Since this set is so dirty and really not worth much, some people swear by putting really nasty sets like this in the dishwasher, letting the chassis dry thoroughly and realign. If you want to see Shango give this set the dishwasher treatment, give this comment a thumbs up!!
That's how we rolled in the day after flooding, take the back off TV sets, hose out and leave in the sun for a day. Same with stereo's, tape decks etc.
My father told of getting tube-type police radios that had been in the back of police cars and "boiling" them to get all the dust and dirt off. Worked fine afterwards.
If I had to guess, it's probably just bog standard capitalist expansion. The only difference being said capitalists are Chinese. The whole propaganda accusation is amusing. In all honestly, it's probably just boring mundane stuff lol. Personally, if I was from the MSS? I'd pull a social media stunt. It would get WAY more coverage.
The set was manufactured at the then new Syracuse facility, constructed after the War. It shows heavier duty construction with the cheap GE savings combined. I don't understand why the Civil Defense marks aren't there. They were ordered on all radios after 1952, and lasted till 1963. Eventually GE farmed out radio production to a facility in Utica, NY. Later versions of this radio show the CD marks. Srtange to say the least.
One of rare schematics ( at Beitman's in 1956) that list the IF transformer's original capacitance and resistances within. Note when searching for a radio station with a ferrite antenna mounted on the chassis sometimes you must turn the chassis to get better reception. Has tired original tubes and poor socket connections. Those IF transformers pull out of sockets. All fixable giving it some time with a good cleaning and tube testing.
I think it has an interesting look..."space age." I looked it up. Introduced in 1955 with four colors. I see production info through 1959. It would be nice to add to a collection.
This "style" of GE radio with the raised clock panel and side speaker was manufactured for a long time! This is one from the first generation. The first generation was introduced in late 1955. GE continued to produce this radio with minor styling changes and feature deletions and additions all the way through late 1965! Literally 10 calendar years of production. You could still buy these new off the store shelves in 1966 despite it being a quite outdated 1950s design at that point. The last generation, C-480B, C-481B and C-482B were available in white, blue, and Nutmeg (brown) with a clock illuminated by a miniature neon bulb which was on at all times unlike the previous models with the "A" suffix that used a "push/hold" control knob to turn off the clock dial light.
,GE called the moving dial light tuning indicator a “dial beam” I have this same clock radio but in turquoise. It’s very common for these GE’s and the RCA’s of the same timeframe to have the clocks and speakers break free from the plastic retainers inside and rattle around.
Don't discount that switched outfit. They're great. I got tired of paying 100-200 Dollars every 3 years for a "good" coffee maker with displays so small you need glasses to program them. The last time a coffee maker died on me, it was right at the beginning of the lockdowns. All the stores were closed except Family Dollar and all they had was a 14.99 coffee maker with a physical on/off switch. SO I plugged it into the switched outlet on my GE spacesaver radio from the 80s I still use with the power turned on. In the morning when I get up, I turn the power to the switch off on the radio and pour my coffee. It's been 3 years and it still works fine.
Coffee pot outlet! Reminds me of my parent's Silvertone radio. It was used to start the percolator in the mornings. But instead of a photo input, it had a second speaker. It could be used as a remote speaker or an intercom. Listened to Chicken man and Story Lady on it as part of the morning routine as a kid.
That Zenith 790 Super Navigator is a fantastic radio. I have one working right now..... the reception is exceppent and the sound is superb. One of the best 60s AM radios yoiu can get... and usually for about $40-$60.
I've got a GE radio I replaced the filters on and it had the worst case of SMD static I've ever heard . It also had a non conventional tube line up for an all American 5 . The output tube was a 36 volt something, not a typical 50c5. Keep them coming, Dan..............
For some reason I find them more relatable. I would waste too much time repairing a TV set and then the end result would be crummy. With a radio these problems are mitigated.
Be careful with that one. The clock hands are coated with undark. Trademark of the United States radium company. The hands are heavily coated in radium paint and are quite hot. Make sure you don't breathe in any dust.
Where I live we have WKHB, WPIT, WKFB, and a few others. WKFB is generic oldies. Don't get me wrong, it's nice! And I like it! But it's nothing special. Good music though. WPIT is a Christian station. But hey, they play genuinely GOOD music! WKHB is a bizarre mixture between oldies, catholic sermons, polka music, talk programming about senior health. It's weird, and that's why I like it!
I swear all of these GE table/clock radios from the late 40's to the late 50's used this same exact 'chassis' design, but with such basic circuitry that even made MadMan Muntz look generous in the number of components used, (which admittedly makes them attractive for shotgunning new parts into). And the SMD comment is totally valid, never seen one that didn't sound like a continuous thunderstorm. Was shocked to see this one work to the level it did. To GE's credit, they did use halfway decent speakers, so they didn't sound all that bad in the end.
Looks like a clock radio from the George Jetsons show ! ( sorry its a cartoon series ) Thanks Shango ! I really enjoy your videos, keep up the great work !!!
The trimmer adjustments are much more effective near the top end of the band. To adjust in the mid and low end usually you’re limited to tweaking the oscillator coil. 15,000 mfd? Really? Poor 35W4.
