I only have radios from the early '50s up to the early '60s. I would love to have one from the '30s, but over here in Germany there is mainly only one mode you can get and that is the nazi "Volksempfänger" which has never been a very good radio and is pretty much useless nowadays. I know that there were better radios here as well, but they are pretty rare and also the tubes are not easy to get nowadays.
@@Theshadowsnose My main everyday radio is a Philips bx453 from around 1955, i love to be able to experience the past, not just look at it, and I love to see you work around them too! Always great to watch, thank you!
Nice Radio I have a few of the higher end German sets in my collection and they sound fantastic once restored. Would love to watch you restore this one. Never worked on a Loewe-Opta myself but id be changing those decoupling capacitors to the output valves even if they are leak free now. especially if you plan to put it back into regular service, you don't want one going bad in the future and wrecking an EL84 or worse still taking out one of the output transformers.
I don't think I have to change too many of the capacitors in this radio. I know that those tar capacitors are basically always leaking, but this radio doesn't appear to have any of those. There are only ceramic capacitors and ones that have a good reputation NOT to fail. I hope I can get away without changing every capacitor in it and just try to see if all the currents and voltages are as they are supposed to be. Sadly I cannot find any schematics for this radio, so this could be a challenge. I guess I can check the grid voltage at the EL84s and if it's OK, I probably won't check the coupling capacitors. I did give the radio a quick go and it does work, but it plays very quietly and reception on FM is abysmal, so there is definitely something wrong with it. First I'm going to give it a good clean, so I won't get disgusted everytime I touch anything and then I will give it a good optical check if I see any burnt components. I do have spare tubes for every tube in this radio, except for the EL84s... for some reason but I probably can pull out one of those out of my other radios to check. That's the plan for the time I have to wait until I ordered some proper test leads and clips because I do not want to just poke around with the regular test leads from my multimeter. I usually do not work with such high voltages as are present in a tube radio, so I want to be extra careful not to electrocute myself. I also hope to find some schematics for a similar model. It seems like the radio is built quite modular. The amplifier section is on a complete separate PCB, so I hope they used the same 'modules' in other radios from that era where I can find some schematics for. There are also some great forums here in Germany with people who know almost every radio ever produced over here and are very helpful when it comes to restoring those things. I don't even know if I want to fully restore it or just get the amplifier working properly. The intended use for this is a web-radio or bluetooth speaker. I do not intend to listen to any broadcast radio with this one. Not only that I have better radios for that, but mainly because there is not too much worth listening to over here. German radio sucks! And the Dutch stations are too weak over here to receive them without a proper outdoor antenna. And for AM I have much better radios. So I basically plan to fit a Raspberry Pi into this and only use the tape recorder input socket. Would be cool if I get it fully working even though I do not intend to use it as a radio.
@@Theshadowsnose So long as you check the grids of the output valves for stray DC you should be ok but personally i would still change those two for modern caps. to be honest if I was just going to use it as you are suggesting as a web radio (awesome idea by the way) those are the only caps i would change, Id also check resistor values especially in the amplifier section as they can go high in value with age. Ps does that set use a valve rectifier or a selenium stack? as that could be the cause of your low output. I may have service data for this set, I have a missive archive of radio service data for both UK and European sets. I will look for you and see if i have it.
@@Jayoldstuff1 That's basically what I intend to do. If there is no DC at the output tubes, it's fin. I can live with that. Modern capacitors don't look too great in an old radio, so if it's possible to avoid replacing the old ones, I'm totally fine with that. The radio has a Selenium rectifier, but I think I found at least one of the faults already by just a closer visual inspection. One of the blue electrolytics on the amplifier board seems so have blown off its cap. Not sure if you can see it in the video, but that surely has to get replaced. Would be great if you could find the schematics for this mode. radiomuseum.org doesn't have them :-(
@@Theshadowsnose Id still definitely check you have the right HT as those selenium rectifiers are known to drop in output as they age. that cap with the leg that's come off is probably there to provide some negative bias on the cathode on the output valve having it disconnected will lower the output a little but only on that channel. is one louder than the other? I will go into the archives and see if I have some service data for you.
