BUSH TR82DAB

[Old Sparky]

Yesterday I was asked if I could repair one of these. It, so the owner says, 'craclkles' and there is a faint hum from the PSU with the radio switched off. Have to look into this, though I suspect, after reading a review of the model, that the latter isn't curable. My main reason for posting is to comment that it does seem quite well built, and, from a distance, looks like the 'real thing'. One thing that, IMO, is better than the original is the way that the rotary dial is secured, being screwed to the tuning shaft, something of which the original designers back in the 50s, didn't think!
As to sound quality, given the rather small speaker used, it's not too bad, whilst, to
get back ot the radio's appearance, it's let down, as others have noted, by the dial
calibrations, which are the wrong way round relative to the station names. Someone, when designing this 'repro' radio should have realised their mistake before getting all those dials produced!!

[Joe]

And the other daft thing is that they're calibrated in kHz, not ever kc/s.

- Joe

[Old Sparky]

And the other daft thing is that they're calibrated in kHz, not ever kc/s.

- Joe

True, but it would have been historically more accurate had they calibrated the dial in Metres. As others may know already, the tuning is (roughly) in agreement with the frequencies, not the station names.

[Joe]

There's a typo in my earlier post which won't have helped but I meant that they should be marked up in metres but if this was felt too confusing these days they could at least have used the old unit for frequency.

From what you say it sound like that for all the one you're looking at is DAB is still has AM too.

- Joe

[Old Sparky]

The TR82DAB does indeed have FM/MW/LW bands as well as DAB. AFAIK it's the only DAB radio that does include MW & LW. I know of no other DAB set that includes AM bands.

[Old Sparky]

Having test run the TR82DAB for maybe an hour or so earlier today, the DAB section suddenly shut down, and remains 'off'. Even if the mains supply is switched off,, left a while then switched on again, there is no display, and none of the DAB controls work, although the analogue radio works OK on all 3 wavebands. I haven't had time to check for the cause of failure as yet, but am I likely to be able to obtain spares for this model, and, if so, from where?

[Robert Darwent]

The TR82DAB does indeed have FM/MW/LW bands as well as DAB. AFAIK it's the only DAB radio that does include MW & LW. I know of no other DAB set that includes AM bands.

I've had a cream/tan TR82DAB for 8 years or so bought from new and also a non-working example acquired via eBay. The set is basically the earlier TR82/97 model with the addition of a DAB module - essentially two radios in one case. So its an updated LW/MW/FM set to include DAB rather than being designed from the outset as FM/DAB only, hence the unusual inclusion of LW/MW.

As with your set my non-working example is fine on the other bands, which is to be expected I suppose as the DAB module is separate from the analogue section. All I get is a blank blue display. Occasionally the good set does this as well and a power reset clears the problem.

I've yet to get around to looking inside but assume somewhere in the circuitry there is a power on/reset pulse arrangement of some sort for the DAB module that must have failed - perhaps involving something simple like a small dried out electrolytic? Or perhaps that's just wishful thinking on my part!

Regards

[Old Sparky]

Does anyone know what is the best way to remove the main PCB from these sets? As far as i can see, this involves removing the dial cord assembly. Unless there is some way to secure this, I'm reluctant to proceed further because i can forsee problems getting the tension, etc., right if i remove the cord drive! There is a +5v supply to the DAB module, which now has a blank display, though the blue illumination works, and sometimes stays on, but non of the DAB buttons work. I cannot check further without removing the PCB so this job is a bit 'catch 22'!

[Robert Darwent]

You've sparked my interest, so I've just delved into my non-working set to see if I can remove the main PCB.

I can confirm it is necessary to take of the two dial cords as they sit on spindles moulded into the case, without them out of the way it is impossible to lift the PCB. However, its not as bad as it looks;

Take off the top cord first at the spring end, it unwraps from around the large pulley anti-clockwise one and half turns, then goes around the pivot at roughly ten o'clock, and unwraps a further two turns anti-clockwise from around the small pulley before going back to the looped end point via the pivot at roughly one o'clock.

The bottom cord is longer and just unwraps one and half turns anti-clockwise from the pulley at the spring end, then a couple of anti-clockwise turns from the other pulley before going back to the looped end point. No pivots involved with this cord.

The main PCB has three ribbon cables connecting it to the bank of push switches. This bank is attached with four screws which are impossible to access as the main PCB only lifts an inch or so because of being attached to the switches - getting a screwdriver in there is a no-go.

The only way I can see to release the main PCB is to unsolder all three ribbon cables, get everything out of the case, then reattach to work on - clearly whoever designed this set intended for it to be thrown away rather than repaired if anything went wrong!

As expected, the DAB module is a separate board fitted on to small stand-offs and mounted on the main PCB near the battery box, lower right - frustratingly close, but inaccessible at present!

I'll report back when I've made further progress.

Regards

[Old Sparky]

Bad Electrolytic Capacitors, plus an almost certainly faulty SMD Voltage regulator seem to be the cause of DAB failure
I am in the process of repairing one in which the DAB worked for maybe 3/4 hour then cut out, leaving a blank display, but the AM/FM continued to work normally, so I assume that the Vreg. in particular, supplies the DAB module.