It seems all these GE Musaphonics end up having silver mica disease, I have repaired one and it was amazing how the performance was after replacing the internal capacitors!
I have a similar Musaohonic that had smd. I copied the caps that (radio rescue) used I think 120pf. I think the schematic actually shows that could be wrong. I know that's not always accurate . Anyways after that it's one of the best receiving radios I have. Also the caps in the if cans aren't hard to remove like the other ones you have done on the channel. Definitely worth fixing.
Damn that rectifier tube is a champ, just for anyone who isn't overly familiar with vacuum tubes, if you read the manufacturers datasheets they will specify a maximum value for the primary filter capacitor, usually sub 100ufd.. the larger values can increase plate transient current and destroy the tube, at least that's what the tube book says the engineers thought would happen.. i guess they didnt count on shango 90 years after design :)
If the tube is cold whenever power is applied it in it will probably be safe. The realistic risk is turning it off and back on, or if there is a power glitch.
We used to listen to XROK 80 out of Juraz Mexico back in the 70's, they played the great old rock and roll of the 60'5 and 70's, we could get it all the way from El Paso to Northern South Dakota back then. According to scuttle butt, the station was in a little Mexican farm house with a huge transmitter broadcasting through an old coat hanger stuck out the window, but that was just BS, nobody really traced the source and back then we just listened and didn't much care about their. setup. I don't know when it died but I do recall listening to it at night while on patrol when working the PD in my home town in the early 70's.
For best results, use genuine G E tubes. Can you tell the difference if you don't? Or is that a life expectancy thing? It's great! Another Shango Saturday Spectacular! 👍
My parents had a similar radio when I was a kid back in the '50s and '60s, purchased with S&H green stamps. It woke my dad up religiously every morning for years until the clock mechanism broke.
690 690 AM? Two vintage radios 📻 to resurrect. I find that GE clock ⏰ radio 📻 pretty 😍 cool 😎. I’m pretty 😍 sure somebody’s dropped it, but it can be super glued back together. Your friend, Jeff.
Shango dug up a capacitor out of the junk drawer - had some left over from a gutted Chevy Bolt - hopefully its big enough for this high powered AM wireless guitar amp.
I have a GE clock radio that is a couple of years older than this one but nearly the same design. I had to replace the IF's for SMD but now it is a super sensitive radio with just it's loop antenna.
Quite a resurrection! Obviously for getting this radio running again, the giant Cornell Dubilier is great and hilarious. I believe (no expert here) that the reason in general not to go too high beyond rated filter capacitance is because while you reduce the power supply ripple, you also drive the transformer harder (greater current draw) when fully recharging a larger cap during the part of the AC cycle where the cap is being recharged. This would probably not be an issue for a small radio, but does factor into consideration generally with linear power supplies. I.e. Sizing filter caps relative to the transformer current capability. If I'm full of it.. someone, let me know!
I'm not an expert but i don't think that's quite right. I think the transformer would not be under any additional load once the capacitor has initially charged, the load of the circuit that is being powered remains the same so no additional energy is required or dissipated. What would increase is the inrush current and this would put the transformer and rectifier under considerable extra load at power-on, but the nature of tubes coming up slowly I would think should limit this problem to an extent.
@@chickenfizz I remembered reading something about this from my old days struggling with The Art of Electronics book. I just dug it out and re-read the small comment on the topic. I think I now understand the book's "warning" about choosing too large a filter cap, but may still have it off. Essentially. a larger cap will reduce ripple, but force the transformer and diodes to supply greater current (for a shorter time) in order to replenish the energy consumed by the load since the last diode conduction cycle. The reduced ripple comes at the cost of a smaller diode conduction angle (fewer degrees of the sine wave where the diodes are in conduction) leading to a greater charging current for this shorter cycle. This can cause transformer heating, higher load on the diodes and greater EMI "noise" as the diodes are shutting down conduction with a relatively larger current flowing through them. Anyway, just trying to think this stuff through, but still probably hazy on it!
@@blobscott That's basically my understanding except this doesn't have a power transformer. It's the high current pulses which can blow out the 35W4 rectifier's internal bond wires.
@@eDoc2020 Yes.. I had forgotten this GE is an AMA 5, series string! I mostly put the original comment up as I remembered at some point in time thinking it was probably not a big deal to add arbitrarily larger filters to a power supply. Shango's Cornell Dubilier temporary XL substitution seemed like a good visual to make the comment that it isn't without costs. Yes, the rectifier will eventually feel the burn!
I listen to WGN out of Chicago sometimes. 50kw and im in Massachusetts. I can pick up WGN on my knight R100A over here with a wire I strung up in a tree. Pretty cool, some old those high power stations. Of course being that does am, shortwave and covers ham radio I also listen to WRMI out of miami and WBCQ from Maine. Also got romainia international radio once
@@eDoc2020 rca came about from marconi america, and in the uk at least hmv was marconi's uks 'better' brand although hmv was originally a separate company, the full history and the interlinking is likely on the net somewhere! here in the uk in the late 50s/early 60 Thorn bought the rights to the hmv and marconi brands , to go with their ferguson(originally a US-Canadian company), ultra and uk philco
In the 60s we had clock radios with a coffee maker output so you could wake to a fresh cup. Now we stop at Starbucks. I think we were more intelligent in the 60s.
