202-R Arrived
- Thread starter audmod01
- Start date
Interesting...Fisher started to call it "Autotune" but ended up calling it "Microtune".
And it's quite normal for new items such as radios, televisions, cars, and other things to have been introduced to the public in the fall of the previous calendar year. Way back in the day, radio manufacturers brought out each new model year's line of radios in June of the previous calendar year. Introuducing new models in September or so makes more sense, I think, than June.
And it's quite normal for new items such as radios, televisions, cars, and other things to have been introduced to the public in the fall of the previous calendar year. Way back in the day, radio manufacturers brought out each new model year's line of radios in June of the previous calendar year. Introuducing new models in September or so makes more sense, I think, than June.
audmod01
Super Member
When I read the ad in High Fidelity magazine, I made note of the price. If this unit were to be produced today by a manual labor assembly line it would probably cost $3295.00 due to the effects of inflation. I have to remind myself of this when I look at prices of vintage equipment on the internet. Many of the items represent a real bargain if they are truly capable of being restored. Our ingenuity, effort, time and money expended bring many of these items back from the brink. It is rewarding to see them working again and looking nice.
On the issue of custom panels:
One of the guys on Fun With Tubes of Yahoo mentioned a company that has thin aluminum sheets that can be printed on using inkjet printers. There are several colors of material available. The result has to be protected by a clear overspray after applied to the surface of the receiving faceplate. This will work easiest for plates that are completely flat. Unfortunately Fisher used panels that were extruded and often have ridges or grooves that would present problems in using this method. However, it could still be done by trimming the result to fit within areas that are completely flat. This would work well for one-off home projects though to produce a really nice looking panel with professional appearance. See: https://alumajet.com/
Joe
On the issue of custom panels:
One of the guys on Fun With Tubes of Yahoo mentioned a company that has thin aluminum sheets that can be printed on using inkjet printers. There are several colors of material available. The result has to be protected by a clear overspray after applied to the surface of the receiving faceplate. This will work easiest for plates that are completely flat. Unfortunately Fisher used panels that were extruded and often have ridges or grooves that would present problems in using this method. However, it could still be done by trimming the result to fit within areas that are completely flat. This would work well for one-off home projects though to produce a really nice looking panel with professional appearance. See: https://alumajet.com/
Joe
Nicely done Joe. I could live with the Front panel as is. Consider it war wounds, or battle scars. I don't think I've ever seen any FISHER that had an absolutely perfect front panel except one, and that was a 400 that apparently had never been taken out of the factory box, before the AK member got it. It had all the original packing material in it and it was packed as from the factory. The history he got was the original owner got it, went to S.E. Asia and came back, then never took it put of the box.
Larry
Larry
It would have made everything sound robotic if it was autotune, so be glad for that.
They brought out "AUTO-SCAN" later for the 500-TX/800-T and a couple others that had varactor tuning. I can't remember the other units tho.
audmod01
Super Member
Larry;
Thanks for the compliments on the front panel. It does look pretty presentable now and I might do a little more touch-up on it. There are some visible nicks and scratches when the light is from particular directions, but every other piece of equipment I have has some imperfections on its front panel too.
In the ad for the 202-R, it states that this tuner has a 1 microvolt sensitivity for 20dB of quieting featuring the Golden Cascode front end (using a 6DJ8 tube) and a capture ratio of 1.5dB due in part to the 6 IF stages. As Dave mentioned, this was a high-water mark for tuners at this time. Only the FM-1000 later had the 6 IF stages. Usually High Fidelity magazine also had test reports of new equipment in later issues of their magazine. I will look and see if I can find a test report on it.
Joe
Thanks for the compliments on the front panel. It does look pretty presentable now and I might do a little more touch-up on it. There are some visible nicks and scratches when the light is from particular directions, but every other piece of equipment I have has some imperfections on its front panel too.
