BUSH VHF64 Part 1- A first look over this very rough British AM - FM Radio
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- Опубліковано 14 чер 2023
- At first I had no idea what I had bought. Turns out this decrepit old pile of junk was once a very nice radio - a Bush VHF 64.
This was, I suppose, the British answer to the excellent German - made radios that were available in the 1950's.
It's a bit early to tell, yet, whether they succeeded in terms of sound quality and performance.
Will I ever get it working properly?
Even if I do, can I fix the broken cabinet and dial glass?
That's anyone's guess! - Навчання та стиль
"Old electrolytics are not to be trusted". I Once used an old filter cap in a power supply for a valve oscillator and left it running over night to see what the frequency drift was the next morning. What I found the next morning was an exploded cap and black tar-ish goo everywhere. The cap was working fine before. No hum in the oscillator signal and measured ripple on the DC line was very low. So you are right sir. Even if they are working fine, it can change within a couple of hours and it is highly unpredictable.
That's a good start. I'm sure you'll have a lot of old wax capacitors in the bin by the time you are done. Greetings from London, (in Southern Ontario), Canada, where we finally got some rain and a lot less smoke from northern wildfires.
Looks like she is going to need a lot of work especially with the cabinet and the FM. It will be a good candidate for any restoration in your capable hands Don.
Never really got FM to work well on these type of radios.
Love the sound of the rain on the roof in the background.
Hi Dean. Yes I've always loved the sound of rain on a tin roof. It's a bloody nuisance when you're trying to record though!
Don's old radio you are good at restoring vintage shortwave receivers and alignment of vintage shortwave receivers with ssb 🎉🎉😊😊
Nice start Don. A long road ahead with the capacitors and the dial glass is a bummer. I don't remember Manuel doing one, I'll have a look for it. Cheers!
Hi David. Manuel's video was about 4 years ago. I put it up on the end screen so if you go to the last 10 seconds of my video, you've got it. Yes, that glass dial will be the biggest difficulty I think.
I wonder what that radio would have been like if Philips/Raytheon Wire-ended vacuum tubes had been used and a step up transformer had been used to drive the speakers and electrostatic tweeter.
A common problem with the transformer was they were often set to 220 volts from the factory but often run from a 240/250-volt supply which would make it run quite warm and easily make that soft wax run. Also having the EL84 and the EZ81 almost touching the transformer would add quite a lot of extra heat.
True, although that wax cap might have been shorting and overloading it for some time. It is quite a crowded chassis and as you say, the heat from the EL84 & the EZ81 would not have helped. Pretty sure mine is on the 250V tap but I'll check. I would prefer to run it slightly under voltage rather than over.
@@Donno308 dunno why they used an EZ81, i'd have thought an EZ80 more than capable of the current.... the smaller VHF61 used an EZ80, and pretty much same circuit idea, also 2 IF stages
the vhf64 did run the el84 at higher current, though
Hi Don, another big challenge ahead of you with this one. Good start to part 1 getting it working with Am tuner
Gives you hope for the Fm as well. Good luck with Part 2 , I’m positive you’ll brick it back to life again.
Cheers Dom.
Hi Dom. Well, after changing some caps I have it singing away loud and clear on AM. Still no FM though - yet. Hopefully I'll get there.
Cheers
The Bush VHF64 appeared in the late fifties after BBC FM radio started in 1955. It cost 47 guineas in 1957. A similar chassis is fitted to the Bush RG66 radiogram.
Band II (FM) was 87.5-100MHz, although initially only the lower half was used for FM radio transmissions (BBC Home, Light and Third programs); emergency services were allocated the higher end, which one could listen in to as I well remember. Later Band II was extended to 108MHz and used entirely for the numerous commercial radio stations that started to appear in the seventies.
In 1962 the BBC began regular experimental radio broadcasts in stereo, but only the Third Program (later Radio 3) which transmitted classical music. Radios 1, 2 and 4 went stereo in 1973. Hence fifties radios were strictly mono.
Incidentally Bush Radio was founded in Shepherd's Bush (hence the name), West London in 1932. It closed decades ago and the brand name is used today on Chinese imports.
Hi John. Thanks for the information. I did do a bit of googling but wasn't able to find out much about early FM broadcasting in the UK. One viewer commented that the radio was boring because it isn't stereo. I tried to explain but ... what's the point?