@shango066 Hey, what value of capacitors would you use for the IFcans? Im trying to repair my old Emerson Phonoradio model 814 D but the skamatic diagram I have doesn't show the value of the caps in the IFcans. I can tap on one of them and it will pop just like what happened in this video just it never tunes anything in. The phono works great though.
@@ianayers2958 I recommend a ceramic leaded NPO capacitor, which has a 5% tolerance for the standard value. Remember, the transformer cores are tunable so, the tolerance is not that critical. The hard part is disassembling the IF transformer and removing the original capacitors (there are 2). They use 38 gauge wire so, easy to damage. The original capacitors are a sheet of mica, painted on both sides with silver paint. The connection to the paint is made via part of the lead frame which extends out the bottom of the transformer. The lead frame is simply folded over the sheet of mica, relying just upon contact pressure from the lead frame for an electrical connection (nothing is soldered). The whole capacitor assembly is held together with a single rivet and removing it is the most difficult operation without damaging the fine wire that goes to the coil windings. Once you remove the original capacitors, reassemble the IF can, then attach the NPO capacitors to the IF transformer leads on the bottom of the can. The NPO capacitors use a case that is a conformal coating of epoxy. This epoxy becomes very soft while soldering and if there is any tension on the capacitor leads, the internal leads will unsolder. Forceps can be clamped across the capacitor leads close to the cap body to prevent this problem. I mount the cap leads so there is no tension, which prevents the problem. If you have that much trouble with the soldering, you can use leaded mica caps instead, which have a hard epoxy coating. The downside is they are more expensive and not quite as temperature stable.
@@ianayers2958 As a bonus tip - The physical separation between the two IF transformer coils determines the coupling factor or IF bandwidth. More separation produces a narrower bandwidth and vice-versa.
I like the chassis design & overall build quality. There must be a back story. Most from this time were super cheaply made. The branded cans are a trip. The recessed tubes may set ip a cooling convection. I did not see any board discoloration from heat. Damaged from over tightening. All parts on hand. One generic Telechron knob missing.
Nice thing about Mexican stations the FCC can't do anything about it if they broadcast inappropriate content as it's out of their zone. Last time I was in Texas they were paying heavy music with F Bombs etc. & can be herd in Corpus Christi, Texas where I was staying.
Of course it is baked. Back in the day (60's) my mom would get up at 6 am, turn on the radio and it would be on until time to make supper. These days those tubes are getting expensive. Every radio used those and they ain't making them.
77,000 watts? Some of the past "border blasters" have pushed as much as 150,000 watts ERP across from California and Texas. XERB, (from American Grafitti, yes, it existed) and more recently XEROK, "X Rock 80". In 2020 they finally dis-assembled that transmitter .
Transworld (christian radio) used to broadcast to the Caribbean and south America last time I checked were using 500kw transmitter! Shango might be able to DX it on a good day/night.
It took a while, but not that long. My parents gave me the 15-year-old kitchen radio because it kept crackling on AM (it was OK on FM) and the guy at the shop told them it was un-repairable. That was in 1970, and while it certainly could have been repaired, it probably would have cost a lot more than the $10 a properly-working set like it would have gone for at the flea market.
There’s at least 3 stations I pick up out of Mexico City that have that same format. If I get out of Dallas I can get 730 & 770. 1000 is iffy. I’ve got 2 of those radios. A green one that is sun baked & was dropped on its face at some point. I plugged it in to test & it just works. No hum, ok sensitivity. The light for the pointer is different & overly complicated too. The other is a beige one like that & it’s worn down to it’s last electron inside.
Also, I just looked it up, and 730 is W Deportes, ‘Musica’ from about 11p-7a Cental. There’s a 770 W Radio out of Zacatecas that’s probably what I’m hearing.
It was built to handle that current. If you want to see the bare minimum use of copper, open a modern coffee maker with a timer. That clock radio looks like a tank in comparison.
I found this: A notorious case involved the "Radium Girls", a group of women who painted watchfaces and later suffered adverse health effects from ingestion. In 1928, Dr von Sochocky himself died of aplastic anemia as a result of radiation exposure.[3] Thousands of legacy radium dials are still owned by the public and the paint can still be dangerous if ingested in sufficient quantities, which is why it has been banned in many countries.
My dad used to tell me about this when I was a kid, he collected watches... he heard way back in the 50's or 60's that the main reason they got sick was because they would paint the hands by 'hand' and would lick the paintbrush to give it a point if you can believe that!
I had an great uncle, or 2nd cousin once removed, or something like that, who owned a small company that made instruments for the military and it was claimed that he died from cancer as a result of being around the stuff. But I believe this dial paint that they used on most clock radios was not of the radioactive variety that glowed continuously; it had to be exposed to light during the day in order to glow at night, and it was barely visible most of the time.
