded close to Hi-fi. As you say, AF-type transistors were prone to developing intermittent, internal, connection faults. I’m tending to find those types of transistors are not so easy to come-by these days.
It will be a superb radio once you’ve completed the repair/restoration work.
Regards,
Phil.
+SteelCity321PB Thanks Phil. Yes, AF transistors (124/5/6/7 to replace AF114 /5/6/7) are getting quite expensive now. I haven't tried silicon PNP in these yet but may have to think about it one day. About time you got your cine camera out too!
+Andrewausfa You may have to go the Soviet/Russian surplus route on those, a la Shango066, finding some North American made germanium types is often a problem too, unless you are lucky enough to find a cash of NOS ones from a closed down service shop or from a old hobbiest's stash. The one major drawback is that the packaging is often quite different, but apparently the Soviet/Russian made germaniums were manufactured well into the 1990s and apparently don't suffer the same ailments as European or North American transistors from the 1960s do with internal shorts and intermittents.
Real the grill cloth could you not use old tights? Just a thought! Hope you are well.
Hello Andrew, are those old styled circular transistors still available?
What's the cause of not picking up many stations across the dial? Im amazed that you can so quickly diagnose problems. Wonderful project-look forward to seeing and hearing it when your finished.
Hi Clay, hope you're well. Those old transistors are beloved over here, they get tin whiskers growing from inside the metal case which eventually touch the transistor junction thus ending life. They are so common in 1960s sets here that we know before the set arrives there is bound to be an issue. You can still occasionally pick up NOS but they're likely to be bad. Regards - Andrew
Do these sets run on 18volts with the PP9's in series ?
Brain Scar They do indeed
some sets from other brands used two batteries but fed one side of the speaker from 'mid point' junction of the 2, saving using a coupling capacitor, this causes problems such as distortion if one battery goes down before the other or the two halves of the output stage become unbalanced, you could fit a capacitor in series to reduce unbalance problems, ..in many cases the actual signal stages run on 6 to 9 volts so in theory they could be modded for single battery use, the worst ones are ones that use 6v pp1's as these are long obsolete, and you need to rig up battery holders for AAs or C cells,
i have 2 of the first Hacker models, type RP10 but their innards are totally different, one with the dreaded Mullard AF117's in the RF stages, OC types in the AF, and quite complex current and temperature stabilised output stage using small selenium rectifiers, the other uses Ediswan(Mazda) black 'top hat' transistors in a more 'conventional' circuit..