Interesting about the name. Shepherd's Bush - that makes sense! It's sad to see once-respected brands being used on cheap Chinese rubbish. Australia is full of Chinese MG cars for example.
Thanks for your interest.
Cheers
@@Donno308 When I was a lad (mid 70s in London area) the FM band contained BBC Radio 2, 3, and 4 (but not 1), Capital Radio and LBC. That was it. There were still *many* more stations on MW until the 80s.
Hi Don,
Any one seeing me as I began viewing this video would have laughed: I was shouting, VHF64 at my computer.
As a radio and television brand, Bush (when Bush was Bush), meant quality and reliability.
As an apprentice service tech, I must have repaired a few dozen of that model ...they worked, and sounded good. Back in the early 1970s, apprentices were usually given most of the radios, and older televisions to repair LOL.
I have two Bush VHF 64 radios in my collection. Fortunately I acquired them during the early to mid-70s when most valve radios were in fairly good all round condition.
I have faith you will not only get this radio working, I'm sure you will find it a pleasure to work on, and have pride and place in your radio collection
All the best from Phil
Hi Phil,
Being a UK set with FM, these radios are not at all common here. I've certainly never seen one before. We didn't get FM here until the late 1970's and commercial FM didn't really take off until the early 80s. So there was no market for a valve FM receiver in the 50's. The only valve FM radios in Australia were privately imported, I guess by British and European migrants.
So a bit of a novelty for me and it should be a very nice radio when finished.
Cheers
I had one of these, picked up from the rubbish when I was kid in the 70s. I'm very surprised to see one now,.
Hi Michael. Yes, they're not very common here. I was lucky (or not?) to find this one, even though it's not in the best condition.
I REALLY like 👍 the picture of the woman 👩 on the “attraction” of this video. It’s the best way I could describe it. Ya can get the dial glass from a company in Australia 🇦🇺. David Tipton does it when he needs one ☝️. The numbers also ran be repainted onto the dial glass, if it isn’t broken 😞. Your dial light 💡 is also out, but the bulbs 💡 are not hard to replace. It also can be VERY DIFFICULT 😞 repair 👩🔧 job, if the dial cord is broken 😞.
Love the rain on the old tin roof effect!
I should say that radio is a beast and takes up a lot of real estate on your bench. That looks just like my 1957 Kapsch Radio that was made in Austria I bought at a garage sale 2 yrs ago for $20. Mine only needed a new ferrite rod and a couple wires were broken and I recapped it and it works fine. Only difference is mine has a cats eye tube for tuning. Great video.
Hi Larry. This one also has a "magic eye" tube as the tuning indicator. I just haven't plugged it in since I took the chassis out of the cabinet. I hope it works because they're expensive!
Cheers
Respect for someone 😊 that makes mistakes and admits to them
Ha ha I make plenty of mistakes. It's the only way to learn!
Don's old radio your vintage Bush vhf 64 AM lw fm sw 4 band disk top receiver is awesome 👌 👏 👍 😊😊
I like old electric devices such as tube radios, tube amps. It's fun in my spare time. .When sipping coffee and dusting and trying to open it to see if it still works or not .Even though the technology is outdated
.But I believe There are still many people who admire this ancient thing.
Hi Aran, Yes these old radios do seem to have quite a following, and for the most part they are still useable, especially ones like this, with FM. The thing I like about them most is that they are from an era when quality mattered and things were built to last.
Hi Don, you certainly have your work cut out on this one. Bush made some fine radios in the '50s and the VHF64 was one their most up-market offerings. Fully restored, it should sound very good indeed, so well worth the effort. By 1957 UK manufacturers were starting to adopt the same 'continental' styling found on expensive German radios, with more rounded cabinets and piano key controls. Many Bush sets from this era seem to have the 'crooked teeth' look to the piano keys, no idea why.
As well as the Hunts, the other capacitor to change on sight is C66 (or C70), which couples the triode plate of the EABC80 to the grid of the EL84. It will almost certainly be leaky and risks over-running the EL84, causing damage to the valve and possibly the output transformer. It is a 0.05uf wax paper effort, located on a tagstrip on the side of the chassis.
