It's a small world!
- Thread starter Romeo Wolf
- Start date
FlaCharlie
Super Member
Certainly no offense taken . . .
But, we're talking about hobbies here, not just knowing how to fix anything you own that breaks. If you get interested in something as a hobby, learning how to do the work yourself makes it more affordable, that's all. And there's a certain amount of pride involved in being able to say you restored or built something yourself.
The OP is a teenager who has very limited resources. If he only wants to own a few radios, he should just hire someone to fix them. If he wants to continue to collect them, paying for repairs gets expensive and his involvement in the hobby will be extremely limited by his lack of funds. I'm sure he would rather spend $50 on a new radio than an hour of some tech's labor.
It's certainly not a necessity to learn how to repair things yourself, but it really makes it more of a hobby when your involvement goes beyond simple ownership.
Romeo Wolf
Super Member
I am going to post my story on there, but while registering, I for the life of me cannot figure out the answer to this question.The solder was "too old"? Never heard that one. And all the solder back then used lead. Much of the modern solder does too. It's actually much easier to work with than the lead-free stuff.
I've restored lots of vintage tube amps that are older than any little transistor radio and I've never had any issue. That said, they've all been wired point to point and I do know that it's possible for vintage circuit boards to be damaged. But, if you're careful, it should be do-able.
I sounds to me like he just didn't want to work on it and makes me wonder just how qualified he is.
This reinforces my earlier suggestion, and the suggestions of others, that you really need to learn to work on these yourself. A unit that isn't working is the perfect candidate for you to start with. If the board gets damaged, oh well. It didn't work anyway and it's still going to look just a cool on a shelf as it did before.
If you haven't already done so, you might want to register on the Antique Radio site. They have a forum that's exclusively about early transistor radios. I'm sure there are members there who would be absolutely thrilled to help a teenager who's interested in radios. Tell the story about solder that's "too old" and they'll be
https://antiqueradios.com/forums/index.php
I bet they would gladly walk you through the repair process and there might even be someone on there who is local to you and willing to give you hands-on lessons.
Hey Romeo, I know I must sound like a broken record, but if I were in your shoes, I would google hamfests in your area. There is almost certainly something not too far away and not to far in the future. Bring your radio. Ask around a bit or just find a table with old radios and an even older guy selling them. Our hamfest here is small by most standards, but it draws a lot of antique radio enthusiasts. Yeah, it will probably smell like BenGay, but you will probably find more than one person that shares your passion of old radios and has expertise. Good luck with the old solder.
Romeo Wolf
Super Member
I tried one of those food items and was able to register. I appreciate the hint!
Romeo Wolf
Super Member
Speaking of ham, I have a friend in high school who is into Ham radio (at least that's what I think). I bet he knows a place or two for hamfests, so I think I'll ask him tomorrow during lunch and see if he knows of any hamfests.
Check out shango066 on YouTube, if you haven't already. He does a lot of transistor radios and is respected by many over at antiqueradios.
https://www.youtube.com/user/shango066/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/shango066/videos
Roadrash
Super Member
There is a huge difference between a mechanic and a technician.
Romeo Wolf
Super Member
I watch his videos every time he uploads, and have been for well over a year. "Nothing but the best."
Romeo Wolf
Super Member
I realized I haven't posted pictures of the GE here (like I usually do), so here's what we're working with for the time being.
Loose battery door latch
Solder traces
Loose battery door latch
Solder traces
Romeo Wolf
Super Member
And that's exactly what I would do.
Bill S
Thread Killer
Might be a bear to get at that board. Looks like tuner string needs to get moved. Doesn't looks like there are many capacitors in that board either. Might just be an issue with those cap values drifting down over all these years. Unless you know how to do the work its probably not worth fixing tho. Hope you can find someone to do it gratis.
Romeo Wolf
Super Member
The PCB can actually slide out so you don't have to remove the string assembly. Besides, if you have to remove the dial string, it shouldn't be that complex to re-string unlike a lot of other cheaper transistor sets. You can also lift the antenna bracket up and away to get at the solder joints.
Here is a teardown of a later revision P780: http://earmark.net/gesr/p780.htm
As far as I know they are superb AM DX'ers when working properly, and will wipe the floor with many other transistor radios in terms of bass response and power output.
RVT1K
Super Member
My logic always revolved around two things. The first being I couldn't afford to pay pros to work on my car, appliances, plumbing,..etc. The second, which applies mostly to my vehicles, is that if someone is going to screw it up, that someone will be me.
I did major renovations to my first home with some help from my dad and father-in-law at the time. They both helped with the living room and I learned enough to do the rest although I did use both for extra hands at times. We did big stuff too like removing a wall and putting big windows where there were small ones. I also re-did the kitchen. The one thing I did pay to have done was the taping and spackling.
I totally renovated the bathroom in my current house last year although I had my neighbor/pro carpenter help install the tub/shower enclosure and level the very jacked floor and I paid him for his time. Between his time and the materials, I probably put $5k into it. His estimation was that it was at least a $20k job had I contracted it out. I also gutted and re-did the drywall in one of the bedrooms in my current house after bees infested over the ceiling. This time, I did the taping and spackling myself.
I think that people can become proficient fairly quickly but it takes years to become an expert. I'm not an expert but I am proficient. Sometimes you just have to give it a go and be ready to ask a lot of questions.
Bill S
Thread Killer
Key operative words.
But nowhere close to a decent hifi rig. They are collected more as a novelty these days.
If it were me and I had limited funds, I'd try to focus my areas of interest and use those limited funds to improve one area of my passions. Guess what I'm trying to say is if you can't fix it, maybe move on and put the funds to better use elsewhere??
There are lots of things I've learned how to fix purely because I couldn't find someone to do the job for me. Sometimes it was because I couldn't pay, but plenty of times were because there just wasn't anyone TO pay.
my kids think I'm an auto mechanic, my wife thinks I'm a general contractor, her friends think I'm an IT guy, my mom thinks I'm an electrician, my buddies think I'm a audio tech. not sure what my university thinks I am.
I think I'm a bass player.
fixed a ceiling fan last night.
it is a **cking curse!