11-03-2013, 06:51 PM
Following the timely reminder I got on with this this afternoon.
The IF seemed to be OK but using my loop I found that the RF was a bit out.
It still seemed pretty poor. Absolute Radio and Radio Sheffield were fine but apart from that all I could get was a barely audible Five Live with the volume full up. I therefore started to look elsewhere.
I'd previously changed most of the caps and only two original elecyrolytics remained: Trader Sheet numbers C13 and C23. Despite C13 being listed as 0.1µF both these are in fact 8µF.
C23 had an ESR of 10Ω so I changed that. This made no difference which I hadn't expected as I thought the problem would be further back in the circuit than that.
C13 had an ESR of 2Ω but neither a new one nor having none at all fitted made any odds.
When I got this set the ferrite rod was snapped and, as I hadn't got a replacement I'd spliced it.
Since then I have acquired bits so changed that which finally brought about a worthwhile improvement.
It still isn't great but having never had a comparable set in A1 condition it's hard to tell. Some radios, like Melody Makers and Bush VHF61s on AM, are just plain poor by design. It isn't fair to compare it with more modern or sophisticated sets and I'd say it's now about on a par with a DAC90a.
The IF seemed to be OK but using my loop I found that the RF was a bit out.
It still seemed pretty poor. Absolute Radio and Radio Sheffield were fine but apart from that all I could get was a barely audible Five Live with the volume full up. I therefore started to look elsewhere.
I'd previously changed most of the caps and only two original elecyrolytics remained: Trader Sheet numbers C13 and C23. Despite C13 being listed as 0.1µF both these are in fact 8µF.
C23 had an ESR of 10Ω so I changed that. This made no difference which I hadn't expected as I thought the problem would be further back in the circuit than that.
C13 had an ESR of 2Ω but neither a new one nor having none at all fitted made any odds.
When I got this set the ferrite rod was snapped and, as I hadn't got a replacement I'd spliced it.
Since then I have acquired bits so changed that which finally brought about a worthwhile improvement.
It still isn't great but having never had a comparable set in A1 condition it's hard to tell. Some radios, like Melody Makers and Bush VHF61s on AM, are just plain poor by design. It isn't fair to compare it with more modern or sophisticated sets and I'd say it's now about on a par with a DAC90a.