Anyway good luck getting it going. I don't envy you restringing the dial cord! Cheers, Ian E
Hi Ian. Yes I always change the grid coupling cap in just about any radio I work in. In this case the cathode bypass cap on the EL84 was also kaput. Interestingly, for the moment the power supply filter caps seem to be fine. I will change them anyway but perhaps powering it up slowly reformed them. The dial string id not the worst I've ever done, by a long shot. The service data I got from radiomuseum even has a dial stringing diagram, so that will be ok. I want to make sure I don't have to pull the tuning mechanism apart before I do it though - I don't want to do it twice!
Cheers
Hey Don,
Nice part 1 of this one. I reckon there will be a few parts to this restore !
Great video, keep it up
Baz
Hi Baz. Yes I can see it running to 3 or 4 parts. I'd rather keep it to 3 if I can. We're going on holiday for most of August and I want to finish it before I go. I've got another console I want to start on when I get back. I might post some travel videos while I'm away.
Looks like a beautiful set, hope the restoration is successful.
Thanks Peter. So do I. So far, so good...
Don's old radio your utube videos are awesome 👌 👏 👍 😊😊🎉🎉
Just been sent here from David Tipton. The thumbnail for this video is very,very clever 🤣
Hi and welcome. Yes I kinda like the thumbnail. One bloke complained about it but I think he must have a few issues ...
David has sent a few people my way with his latest video, which I appreciate.
Cheers
Like I said(I think) to David Tipton when he worked on a British-made set of this brand, you're *beating around the "Bush"!* LOL😁
A little more cause for optimism at the end of the video than at the start. That will sing again-it's a far simpler proposition than one of Manuel's Germans, and even if it wasn't, you'd come out on top anyway.
Don't doubt yourself, we don't, and are looking forward to the journey!
After changing a few caps I've got it singing away on AM. It still doesn't speak FM though ...
I guess we'll get there in the end.
Cheers
You’re on a roll there Donnie boy😊. Your brush strokes rival the likes of Van Gogh and Ross 😮. The electronics looks like a winner. Now, it’s time to work your magic on the cabinet. I had a dial plate reproduced by Radio Daze here in the states for a RCA International. They did an excellent job on it. ❤
Yes Radio Daze might be an option. I also heard about someone here in Australia who does them. The 2 holes in the glass (for the knobs) makes it a bit more difficult and probably expensive. I think a re cap will do wonders for it.
Don, Good choice, even if it needs a lot of work. Manuel Caldiera (UA-cam "Electronics Old and New") restored one of these not too long ago. Manuel is a huge German Radio fan but after restoring a Bush VHF64, he holds the Bush Radio in very high regard. Even higher than many of the German Radios. It looks as if, if you can sort this one out, you'll have a winner that you'll be very happy with. Good luck and best regards. John Wagner
Hi John. Yes, I discovered Manuel's video on this model. It was about 4 years ago. It's a very useful reference, especially as he does such good explanations of circuits. I do hope I can sort it out. I haven't yet had to do a video where I failed to fix a radio but there's always a first time!
@@Donno308 Don, I'm sure you'll have this radio sorted out in no time. Best of luck, Cheers. John
Thanks for your video. Im from Sweden on the other end of earth.
I am about to start upp with a German Telefunken Opus 6. and its just my second project, so I could pick upp lot of tips from you.
Regards Bjorn
Hi Bjorn,
Greetings from Australia! Great to hear from you.
Good luck with your Opus 6. It should be a beautiful radio. I would be happy to help in any way I can.
The real expert with these radios is Manuel Caldeira. His UA-cam channel is called "Electronics Old and New by M Caldeira".
He has a series of videos on a Telefunken Opus 8 which may be very similar. His videos are very good and I think they would be helpful.
Here is a link to the playlist for the Opus 8:
ua-cam.com/play/PLy5M_tA9ux7JfirffGkiGVI9nU1tJ71q7.html
Please let me know f I can be of any help.
Kind regards
Don
Lovely big Bush to sort out. It is a sorry state, but I reckon based on your previous resurrections, it will be brought back to life and look great too. Looking forward to seeing the next episode. Best wishes from one of your "pommie" subscriber's 😂😂
Cheers Ken. Yes I think I'll get it sorted out - eventually...