In the ad for the 202-R, it states that this tuner has a 1 microvolt sensitivity for 20dB of quieting featuring the Golden Cascode front end (using a 6DJ8 tube) and a capture ratio of 1.5dB due in part to the 6 IF stages. As Dave mentioned, this was a high-water mark for tuners at this time. Only the FM-1000 later had the 6 IF stages. Usually High Fidelity magazine also had test reports of new equipment in later issues of their magazine. I will look and see if I can find a test report on it.
Joe
Super job Joe! This is one more example that along with your previous projects, officially establishes you as the go to source when restoring physically challenged units! It will be very interesting to hear your thoughts about the practical differences between using your R and your 500C.
Nest time you send out a copy of the HF magazine report, I'd love to get a copy......
Dave
Nest time you send out a copy of the HF magazine report, I'd love to get a copy......
Dave
I copied it to irfanview and blew it up to 177% which was good enough to read, however it was starting to pixelate. Good article tho.
audmod01
Super Member
Ron;
When you were working on the can electrolytic in your 202-R, you showed the can empty along with the bottom bakelite wafer and apparently another wafer that was above it and the rubber washer in between them. I have the bottom rim ground off of an electrolytic and have the ring with the twist tabs intact and removed. The old capacitor elements and its bottom wafers and solder tabs are still in the can. I tried working an X-acto knife around the bottom edge of the can and so far the insides of the capacitor will not come out. Did you use a small screwdriver to slightly flare out the ridge at the bottom of the can to get the inside parts out? I don't want to tear this up after getting this far along. I am wondering if heat would help things along.
Joe
When you were working on the can electrolytic in your 202-R, you showed the can empty along with the bottom bakelite wafer and apparently another wafer that was above it and the rubber washer in between them. I have the bottom rim ground off of an electrolytic and have the ring with the twist tabs intact and removed. The old capacitor elements and its bottom wafers and solder tabs are still in the can. I tried working an X-acto knife around the bottom edge of the can and so far the insides of the capacitor will not come out. Did you use a small screwdriver to slightly flare out the ridge at the bottom of the can to get the inside parts out? I don't want to tear this up after getting this far along. I am wondering if heat would help things along.
Joe
Joe - first of all, thank you so much for the 202-R article!
Yes, the cans have a wafer with the terminals, a rubber seal, and another wafer. I just pulled on each terminal, alternating in turn, until the guts came out. Now, when I did this to the electrolytic can of my FM-50-B, the wafer with the terminals came off leaving everything else inside. There was enough of two of the positive electrodes left for me to pull on them, alternating in turn, until everything came out. If I did it again (and I surely will), I think I would apply heat to help move things along. Depending on the FP cap, heat might become mandatory to get the old electrolytic innards free from the can as the guts are partially held in place by tar, up at the inside top of the unit.
Yes, the cans have a wafer with the terminals, a rubber seal, and another wafer. I just pulled on each terminal, alternating in turn, until the guts came out. Now, when I did this to the electrolytic can of my FM-50-B, the wafer with the terminals came off leaving everything else inside. There was enough of two of the positive electrodes left for me to pull on them, alternating in turn, until everything came out. If I did it again (and I surely will), I think I would apply heat to help move things along. Depending on the FP cap, heat might become mandatory to get the old electrolytic innards free from the can as the guts are partially held in place by tar, up at the inside top of the unit.
Thanks so much Joe as always!
Dave
Dave
audmod01
Super Member
This morning I was determined to get the old electrolytic I was disassembling apart for rebuilding. Ron had mentioned in a reply that there was some tar inside the aluminum can, so heat was definitely in order to help get this apart. The particular one I am working on is from the Electra 440-A power supply, a 100uF@250VDC capacitor. This unit is part of a voltage doubler and is the unit with a cardboard sleeve for insulation. Even the cardboard sleeve was being held by a coating of tar on the inside. Heat is in order to help get this apart too.