I was at the CARS Radiorama today and took my Geiger counter. Crosley dashboard and GE clock radios all got 1000-2000 CPM. People were quite surprised 😊.
That outlet bothers me. Many clock radios in that late 50s had them. Ads said the radio could start your morning coffee. Rating for the outlet is listed at 1100 Watts on the label and back cover, 1150 Watts stamped into bracket outlet is mounted on. I've seen a 15 Amp rating for the switch on the clock label, so no problem...but that radio has an 18-2 power cord good for only 7 Amps or 840 Watts total. I wouldn't plug anything drawing over 750-800 Watts into that outlet. Those radios needed a 16-2 heater cord if the outlet was going to be rated at 1100 Watts. Considering that many coffeemakers drew around 1000 Watts we have a problem here.
XEWW-AM 690 kHz is located in Rosarita, Mexico. It has a 2 lobe antenna pattern that focuses the power north and south along the coastline during the daytime. I had never seen a GE clock radio from (about 1960) with a steel chassis. I guess this particular radio was an upscale model. I always serviced ones that had the bare-bones PC board designed for minimum assembly cost. Although appearing as a point-to-point wiring circuit, this one is again another varation of a PC board to reduce cost. I found it interesting that the bottom shield has a cutout under the oscillator coil to minimize detuning it. This effect (without the cutout) would probably be most notable as the radio warmed up and drifted off frequency. I think those 35W4's had a suggested maximum filter cap rating of 47uF, where the cap was attached directly to the cathode. I'm sure you knew this. When I serviced these cheap tube radios in 1974 - 1975, the IF transformers with the built-in 100pF caps, I never saw the silver mica disease. Now, I see the problem on nearly every radio I work on. I'm not really surprised though considering the crude construction technique. I noticed most 5 tube All-American 5 tube sets used these IF transformers starting in 1948.
2:15 Ugly Bastard... I have one on my shelf. Someone marked it with black marker in several places probably for station location. 16:05 buh buh buh buh buh buh buh buh.... 😅
Since this set is so dirty and really not worth much, some people swear by putting really nasty sets like this in the dishwasher, letting the chassis dry thoroughly and realign. If you want to see Shango give this set the dishwasher treatment, give this comment a thumbs up!!
I'm for the dishwasher treatment!
He’s not the type to do that lol. He likes to leave em dirty.
I've done it. Use a pressure washer and let it dry in the sun for a few hours. It will be good
That's how we rolled in the day after flooding, take the back off TV sets, hose out and leave in the sun for a day. Same with stereo's, tape decks etc.
My father told of getting tube-type police radios that had been in the back of police cars and "boiling" them to get all the dust and dirt off. Worked fine afterwards.
690 out of Mexico has been around since the 60s. They used to play adult contemporary. My father always had it on in the car when I was a child.
If I had to guess, it's probably just bog standard capitalist expansion. The only difference being said capitalists are Chinese.
The whole propaganda accusation is amusing. In all honestly, it's probably just boring mundane stuff lol.
Personally, if I was from the MSS? I'd pull a social media stunt. It would get WAY more coverage.
The set was manufactured at the then new Syracuse facility, constructed after the War. It shows heavier duty construction with the cheap GE savings combined.
I don't understand why the Civil Defense marks aren't there. They were ordered on all radios after 1952, and lasted till 1963.
Eventually GE farmed out radio production to a facility in Utica, NY.
Later versions of this radio show the CD marks. Srtange to say the least.
One of rare schematics ( at Beitman's in 1956) that list the IF transformer's original capacitance and resistances within.
Note when searching for a radio station with a ferrite antenna mounted on the chassis sometimes you must turn the
chassis to get better reception. Has tired original tubes and poor socket connections. Those IF transformers pull out of sockets. All fixable giving it some time with a good cleaning and tube testing.
Could just be dirty transformer sockets?
I think it has an interesting look..."space age." I looked it up. Introduced in 1955 with four colors. I see production info through 1959. It would be nice to add to a collection.
Hey thank you for the part where you showed how the two alignment screws interact on the tuning cap, very useful sir
No no sir thank you
It's got the 'pre war' looking numerals on the dial but has the 'retro future' look of the 50's too
This "style" of GE radio with the raised clock panel and side speaker was manufactured for a long time! This is one from the first generation. The first generation was introduced in late 1955. GE continued to produce this radio with minor styling changes and feature deletions and additions all the way through late 1965! Literally 10 calendar years of production. You could still buy these new off the store shelves in 1966 despite it being a quite outdated 1950s design at that point. The last generation, C-480B, C-481B and C-482B were available in white, blue, and Nutmeg (brown) with a clock illuminated by a miniature neon bulb which was on at all times unlike the previous models with the "A" suffix that used a "push/hold" control knob to turn off the clock dial light.
,GE called the moving dial light tuning indicator a “dial beam” I have this same clock radio but in turquoise. It’s very common for these GE’s and the RCA’s of the same timeframe to have the clocks and speakers break free from the plastic retainers inside and rattle around.