Thanks Don! Hope you got it done, it looks like it could produce some great sound. It still have som 40´s design, I like that.
Hi Leif. Yes, it looks like it was a pretty good radio. I think it will be worth the effort.
Well it's not as dead as a door nail after the post office gave it a good beating.
I can hear them saying dam pommie bastards lol.
The f.m seems to always have a problem, high frequency osc not starting?
I was thinking the A.M front end had been messed with.
Well made British radio!
Don, the camera angle when you are showing the piano keys looked as though they were upside down. The bottoms of the key from the camera angle looked straight whereas the top look crooked.
Hi Mack. Yes, that shot was looking straight down on the keys so the bottom of the keys (facing outwards) is straight. The crooked side is against the dial glass. I can't work out why they made them that way. Surely not a mistake?
I have s dial glass you can have, but shipping from uk might be expensive.
I enjoy watching your channel
Hi Warren. That would be awesome! There is zero chance of getting a dial glass here in Australia. These radios are quire rare here. I would be happy to pay whatever it costs.
If you prefer, you can contact me by email at: donno1955@hotmail.com and we'll sort out the details.
Many thanks!
Hi Warren. Can you please contact me again about the dial glass? I would be happy to pay for all costs.
Cheers
I have the radiogram version of this [its a monster] it sounds fantastic .there are two 10 inch speakers and a 3 inch tweeter in the speaker enclosure .The advertising literature says it was the bush top of the range radiogram for 1957
I'd love to have one of those!
If you're hearing "crackles", just wait for the "snap" and "pop", you'll have Rice Bubbles for Breakfast! LOL (51:55)😁
@neilforbes416 only during a thunderstorm lol
Just starting on this model myself and the same corner of the glass is broken on mine. Not broken as badly as yours though. A crack goes towards the volume control hole and there are 3 small pieces. I have placed them together on a flat service and temporarily taped them together until I have confirmed the radio is a candidate for repair. I might be able to repair my glass but would also be interested in a replacement if available. Have already restored earlier Bush models including the VHF54 (plenty available here in the UK) and having watched Manuel Caldeira's E.O.& N restoration (great reference material) sometime back was delighted to come across one of these VHF64's recently. Hopefully we will both be able to get good results when we rid ourselves of all those Hunts caps. Careful of spoonerisms. Will watch with interest. Best of Dave.
Hi. This should be interesting. A subscriber in the UK has offered to send me a glass in good condition for the cost of postage only. So if he actually sends it that will be great. If it doesn't arrive in time I was thinking of doing an experimental repair based on what I did in Part 2 of the "Butt Ugly" series - the STC farm radio. I learned a bit from that and will do it better next time. For a start I will set up a better jig to do it and use clear acrylic sheet as the base, which is flexible enough to peel off but firm enough to not wrinkle or pull. Anyway we'll see. You might be able to do something similar to yours if it isn't too bad.
I have found several other bad caps apart from the hunts but it is now singing away on both AM & FM. Audio output is a bit low and a bit unstable but I think I have a dodgy EF89 IF tube so that will explain it. I'm looking around for a replacement as I haven't got any.
Anyway, good luck with yours and keep in touch - we can compare notes & maybe help each other out. I agree - Manuel Caldeira does excellent videos and I am also using his as a reference.
Cheers
@@Donno308 Thanks Don I'll take a look at that "Bug ugly" edition. I presume you are talking about scanning in the graticule to GIMP or something similar and then manipulate the result to get a complete copy before producing screens for printing on to a fresh glass? Slow progress on mine. Have confirmed transformer and output trans are viable and the filter caps are shot. No surprise there. As you have mentioned its a bit of a lump and I have decided to make a M. Caldeira style gig before I continue. I have a habit of saying "that looks fine balanced there" until I have to clutch something with one hand (using variac isolated supply) or let it crash down. I have a number of wires on the underside of mine where the insulation is crumbling away and some require insulating or changing before I risk power up with rectifier valve in. Have subscribed so I can keep up with yours. Good luck.
@@Donno308 Hi Don, just took a look at that part 2 "STC farm radio and with damage I have I think that method may give good results. The glass is a dark finish and the crack will only be a short way into the visible area with only the gold striping only being slightly imperfect. I'll get some resin and give it a go. The rest of the glass is in very good nick.