Yes, exactly! One channel is louder than the other and the "Stereo" button just works weird. I guess I have to replace all the electrolytics since there is also quite a bit of 50Hz hum which is surely not supposed to be there. I did find some schematics from similar models which are not 100% identical, but they probably will help me anyways. Seems like the amplifier module is the same or very similar. I heard that those selenium rectifiers are supposed to go bad, but so far, I've never had one fail in my radios. But I will check all the voltages anyways. Next step is surely going to be a good cleaning and then I have to order some parts and some test leads. Since I have another radio that I want to restore, maybe I do some work on that as well, so I can order the parts I need for both radios in one order and save a bit on shipping cost. THe second one is a "Blaupunkt Sultan 2420" where I could easily find the schematics for. It's probably not the greatest radio in the world, but I love its design! Maybe it's not a bad idea to even start with that one because having the proper schematics makes work a lot easier and I can get some experience with working on old radios.
Not sure if I'm going to start with this radio, because I cannot find the schematics for this one. It's probably not a bad idea to get started with one that I can find the proper schematics for to get into the whole tube radio thing again. And I have more old radios that need restoring where I do have the schematics for.
I searched a lot and I can not find any schematics for this radio, so I think I will start with a different one to get more familiar with the technology first. It's not that I have a lack of tube radios that need a fix/overhaul :-)
@@TheHighlander71 The funny thing is that I collect and use those old radios for like 10 years now and I never had to replace a tube. It's mainly old Capacitors that got leaky or electrolytic capacitors that dry out over time. Once I replace those the radio is probably working again. There is one other thing besides not having the schematics for this one that makes me start with a different one: it has a PCB. Those older radios that have just the components wired 'freely' are a bit easier to work on. I really want this radio to work again, because it's the only stereo model that I have, but I want to get a bit more of a feeling for the old technology before I start with it. If I have the schematics I can measure some voltages and see if they are how they should be. Makes things quite a bit easier. I hope I can learn enough from restoring 1 or 2 other radios so I can guesstimate how the voltages are supposed to be without haveing the specific values written in the schematics.
love old radios, have a whole bunch from the 30's up until the late 50's
I only have radios from the early '50s up to the early '60s.
I would love to have one from the '30s, but over here in Germany there is mainly only one mode you can get and that is the nazi "Volksempfänger" which has never been a very good radio and is pretty much useless nowadays.
I know that there were better radios here as well, but they are pretty rare and also the tubes are not easy to get nowadays.
@@Theshadowsnose My main everyday radio is a Philips bx453 from around 1955, i love to be able to experience the past, not just look at it, and I love to see you work around them too! Always great to watch, thank you!
Always a thumbs up for Mr.Nose!
Thanks!
Nice Radio I have a few of the higher end German sets in my collection and they sound fantastic once restored. Would love to watch you restore this one. Never worked on a Loewe-Opta myself but id be changing those decoupling capacitors to the output valves even if they are leak free now. especially if you plan to put it back into regular service, you don't want one going bad in the future and wrecking an EL84 or worse still taking out one of the output transformers.
I don't think I have to change too many of the capacitors in this radio.
I know that those tar capacitors are basically always leaking, but this radio doesn't appear to have any of those.
There are only ceramic capacitors and ones that have a good reputation NOT to fail.
I hope I can get away without changing every capacitor in it and just try to see if all the currents and voltages are as they are supposed to be.
Sadly I cannot find any schematics for this radio, so this could be a challenge.
I guess I can check the grid voltage at the EL84s and if it's OK, I probably won't check the coupling capacitors.
I did give the radio a quick go and it does work, but it plays very quietly and reception on FM is abysmal, so there is definitely something wrong with it.
First I'm going to give it a good clean, so I won't get disgusted everytime I touch anything and then I will give it a good optical check if I see any burnt components.
I do have spare tubes for every tube in this radio, except for the EL84s... for some reason but I probably can pull out one of those out of my other radios to check.
That's the plan for the time I have to wait until I ordered some proper test leads and clips because I do not want to just poke around with the regular test leads from my multimeter.
I usually do not work with such high voltages as are present in a tube radio, so I want to be extra careful not to electrocute myself.
I also hope to find some schematics for a similar model.
It seems like the radio is built quite modular. The amplifier section is on a complete separate PCB, so I hope they used the same 'modules' in other radios from that era where I can find some schematics for.
There are also some great forums here in Germany with people who know almost every radio ever produced over here and are very helpful when it comes to restoring those things.
I don't even know if I want to fully restore it or just get the amplifier working properly.
The intended use for this is a web-radio or bluetooth speaker.
I do not intend to listen to any broadcast radio with this one.
Not only that I have better radios for that, but mainly because there is not too much worth listening to over here.
German radio sucks!
And the Dutch stations are too weak over here to receive them without a proper outdoor antenna.
And for AM I have much better radios.
So I basically plan to fit a Raspberry Pi into this and only use the tape recorder input socket.