Don't discount that switched outfit. They're great. I got tired of paying 100-200 Dollars every 3 years for a "good" coffee maker with displays so small you need glasses to program them. The last time a coffee maker died on me, it was right at the beginning of the lockdowns. All the stores were closed except Family Dollar and all they had was a 14.99 coffee maker with a physical on/off switch. SO I plugged it into the switched outlet on my GE spacesaver radio from the 80s I still use with the power turned on. In the morning when I get up, I turn the power to the switch off on the radio and pour my coffee. It's been 3 years and it still works fine.
Coffee pot outlet! Reminds me of my parent's Silvertone radio. It was used to start the percolator in the mornings. But instead of a photo input, it had a second speaker. It could be used as a remote speaker or an intercom. Listened to Chicken man and Story Lady on it as part of the morning routine as a kid.
"It's ok to go up just a little bit." Pulls out 15,000uf
That Zenith 790 Super Navigator is a fantastic radio. I have one working right now..... the reception is exceppent and the sound is superb. One of the best 60s AM radios yoiu can get... and usually for about $40-$60.
When I lived in San Pedro, CA this station was playing Rock and Roll. I couldn't remember the name or frequency, so thanks.
I've got a GE radio I replaced the filters on and it had the worst case of SMD static I've ever heard . It also had a non conventional tube line up for an all American 5 . The output tube was a 36 volt something, not a typical 50c5. Keep them coming, Dan..............
I love this channel
That filter cap is about as dried out as grandmas clam!
DON’T FORGET, GE STANDS FOR GOOD ENOUGH.
I love the Radio repair videos! I know they bore the hell out of you but they're my favorite.
For some reason I find them more relatable. I would waste too much time repairing a TV set and then the end result would be crummy. With a radio these problems are mitigated.
The Clock's trying to CHRISTINE itself!!!!
Another great saturday morning coffee with shango nice short video fun to watch
Be careful with that one. The clock hands are coated with undark. Trademark of the United States radium company. The hands are heavily coated in radium paint and are quite hot. Make sure you don't breathe in any dust.
If anyone is being careful, Shango is. He's the guy who wears gloves and does everything outside.
@@vhfgamer laughed at that one
Wish we had AM radio anything other than pirate music and talk
Where I live we have WKHB, WPIT, WKFB, and a few others.
WKFB is generic oldies. Don't get me wrong, it's nice! And I like it! But it's nothing special. Good music though.
WPIT is a Christian station. But hey, they play genuinely GOOD music!
WKHB is a bizarre mixture between oldies, catholic sermons, polka music, talk programming about senior health. It's weird, and that's why I like it!
AM 690 was XTRA easy listening decades ago, That blue capacitor made my day.
"Oh yes, listen to that bass!!!" 😂
I swear all of these GE table/clock radios from the late 40's to the late 50's used this same exact 'chassis' design, but with such basic circuitry that even made MadMan Muntz look generous in the number of components used, (which admittedly makes them attractive for shotgunning new parts into). And the SMD comment is totally valid, never seen one that didn't sound like a continuous thunderstorm. Was shocked to see this one work to the level it did. To GE's credit, they did use halfway decent speakers, so they didn't sound all that bad in the end.
Looks like a clock radio from the George Jetsons show ! ( sorry its a cartoon series ) Thanks Shango ! I really enjoy your videos, keep up the great work !!!
The trimmer adjustments are much more effective near the top end of the band. To adjust in the mid and low end usually you’re limited to tweaking the oscillator coil. 15,000 mfd? Really? Poor 35W4.
Shango time baby , i love it ! Greetings from françe the land of macarrons ,and many others a,h in stereo !
It's a cream puff 1 owner, a little old lady, only used for an hour a day...
From February 1956 till March 1983.
Send that beast to me here in Idaho, I'll restore it.
It seems all these GE Musaphonics end up having silver mica disease, I have repaired one and it was amazing how the performance was after replacing the internal capacitors!
I also recently noticed the new station on 690. It comes in loud and clear in Camarillo for me. Had no clue it's out of Mexico.
I love it when you fly in the face of perceived wisdom and it still works. 15000uf on a rectifier valve - humongous inrush current, but still works.
The way he said all metal chassis really spoke to me....
I have a similar Musaohonic that had smd. I copied the caps that (radio rescue) used I think 120pf. I think the schematic actually shows that could be wrong. I know that's not always accurate . Anyways after that it's one of the best receiving radios I have. Also the caps in the if cans aren't hard to remove like the other ones you have done on the channel. Definitely worth fixing.
That particular radio stays in my kitchen I use it to pickup wsm in Nashville. I live on the nc coast. That's 10 hours away from me
Very interesting show,, I would've liked to see you bring it back to life
,
Damn that rectifier tube is a champ, just for anyone who isn't overly familiar with vacuum tubes, if you read the manufacturers datasheets they will specify a maximum value for the primary filter capacitor, usually sub 100ufd.. the larger values can increase plate transient current and destroy the tube, at least that's what the tube book says the engineers thought would happen.. i guess they didnt count on shango 90 years after design :)
If the tube is cold whenever power is applied it in it will probably be safe. The realistic risk is turning it off and back on, or if there is a power glitch.