19:25 "Grundig" translates to English as "Basic". The brand is world-famous for high-quality audio gear, something you could *NEVER* say about Philips stuff.
Don's old radio my hobbies are painting pictures and listening to shortwave and ssb I have 5 shortwave receivers and iam thinking about getting my ham license 🎉🎉😊😊🎉😊
that 0.001 you tested is across the primary of the output transformer so shouldnt read high or open, but a few hundred ohms, if high, output primary is open circuit!
i've had cases where they test open at first but still seem to pass current when set is powered up, and then test ok after switching off for couple of minutes, but if left a while, test open again! i think the high voltage across the ends of the break arc across and make contact for a while,, if it IS open, likely cause by leaky coupler to the el84 , frying the primary by excessive current
Hi Andy. Yes, I think that's exactly what is happening in this case. I tested it out of circuit after replacing it and it showed open although it was clearly arcing across, judging by the dim bulb. Anyway replacing it fixed the problem. Luckily the EL84 and the output tranny seem to be ok.
@@Donno308 ? the cap arcing? not possible if the transformer is ok, as i said its across the primary output transformer winding, only a small dc is present across it if transformer is good !!! maybe the transformer arcing? damp got in it??.... theres no 'waxy' or hunts cap across ht supply directly after the rectifier but is one further down the line, that may be an issue..
i would check dc resistance of the primary of the output transformer after letting it stand for a few days, i'd say if over 1k or 'fluctuating' , something isnt right
Hello! The electrostatic tweeter in such an old radio?🤔
The misshapen buttons are normal. I have a VHF62 which is just the same. Why they were designed like that is a mystery. They're a good receiver and the sound quality is quite good, but not quite as good as the Grundigs or Sabas in my opinion, of course it depends on which model you're comparing it with.
Hi, yes I can't understand why the buttons were designed that way. Perhaps it was a production fault and they didn't bother to fix it? Nothing seems to make sense. Looking at the schematic, this radio seems to have less tone-shaping circuitry than the German sets. Overall they seem to have simplified the German designs and perhaps compensated for the less elaborate tone shaping with bigger & better speakers.
@@Donno308 In the 70's as an apprentice with the UK MOD I was placed for part of my final year at a Ferguson (Thorn) factory R & D group in the south of England. They at that time were making Record players with tape decks beside them and solid state tuners and amp controls placed under so the whole unit was about 30 inches wide 15 inches deep and 6 inches high. The one thing (and I think this was common to most british manufactures) I noticed during my time there was when designing and developing new models they would employ parts used on earlier models or from equipment produced by partners. So the it is likely the buttons used on the Bush 1950's 60's VHF range may have come from another model or make bought in earlier in bulk. Not long after the war there was still a mend and make do attitude.
If I remember, British FM only went from 88 to 100 Mhz. (53:50)
Hi Neil,
Yes, that's the case with most of these old FM radios. Unfortunately there are 2 or 3 local FM stations above 100 Mhz, but it will still receive my favorite station so that's ok.
Cheers
@@Donno308 I had a mid-70s British-made Thorn Ferguson stereo with cassette teck(not functioning properly), Garrard 4-speed turntable and FM/AM/LW tuner given to me by a friend who no longer needed it. It was minus speakers so I had to put a pair to it. Its FM range was only 88-to-100Mhz so that range limit must've lasted well into the late 1970s or into the 1980s for British-made sets, but Euro-made sets intended for Britain would have the full range, 88-to-108Mhz.
@@neilforbes416 on my radio its 87-108 range
@@neilforbes416The Geenan domestic abd Euro radios of the 50s were also 88 to 100. Only the export models to the USA went to 108FM at that time.
I have around 20 German sets from 1953 to 1961, from Grunding Saba Nordmende Loewe Opta Telefunken Blaupunkt Graetz all but one are 88 to 100. The exception is an export model 5088 Grundig for the US market that has 108FM.
German sets switched to 108 between 62/63 to 1965 as they also went transistorised.
The most 1950s German 108FM valve sets by far are in the USA.