Would be cool if I get it fully working even though I do not intend to use it as a radio.
@@Theshadowsnose So long as you check the grids of the output valves for stray DC you should be ok but personally i would still change those two for modern caps. to be honest if I was just going to use it as you are suggesting as a web radio (awesome idea by the way) those are the only caps i would change, Id also check resistor values especially in the amplifier section as they can go high in value with age. Ps does that set use a valve rectifier or a selenium stack? as that could be the cause of your low output. I may have service data for this set, I have a missive archive of radio service data for both UK and European sets. I will look for you and see if i have it.
@@Jayoldstuff1 That's basically what I intend to do.
If there is no DC at the output tubes, it's fin. I can live with that. Modern capacitors don't look too great in an old radio, so if it's possible to avoid replacing the old ones, I'm totally fine with that.
The radio has a Selenium rectifier, but I think I found at least one of the faults already by just a closer visual inspection.
One of the blue electrolytics on the amplifier board seems so have blown off its cap.
Not sure if you can see it in the video, but that surely has to get replaced.
Would be great if you could find the schematics for this mode. radiomuseum.org doesn't have them :-(
@@Theshadowsnose Id still definitely check you have the right HT as those selenium rectifiers are known to drop in output as they age. that cap with the leg that's come off is probably there to provide some negative bias on the cathode on the output valve having it disconnected will lower the output a little but only on that channel. is one louder than the other? I will go into the archives and see if I have some service data for you.
Yes, exactly!
One channel is louder than the other and the "Stereo" button just works weird.
I guess I have to replace all the electrolytics since there is also quite a bit of 50Hz hum which is surely not supposed to be there.
I did find some schematics from similar models which are not 100% identical, but they probably will help me anyways.
Seems like the amplifier module is the same or very similar.
I heard that those selenium rectifiers are supposed to go bad, but so far, I've never had one fail in my radios. But I will check all the voltages anyways.
Next step is surely going to be a good cleaning and then I have to order some parts and some test leads.
Since I have another radio that I want to restore, maybe I do some work on that as well, so I can order the parts I need for both radios in one order and save a bit on shipping cost.
THe second one is a "Blaupunkt Sultan 2420" where I could easily find the schematics for.
It's probably not the greatest radio in the world, but I love its design!
Maybe it's not a bad idea to even start with that one because having the proper schematics makes work a lot easier and I can get some experience with working on old radios.
It would be nice to see you working on this old radio.
Sadly I can't find any schematics for this one, so I think I better start with a different one to get some experience.
definitely would like to see some of the process of restoring it
Not sure if I'm going to start with this radio, because I cannot find the schematics for this one.
It's probably not a bad idea to get started with one that I can find the proper schematics for to get into the whole tube radio thing again.
And I have more old radios that need restoring where I do have the schematics for.
Really looking forward seeing you repairing it! :-)
Doing a different one first.
Can't find any schematics for this one.
I'd love to see you work on this thing. Go for it.
I searched a lot and I can not find any schematics for this radio, so I think I will start with a different one to get more familiar with the technology first.
It's not that I have a lack of tube radios that need a fix/overhaul :-)
@@Theshadowsnose I think these radios are more patient than most of us are. Take your time :)
@@TheHighlander71 The funny thing is that I collect and use those old radios for like 10 years now and I never had to replace a tube.
It's mainly old Capacitors that got leaky or electrolytic capacitors that dry out over time.
Once I replace those the radio is probably working again.
There is one other thing besides not having the schematics for this one that makes me start with a different one:
it has a PCB.
Those older radios that have just the components wired 'freely' are a bit easier to work on.
I really want this radio to work again, because it's the only stereo model that I have, but I want to get a bit more of a feeling for the old technology before I start with it.
If I have the schematics I can measure some voltages and see if they are how they should be.
Makes things quite a bit easier.
I hope I can learn enough from restoring 1 or 2 other radios so I can guesstimate how the voltages are supposed to be without haveing the specific values written in the schematics.
Wow all those tubes! : )
I love tube technology.
Feels so ancient and still performs pretty good compared to modern devices
cool! I love this kind of projects!
Thanks!
I'm a bit scared of the high voltages used in those old radios.
Definitely would be interesting.
Indeed
Quiet cool
I hope I'l get it working again
Wouldnt it be funny if you turned it on and it played Arnie singing Yakkity Yak from Twins hahaha..
I would be blown away if I would turn it on and it would say:
"Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of men..." :-)
@@Theshadowsnose :-)
do you have a new job?
Sadly not :-(