Hello from Cuba

[Nowhere-Man]

I lived in Latvia some years ago. I was in Jurmala then ater Riga. Estonia I also know pretty well but I didn't visit Lithuania. The Soviet radios are pretty awesome but maybe the Japanese had an edge on "consumerism). Even so the Astrad was an exported model. In Miguel's case (Cuba), radios were supplied in the early sixties so I guess they are plentiful in Cuba. If you ask me it's a useful skill to be able to restore such sets as in some countries they command a decent price.

[Mike Watterson]

The Selena LW/MW/SW/VHF sets get good prices in UK, compared to similar era non-soviet transistor sets?

[Nowhere-Man]

На экспорт выпускали под торговыми марками Astrad, Solar, Astrad Solar, Astrad Auriga, номер модели был "103".

From my website: The Riga 103 USSR radio receiver was exported for sale abroad also as the Astrad Auriga.

The model I have is in great condition but totally dead. I only very briefly took a look at it to see if there was anything obvious. I did find the speakers work but no juice going from the battery section. I did see what appear to be large power capacitors but no visible markings from the top. So, at some point I will have to start along the power stages as I would do with a valve radio. It did strike me as not an easy radio to work on due to the production being foreign.

[Murphyv310]

Hi Miguel.
Great to see you here. Looking forward to seeing your projects.

[Terry]

We used to call Rigonda stuff recycled rocket.

I remember a radio of, I think, Polish origin, turning up in our workshop in the 60s which had an unusual smell when you took the back off.

Two colleagues who were a few years older than me and, therefore, schoolboys during WWII, both declared that it was the distinctive smell of a crashed Luftwaffe* plane!

The radio had a passivated chassis which gave it a slight yellowish sheen and the conclusion was that this was the source of the smell and the connecting factor.

* Despite constant warnings to the contrary, any German plane that crashed was likely to have all the local schoolboys swarming all over it in a very short time, apparently!

[Nowhere-Man]

Curiosity led me to tinker with the Astrad. I lack anything like Miguel's experience with transistor sets so really a set like this is a bit advanced. Most of my work has been on valve 50's radios. Still I now think this Astrad can be fixed. It seems I located the power feed which responds. The battery supply seems to be off circuit. Still there is some life but I am not going to rush ahead without due care. Written in Russnia the speaker has May 1969 written on. If that is true many people would be impressed as it is the Apollo moon year. I have no idea of the age of the Astrad though. I admit the angle Miguel has on this hobby is facinating. I am in awe of this radio. The waveband mechanism is awesome.

[Mike Watterson]

I cleaned the waveband metal dots on the turret (that rotate on to the fixed springs with an ink rubber and all the bands (all dead), came back to life.

[Nowhere-Man]

I am very inexperienced with transistor sets. I have repaired a few "easy cases" but most of what I learned so far is valve-related. Miguel, as we know, is a specialist in Soviet radio tech repair so he will know all the irregularities of the design. Of course, I would love to learn. The easiest transistor radios for me (given my lack of experience working on transistorised equipment) , would be the box/case types. For example, I have a Bush that's made in a very similar way to the valve equivalent but with very large transistors point soldered and no PCB at all. So, really, you can hardly go wrong in such a case.

Therefore, I guess I'm saying a Soviet made transistorised set isn't easy. I think in this case I need to delve deep into why the battery box isn't in circuit.All the capacitors and circuitry appear to be in pretty good condition. There is a button at the side of the case (by the volume knob) that is broken. 

I am also working in an East German radio I'd shelved for some time as it's more difficult than your average valve radio). I had been baffled by low voltage of sixty odd volts on an anode. All the others anodes were reading as high as expected. Online I found others who had equally been puzzled by this low reading and, in once case, someone had been advised to change the anode coupling capacitors. Fortunately I discovered the workshop test voltages indicated low volts for the valve in question so I am happy with that. I have now located the actual problem so work will continue.

As to the Astrad I can pretty easily lay my hands on the schematics as here:

[Nowhere-Man]

I think the closest to the Auriga I can get in a short few minutes is below. Can't guarantee it exactly corresponds but with a bit of practice I ought to be bale to dig up a few old Soviet manuals.

[Nowhere-Man]

Typical USSR models - the Sputnik (late Fifties). Also the Spidola here dated 1962.