AA5 tube radio re-cap

inerlogic

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let's see if this works...

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posted those pictures in another thread, hopefully they don't need to be re-uploaded :)

anyway, tangentially ham-related, as i'm a ham, and this is a radio...
picked up for cheap as a little project. i want to get a second one, gut it, and rebuild it with new caps and new resistors, new wire.... the whole 9 yards... add a polarized plug, safety capacitor, maybe even a fuse.
once that is aligned and verified as working, i'll probably re-visit this one and do a complete tear down, rebuild.... only 6 capacitors to replace, the resistors all tested within spec, i'm bought new ones just in case, all told the parts and shipping was about $30, i need to buy some caps in bulk... i picked up a spare set of tubes (GE) the original tubes that came with the radio are good, now i have a spare set, NOS, and in that last photo, i've got the thing running on the spares set of tubes to test them out, make sure they work.

i've just moved from my house to an apartment, so i couldn't find my 50/100W soldering gun, and i don't have a de-soldering gun (i want to get a fancy vacuum one) so *some* of the work in this one is sloppier than i'd like, and one of the sockets is broken, i had to fudge a jumper to an unused pin.
it's "good enough" and works, but i want to do it the right way when i have a bit more experience and am less impatient to get to it.

just picked up a heathkit VTVM i need to build probes for, i have a signal generator, i haven't done an IF alignment on the above radio yet though, i only use it to listen to one station, WBSM, and bsm is so close to me... i used to have a toaster that would get wbsm.....

i'm looking out for an RCA WO-33A o-scope to turn into a curve tracer.... so if someone has one with good CRT collecting dust, HMU :)
 
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Nothing like the AA5’s. They have a great sound.

I do an occasional one during the second half of the winter in my down time. I have a Crosley on the bench and a Philco cathedral up next. Both table tops

The Philco will be a bigger project as they are known for having open transformer coils so I will likely have to rewind a few by hand.

The Philco is for me so I’m thinking about doing a “full resto” on it and hiding the new components inside the old ones.

Bob
 
i've got a philco 52-1736 AM/FM/Phono, 50+ paper caps, electrolytics, roundy resistors, some of which look crispy... been sitting in the attic of my apartment for probably 40 years cooking. AM is such garbage around here, FM would be nice, and the Phono amp could be useful

i really want to get it working, i'm REALLY dreading the work it'll take....

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deep breaths, xanax, one component at a time, and a complete parts bin...
 
i've got a philco 52-1736 AM/FM/Phono, 50+ paper caps, electrolytics, roundy resistors, some of which look crispy... been sitting in the attic of my apartment for probably 40 years cooking. AM is such garbage around here, FM would be nice, and the Phono amp could be useful

i really want to get it working, i'm REALLY dreading the work it'll take....

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deep breaths, xanax, one component at a time, and a complete parts bin...

They can go pretty quick if the goal is just to get them running. Just recap them and run them up to see where you are at.

One of the bigger issues I run into is trying to figure out what the last person did when they were in there and putting it back the way it should be.

There are some differences in resistance labeling and capacitor marking than what is done today.

FM is too modern for me though.:p

I tend to be drawn to the AM/short wave sets. I have been keeping an eye open for a table top with a tuning eye. I will find the right one eventually.

Bob
 
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