After heat was applied, I was able to slide the cardboard sleeve off and also to remove the cardboard top disc. Then I used my small flat-blade screwdriver to help separate the bakelite wafer that the solder contact is mounted in, slowly working all the way around the full circle. I used a hair drier to heat the can thoroughly all around and on top. I wore leather gloves to protect my hands from the heated part and slowly began to extract the capacitor element by tugging on the solder lug in the bakelite wafers. It finally came apart and the next step was using a knife blade to remove excess tar deposits on the inside of the can and the inside of the cardboard sleeve. Once that was done, I dropped the aluminum can in a bath of paint thinner and used an old toothbrush to scrub away all the tar deposits on the inside of the can.
Here are a couple of pictures of the disassembled capacitor and the new capacitor that will take the place of the old element. The new capacitor is much smaller even though its electrical rating is the same and it us good to 105 degrees C. It will fit into the aluminum can with room to spare. The 4th hole in the bakelite wafer can be used to bring out the ground lead. If a capacitor with four solder lugs were being rebuilt, a 5th hole could be drilled in both wafers to bring out a common ground. The second picture shows the top side of the outer wafer to illustrate the retaining tab on the contact where the positive lead of the electrolytic element is attached.
Joe
After heat was applied, I was able to slide the cardboard sleeve off and also to remove the cardboard top disc. Then I used my small flat-blade screwdriver to help separate the bakelite wafer that the solder contact is mounted in, slowly working all the way around the full circle. I used a hair drier to heat the can thoroughly all around and on top. I wore leather gloves to protect my hands from the heated part and slowly began to extract the capacitor element by tugging on the solder lug in the bakelite wafers. It finally came apart and the next step was using a knife blade to remove excess tar deposits on the inside of the can and the inside of the cardboard sleeve. Once that was done, I dropped the aluminum can in a bath of paint thinner and used an old toothbrush to scrub away all the tar deposits on the inside of the can.
Here are a couple of pictures of the disassembled capacitor and the new capacitor that will take the place of the old element. The new capacitor is much smaller even though its electrical rating is the same and it us good to 105 degrees C. It will fit into the aluminum can with room to spare. The 4th hole in the bakelite wafer can be used to bring out the ground lead. If a capacitor with four solder lugs were being rebuilt, a 5th hole could be drilled in both wafers to bring out a common ground. The second picture shows the top side of the outer wafer to illustrate the retaining tab on the contact where the positive lead of the electrolytic element is attached.
Joe
I think you mean the TFM-300. It and the amp that it was supposed to be mated with (TX-300) would basically equal a 600-T. Fred Soop knows a lot more about it. IIRC FISHER only made it a year or two, but it may not have been a big seller.
audmod01
Super Member
Larry;
Yes that would be the one. I don't think there was a vacuum tube version. The TFM-300 was a 1965 model year introduction and as you said may have had a run of two years, probably not more. I only remember seeing one of those in for service while I worked for Berkman's Hi-Fi in Austin back in 1966. I don't know how many other models of Fisher products may have had a wireless remote control before Avery sold his company. In today's world, most all of us expect to see an audio product with a wireless remote control included. I remember RCA and Zenith offering remote controls with some models of there televisions in the 1950s. My dad bought a new 1957 Zenith with "Space Command" ultrasonic remote control. It would turn the set on and off, change stations, mute sound and change volume from the chair. It would also respond to shaken pocket change and car keys with various reactions. Eventually ultrasonic remote controls gave way to infrared remote controls. Philco had some wireless remote control radio models in the late 1930s and early 1940s. It was advertised as a "Mystery Control". The ads stated it was not using radio waves, but in fact it actually did (low wave frequencies below the AM broadcast band). Ron knows about these since he is the Philco expert.
The design groups of various consumer electronics equipment have kept busy over the decades pushing the application of new technology.
Joe
Yes that would be the one. I don't think there was a vacuum tube version. The TFM-300 was a 1965 model year introduction and as you said may have had a run of two years, probably not more. I only remember seeing one of those in for service while I worked for Berkman's Hi-Fi in Austin back in 1966. I don't know how many other models of Fisher products may have had a wireless remote control before Avery sold his company. In today's world, most all of us expect to see an audio product with a wireless remote control included. I remember RCA and Zenith offering remote controls with some models of there televisions in the 1950s. My dad bought a new 1957 Zenith with "Space Command" ultrasonic remote control. It would turn the set on and off, change stations, mute sound and change volume from the chair. It would also respond to shaken pocket change and car keys with various reactions. Eventually ultrasonic remote controls gave way to infrared remote controls. Philco had some wireless remote control radio models in the late 1930s and early 1940s. It was advertised as a "Mystery Control". The ads stated it was not using radio waves, but in fact it actually did (low wave frequencies below the AM broadcast band). Ron knows about these since he is the Philco expert.