Love the Doof Doof cam effect Shango, On Ya Mate 👍
We used to listen to XROK 80 out of Juraz Mexico back in the 70's, they played the great old rock and roll of the 60'5 and 70's, we could get it all the way from El Paso to Northern South Dakota back then. According to scuttle butt, the station was in a little Mexican farm house with a huge transmitter broadcasting through an old coat hanger stuck out the window, but that was just BS, nobody really traced the source and back then we just listened and didn't much care about their. setup. I don't know when it died but I do recall listening to it at night while on patrol when working the PD in my home town in the early 70's.
For best results, use genuine G E tubes.
Can you tell the difference if you don't? Or is that a life expectancy thing? It's great! Another Shango Saturday Spectacular! 👍
Which brand would not opt for that free commercial ?
That is the exact model my parents had when i was a kid circa 1955.
The power is strong with this burrito slinger Obi Wan.
My parents had a similar radio when I was a kid back in the '50s and '60s, purchased with S&H green stamps. It woke my dad up religiously every morning for years until the clock mechanism broke.
Then he was fired?
his dad was a pastor
🎵I'm on the Mexican radio🎵
690 690 AM? Two vintage radios 📻 to resurrect. I find that GE clock ⏰ radio 📻 pretty 😍 cool 😎. I’m pretty 😍 sure somebody’s dropped it, but it can be super glued back together. Your friend, Jeff.
thats a funny design on that GE, Shango.
Shango dug up a capacitor out of the junk drawer - had some left over from a gutted Chevy Bolt - hopefully its big enough for this high powered AM wireless guitar amp.
LoL, he can just zip tie them to the cabinet back and call it a day!
The power company here dumps all there old line transformers out in the woods. Sure we could come up with some big caps.
Love the lingo used 😂
Always adds to the entertainment.
Am amazed it still works !
Have seen stuff much better than that chucked in the trash.
I have a GE clock radio that is a couple of years older than this one but nearly the same design. I had to replace the IF's for SMD but now it is a super sensitive radio with just it's loop antenna.
"oh boy" listen to that bass" I love it!
That cap can used for welding battery tabs!! LOL
XEWW AM 690 is an Chinese radio station based in Irwindale, CA.
Best part was when you bounced with the Bollywood music. Thanks for the laugh.
Quite a resurrection! Obviously for getting this radio running again, the giant Cornell Dubilier is great and hilarious. I believe (no expert here) that the reason in general not to go too high beyond rated filter capacitance is because while you reduce the power supply ripple, you also drive the transformer harder (greater current draw) when fully recharging a larger cap during the part of the AC cycle where the cap is being recharged. This would probably not be an issue for a small radio, but does factor into consideration generally with linear power supplies. I.e. Sizing filter caps relative to the transformer current capability. If I'm full of it.. someone, let me know!
I'm not an expert but i don't think that's quite right. I think the transformer would not be under any additional load once the capacitor has initially charged, the load of the circuit that is being powered remains the same so no additional energy is required or dissipated. What would increase is the inrush current and this would put the transformer and rectifier under considerable extra load at power-on, but the nature of tubes coming up slowly I would think should limit this problem to an extent.
@@chickenfizz I remembered reading something about this from my old days struggling with The Art of Electronics book. I just dug it out and re-read the small comment on the topic. I think I now understand the book's "warning" about choosing too large a filter cap, but may still have it off.
Essentially. a larger cap will reduce ripple, but force the transformer and diodes to supply greater current (for a shorter time) in order to replenish the energy consumed by the load since the last diode conduction cycle. The reduced ripple comes at the cost of a smaller diode conduction angle (fewer degrees of the sine wave where the diodes are in conduction) leading to a greater charging current for this shorter cycle. This can cause transformer heating, higher load on the diodes and greater EMI "noise" as the diodes are shutting down conduction with a relatively larger current flowing through them.
Anyway, just trying to think this stuff through, but still probably hazy on it!
@@blobscott That's basically my understanding except this doesn't have a power transformer. It's the high current pulses which can blow out the 35W4 rectifier's internal bond wires.
@@eDoc2020 Yes.. I had forgotten this GE is an AMA 5, series string! I mostly put the original comment up as I remembered at some point in time thinking it was probably not a big deal to add arbitrarily larger filters to a power supply. Shango's Cornell Dubilier temporary XL substitution seemed like a good visual to make the comment that it isn't without costs. Yes, the rectifier will eventually feel the burn!
Arent you supposed to adjust coil for lower frequency stations and capacitor trimmer for higher than 1500khz?
I listen to WGN out of Chicago sometimes. 50kw and im in Massachusetts. I can pick up WGN on my knight R100A over here with a wire I strung up in a tree. Pretty cool, some old those high power stations. Of course being that does am, shortwave and covers ham radio I also listen to WRMI out of miami and WBCQ from Maine. Also got romainia international radio once
Yeah, I get WGN here in Syracuse (Upstate NY) as well on most nights. Also Mass., Toronto, and Cincinnati, among others.
very similar chassis construction style to a uk hmv 1127, they even used usa type number valves/tubes !