@@neilforbes416 ahh FM radio the good old days listening to that
these should be good as 2 IF amplifier stages, i have a MW plus 3 SW 'version' of it EBS64
Hi Andy. Yes I think it will be quite a performer if I can get it going. I'm currently working my way through the caps but it's already sounding better. I hope I can get the FM working!
@@Donno308 have you tried a new ecc85? they seem to fail a lot, unfortunately replacements getting stupidly expensive, an ecc81 may work with slight alterations to the base connections, pcc85 may work, ecc85 also a possibility but will need to reduce supply volts to the tuner considerably
@@Donno308 have you got the circuit/schematic for it?
Hi Andy. Unfortunately I don't have a spare ECC85, or even an ECC81. I'll do some more checks and if it looks bad I'll have to order one.
@@Donno308 i dont know if the european type number valves are easily available where you are, direct american/international equivalent 6AQ8 .. ecc81 is 12AT7
ECC83 in the vhf tuner to me seems odd as I always thought these where audio tubes may be it should be ECC84 or may be I am wrong ??
Hi!
Well spotted: I misread the printing on the tube. It's actually an ECC85.
Cheers
@@Donno308 Yes I thought it was a bit strange place to have ECC83.
The ECC85 is made for Cascade operation I think for the front end of radio's
Good luck with the restoration.
@@itsonlyme9938 Cheers mate. I was thinking it might have cathode poisoning. I think the plate is switched off when it's on AM but the heater is on. That tends to kill the oxide coating on the cathode over time. I had this on another Philips FM set a while ago. Anyway, we'll see.
You know Don radios are like a box of chocolates you never know what you are going to get. 🤣LOL
Hi
Yep, the shed is anything but soundproof. When it rains, you know about it!
You can almost see her bush.
Radios just want to play!
Yes sometimes it seems like that. You only have to give them half a chance.
@@Donno308 That's exactly right!
So there is nothing to say if the Radio was made in BUSH Electronics Larne Northern Ireland.
Hi. There is a small label inside the cabinet that says "Bush Radio Pty Ltd, Chiswick London W4" however I don't know if that is the factory location or just the administrative headquarters. I'm guessing it was made in London though.
Cheers
3:24 It's a *Bush,* call it *George W.!*😁
Ha ha! Good name for it!
@@Donno308 Well...... I could've said you were...... wait for it..... "beating around the Bush!" LOL😁
@@neilforbes416 Ha ha! You just gave me the title for Part 2!
Thanks mate!
@@Donno308 No worries! Cheers!😁
Is that your daughter clickbating us?
I wish ...
6:25 At first seeing two speakers, and with FM on this set, I thought it might be stereo but........ on closer look saw the speakers were wired parallel rendering the set plain ol' mono. *Booooorrrrriiiiinnnnnggggg!*
Hi Neil, One man's boring is another man's excitement I suppose. Not many FM stereo radios around of this vintage. You wouldn't het much stereo separation with 2 speakers in the same cabinet anyway. If it works I'll be happy .
Cheers
@@Donno308 A lot of stereo radiograms had the two speakers in the one cabinet. Kriesler built several models like that.
@@neilforbes416 so when you are listening to a compilation album you wouldnt able to tell if its stereo or mono
@@top40researcher31 Totally irrelevant!
@@neilforbes416 when it comes to compilation albums from K-tel and EMI how can you tell if a track is mono or Stereo you would have to sit really close to the system to find out
Automatic thumbs down for the annoying premier.
Sorry about that. First time I've tried to schedule the start time and UA-cam set the premier automatically!
@@Donno308 That's the most polite reply to a thumbs down ever. I'll take it back.
Good on you Mr Hat. I didn't realise how this stupid premier thing worked. Needless to say I won't be doing it again!
worst click bait thumbnail intro
Guilty as charged. It seems to work though.
Hey Don where do you get your veneer from? can I message you on gmail?
Hi I haven't bought any veneer for any of my projects. I have some scraps of veneer that I have peeled off old radiograms etc. that I use for patching. I did do some google "research" and found a place in Perth: "World Wide Timber Traders" that sells it but I have never followed it up. There is also "Australian Premier Veneers" in Box Hill Vic. Their website looks good but again, I've never dealt with them. A google search will find these easily.
You are welcome to email me any time (donno1955@hotmail.com) but I don't think I can help you much more with this one.
@@Donno308 Thanks Don