The design groups of various consumer electronics equipment have kept busy over the decades pushing the application of new technology.
Joe
As I remember the TFM-300 it was a hybrid tuner. Tubed front end and solid state IF stages. I remember Magnavox had a ultrasonic on the high end Astrosonics, and RCA , Zenith both had Ultrasonics. But they were far and few between when I was growing up in the late 50's and thru the 60's. Usually in the neighborhoods I lived in only upper enlisted (chiefs) with out a lot of kids had a TV or stereo with a remote. I did know quite a few officer's kids and almost all of them had a console, or a TV with a wireless remote in the house.
audmod01
Super Member
Larry;
Yes, in the beginning of implementing transistors in receivers, it was difficult to achieve the performance that tubes were capable of at RF frequencies, especially in VHF applications. There were transistors that worked at those frequencies, but their performance in handling intermodulation was quite poor, which is why Fisher among others stayed with tubes for the front end and managed to do with transistors in the IF circuitry and multiplex demodulators. Once JFET, MOSFET and Dual-Gate MOSFET transistors became available transistor front ends in VHF tuners became much better performers and tubes pretty much bowed out of receiver applications.
The dealer I worked for in Austin carried both Fisher and H H Scott tuners, receivers, amplifiers and preamplifiers. By 1966 some of the transistorized tuners began to use the early integrated circuits in the IF strips.
I think my dad was the exception rather than the rule in buying a TV with remote control. The set was rather costly for a 21" B&W TV at the time (near $400) so not many were sold. In both of the towns that I lived in during my high school years we had the TV and I learned to repair it at home. Not many TV service people wanted to deal with a TV having a remote control. Not long before I went off to college, the TV developed a weak CRT and even a brightener would not bring it back into good focus, so I wound up changing the CRT at home. Dad was impressed that I was able to do the work and have it perform well again. He was really reluctant for me to do it, but eventually relented and let me. There were only a handful of TV sets in those towns that had remote controls in those days.
I have set the 202-R back in its shipping box for now so I can concentrate on the 490-T/440-A stereo for my granddaughter. More on that in my other post.
Joe
Yes, in the beginning of implementing transistors in receivers, it was difficult to achieve the performance that tubes were capable of at RF frequencies, especially in VHF applications. There were transistors that worked at those frequencies, but their performance in handling intermodulation was quite poor, which is why Fisher among others stayed with tubes for the front end and managed to do with transistors in the IF circuitry and multiplex demodulators. Once JFET, MOSFET and Dual-Gate MOSFET transistors became available transistor front ends in VHF tuners became much better performers and tubes pretty much bowed out of receiver applications.
The dealer I worked for in Austin carried both Fisher and H H Scott tuners, receivers, amplifiers and preamplifiers. By 1966 some of the transistorized tuners began to use the early integrated circuits in the IF strips.
I think my dad was the exception rather than the rule in buying a TV with remote control. The set was rather costly for a 21" B&W TV at the time (near $400) so not many were sold. In both of the towns that I lived in during my high school years we had the TV and I learned to repair it at home. Not many TV service people wanted to deal with a TV having a remote control. Not long before I went off to college, the TV developed a weak CRT and even a brightener would not bring it back into good focus, so I wound up changing the CRT at home. Dad was impressed that I was able to do the work and have it perform well again. He was really reluctant for me to do it, but eventually relented and let me. There were only a handful of TV sets in those towns that had remote controls in those days.
I have set the 202-R back in its shipping box for now so I can concentrate on the 490-T/440-A stereo for my granddaughter. More on that in my other post.
Joe