I believe HMV was an international brand of RCA.
@@eDoc2020 rca came about from marconi america, and in the uk at least hmv was marconi's uks 'better' brand although hmv was originally a separate company, the full history and the interlinking is likely on the net somewhere! here in the uk in the late 50s/early 60 Thorn bought the rights to the hmv and marconi brands , to go with their ferguson(originally a US-Canadian company), ultra and uk philco
The song playing at 16:14 was Modern Blues by Kula Shaker
Cool old radio
Beck on Mexican radio 😂
That was my parents clock radio until the late 70's..
Cool looking set, especially in its current condition. Straight out of a Fallout game, very retro-futuristic / post apocalyptic.
what is the freqency of that 70 KW station? wanna see if i can hear it up here on my yaesu 101mp as well in the netherlsnds. 73s PD0ROH
Mr Shango, you were long waited! 😅
As the transition between the two diameters on the shaft is not radiused, will this act as a stress riser ?
The 15,000uF capacitor always gets a laugh, nice to see it return.
In the 60s we had clock radios with a coffee maker output so you could wake to a fresh cup. Now we stop at Starbucks. I think we were more intelligent in the 60s.
@shango066
Hey, what value of capacitors would you use for the IFcans? Im trying to repair my old Emerson Phonoradio model 814 D but the skamatic diagram I have doesn't show the value of the caps in the IFcans. I can tap on one of them and it will pop just like what happened in this video just it never tunes anything in. The phono works great though.
The value is typically 100pF for the AM IF transformers.
@Bill Harris Thanks, and what tolerance would you recommend? Would a 5% tolerance be ok, or should I use a 2% tolerance cap?
@@ianayers2958 I recommend a ceramic leaded NPO capacitor, which has a 5% tolerance for the standard value. Remember, the transformer cores are tunable so, the tolerance is not that critical. The hard part is disassembling the IF transformer and removing the original capacitors (there are 2). They use 38 gauge wire so, easy to damage. The original capacitors are a sheet of mica, painted on both sides with silver paint. The connection to the paint is made via part of the lead frame which extends out the bottom of the transformer. The lead frame is simply folded over the sheet of mica, relying just upon contact pressure from the lead frame for an electrical connection (nothing is soldered). The whole capacitor assembly is held together with a single rivet and removing it is the most difficult operation without damaging the fine wire that goes to the coil windings. Once you remove the original capacitors, reassemble the IF can, then attach the NPO capacitors to the IF transformer leads on the bottom of the can. The NPO capacitors use a case that is a conformal coating of epoxy. This epoxy becomes very soft while soldering and if there is any tension on the capacitor leads, the internal leads will unsolder. Forceps can be clamped across the capacitor leads close to the cap body to prevent this problem. I mount the cap leads so there is no tension, which prevents the problem. If you have that much trouble with the soldering, you can use leaded mica caps instead, which have a hard epoxy coating. The downside is they are more expensive and not quite as temperature stable.
@@ianayers2958 As a bonus tip - The physical separation between the two IF transformer coils determines the coupling factor or IF bandwidth. More separation produces a narrower bandwidth and vice-versa.
I like the chassis design & overall build quality. There must be a back story. Most from this time were super cheaply made. The branded cans are a trip. The recessed tubes may set ip a cooling convection. I did not see any board discoloration from heat. Damaged from over tightening. All parts on hand. One generic Telechron knob missing.
You fixed it with the slightly larger caps, so I say strap em in and let er buck/send it-with some hot glue-LMBO!!!!!!!!
I have one just like it in my Lexus.
Only the best for LA from Tijuana - LA born Beck ;)
I've got one of these except mine is pink. Same silver mica disease too.
Did you ask your doctor about prescription Xeljanz?
Oh yes my body is Total Property of the pharmaceutical industry. Pump me full baby
13:52
Radio: Do you want to live well without drowning in debt?
shango066: No.
Nice thing about Mexican stations the FCC can't do anything about it if they broadcast inappropriate content as it's out of their zone. Last time I was in Texas they were paying heavy music with F Bombs etc. & can be herd in Corpus Christi, Texas where I was staying.
Of course it is baked. Back in the day (60's) my mom would get up at 6 am, turn on the radio and it would be on until time to make supper. These days those tubes are getting expensive. Every radio used those and they ain't making them.
11:46 - Ooh! Make audiophile!
Give me some black and white tv now
National Memorial walk of water they're working with you know what white?
Black And White TV? thats pretty racist man, you want me to call the cops?
Do a mechanical color from the 40s.
77,000 watts? Some of the past "border blasters" have pushed as much as 150,000 watts ERP across from California and Texas. XERB, (from American Grafitti, yes, it existed) and more recently XEROK, "X Rock 80". In 2020 they finally dis-assembled that transmitter .
Transworld (christian radio) used to broadcast to the Caribbean and south America last time I checked were using 500kw transmitter! Shango might be able to DX it on a good day/night.
Bravo come sempre .....una buona giornata...Ti seguo
You got one of them rattlesnake radios!
