06-06-2012, 07:40 PM
I bought this little set a couple of weeks ago as I've not worked on a transistor radio for ages. Dating from 1961, it was available in all over red or this rather fetching blue snakeskin effect and grey cloth. Batteries are (or rather were) two 6V PP1.
After fudging a battery supply from four 3v lithium cells I gave it some power but only Long Wave worked and rather noisily at that. A clean of the wave change switch had it working on Medium Wave but again a rather muddy signal even on R5 which is very strong here. I noticed as I was handling the chassis it would crackle every so often so went on the hunt for a loose wire. A tweak on each of the wires showed nothing was amiss. Hmmmm. I then noticed a tag on the car aerial socket was touching the variable capacitor, levering this away solved the problem.
The grimy case totally stripped and the outside cleaned in warm water and when dry was given a rub with Autoglym Vinyl & Rubber Care which brought the lustre back. Marks on the plastic facia were removed with 5000 grit polishing sticks - a larger version of a nail buffer - and the black infill of the Dynatron name touched up. As an aside, mine has a metal plate over the PCB I'm not sure if this original or not. I would have thought if that tan coloured card had been cut in half it would have been easier to cut a new piece rather than go the effort of bending sheet.
Back together with 2 x 4 1.5v battery holders and it sounds quite nice, even the AF117's behaved all weekend. I rather enjoyed working on a transistor radio again, it made a nice change.
Andrew
Piccies...
[attachment=5146]
[attachment=5147]
[attachment=5148]
[attachment=5149]
After fudging a battery supply from four 3v lithium cells I gave it some power but only Long Wave worked and rather noisily at that. A clean of the wave change switch had it working on Medium Wave but again a rather muddy signal even on R5 which is very strong here. I noticed as I was handling the chassis it would crackle every so often so went on the hunt for a loose wire. A tweak on each of the wires showed nothing was amiss. Hmmmm. I then noticed a tag on the car aerial socket was touching the variable capacitor, levering this away solved the problem.
The grimy case totally stripped and the outside cleaned in warm water and when dry was given a rub with Autoglym Vinyl & Rubber Care which brought the lustre back. Marks on the plastic facia were removed with 5000 grit polishing sticks - a larger version of a nail buffer - and the black infill of the Dynatron name touched up. As an aside, mine has a metal plate over the PCB I'm not sure if this original or not. I would have thought if that tan coloured card had been cut in half it would have been easier to cut a new piece rather than go the effort of bending sheet.
Back together with 2 x 4 1.5v battery holders and it sounds quite nice, even the AF117's behaved all weekend. I rather enjoyed working on a transistor radio again, it made a nice change.
Andrew
Piccies...
[attachment=5146]
[attachment=5147]
[attachment=5148]
[attachment=5149]