12:00 Go up a little bit.... As the 35W4 RED PLATES and catches FIRE as it warms up! LOL!
Oh hallo shango, bom dia velho amigo de guerra
Silver mica disease would most likely have been rare or non existent back in the day. It took decades to develop in a receiver.
It took a while, but not that long. My parents gave me the 15-year-old kitchen radio because it kept crackling on AM (it was OK on FM) and the guy at the shop told them it was un-repairable. That was in 1970, and while it certainly could have been repaired, it probably would have cost a lot more than the $10 a properly-working set like it would have gone for at the flea market.
Considering that is a 68 year old radio the internal condition is not that bad.
Art Deco Jetsons :)
There’s at least 3 stations I pick up out of Mexico City that have that same format. If I get out of Dallas I can get 730 & 770. 1000 is iffy.
I’ve got 2 of those radios. A green one that is sun baked & was dropped on its face at some point. I plugged it in to test & it just works. No hum, ok sensitivity. The light for the pointer is different & overly complicated too. The other is a beige one like that & it’s worn down to it’s last electron inside.
770 might be KKOB pumping 50,000 watts out of Albuquerque.
@@nmccw3245 I’ve caught enough of an ID to hear “Mexico” but I’ll have to try & catch some call letters.
Also, I just looked it up, and 730 is W Deportes, ‘Musica’ from about 11p-7a Cental. There’s a 770 W Radio out of Zacatecas that’s probably what I’m hearing.
Imagine trusting the wiring enough to have it switch on a coffee pot, people had guts back then.
It was built to handle that current. If you want to see the bare minimum use of copper, open a modern coffee maker with a timer. That clock radio looks like a tank in comparison.
I found this:
A notorious case involved the "Radium Girls", a group of women who painted watchfaces and later suffered adverse health effects from ingestion. In 1928, Dr von Sochocky himself died of aplastic anemia as a result of radiation exposure.[3] Thousands of legacy radium dials are still owned by the public and the paint can still be dangerous if ingested in sufficient quantities, which is why it has been banned in many countries.
My dad used to tell me about this when I was a kid, he collected watches... he heard way back in the 50's or 60's that the main reason they got sick was because they would paint the hands by 'hand' and would lick the paintbrush to give it a point if you can believe that!
I had an great uncle, or 2nd cousin once removed, or something like that, who owned a small company that made instruments for the military and it was claimed that he died from cancer as a result of being around the stuff. But I believe this dial paint that they used on most clock radios was not of the radioactive variety that glowed continuously; it had to be exposed to light during the day in order to glow at night, and it was barely visible most of the time.
I was at the CARS Radiorama today and took my Geiger counter. Crosley dashboard and GE clock radios all got 1000-2000 CPM. People were quite surprised 😊.
the odd part about the actual Radium Girls, those that litigated the exposure, never suffered any effects....but hundreds og others did
Beck on AM radio!
That outlet bothers me. Many clock radios in that late 50s had them. Ads said the radio could start your morning coffee. Rating for the outlet is listed at 1100 Watts on the label and back cover, 1150 Watts stamped into bracket outlet is mounted on. I've seen a 15 Amp rating for the switch on the clock label, so no problem...but that radio has an 18-2 power cord good for only 7 Amps or 840 Watts total. I wouldn't plug anything drawing over 750-800 Watts into that outlet. Those radios needed a 16-2 heater cord if the outlet was going to be rated at 1100 Watts. Considering that many coffeemakers drew around 1000 Watts we have a problem here.
No Consumer Products Safety Commission back then. FIRE IT UP for that cup a joe!
That radio looks like it was stored inside a vacuum cleaner.
XEWW-AM 690 kHz is located in Rosarita, Mexico. It has a 2 lobe antenna pattern that focuses the power north and south along the coastline during the daytime.
I had never seen a GE clock radio from (about 1960) with a steel chassis. I guess this particular radio was an upscale model. I always serviced ones that had the bare-bones PC board designed for minimum assembly cost. Although appearing as a point-to-point wiring circuit, this one is again another varation of a PC board to reduce cost.
I found it interesting that the bottom shield has a cutout under the oscillator coil to minimize detuning it. This effect (without the cutout) would probably be most notable as the radio warmed up and drifted off frequency.
I think those 35W4's had a suggested maximum filter cap rating of 47uF, where the cap was attached directly to the cathode. I'm sure you knew this.
When I serviced these cheap tube radios in 1974 - 1975, the IF transformers with the built-in 100pF caps, I never saw the silver mica disease. Now, I see the problem on nearly every radio I work on. I'm not really surprised though considering the crude construction technique. I noticed most 5 tube All-American 5 tube sets used these IF transformers starting in 1948.
BAKED.
They start as Capacitors, and end as Crapacitors!
Uh, ah. i recognised the song at 23:22 i have that CD
Nice intro 😂
2:15 Ugly Bastard... I have one on my shelf. Someone marked it with black marker in several places probably for station location.
16:05 buh buh buh buh buh buh buh buh.... 😅
That clock in the radio would likely burn your house down