General Electric (GE) HJ-514 | Entire Electrical Restoration | Cabinet Pending
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- Опубліковано 18 гру 2024
- A long video as requested by one of my subscribers showing many of the steps I took to repair/restore this General Electric (GE), model HJ-514 AA5 receiver from around 1939 or 1940. The cabinet refinish will follow as time/weather permits.
A few things other than your typical capacitor and resistor replacements that are noteworthy:
Dial String configuration & restringing
BEAM-A-SCOPE inductance for primary (external antenna connection) & secondary windings
I.F. Transformer lead wire issues & calculating Quality Factor (Q-Factor)
Shorted Tuning Condenser (Capacitor) repair & cleaning
Tube testing & my mistake along the way
Correcting a noise issue caused by the metal dial scale
Rewiring the on/off switch to the hot side (reference the article I noted) to make the receiver safer
Adding Bluetooth (w/ an Isolated Input) at: • AA5 Receiver or Other ...
Thanks for watching and subscribing to my channel on vintage radio repair and other related circuits.
#restoreoldradios
Nice to see you working on a radio I have in my collection yet to work on. Just as grimey and worn out too. Great reference
for a future restore especially the dial face sitting on the shafts and causing noise. Thanks for sharing it Don. Steve
Glad it was helpful Steve. Thanks for watching and I hope your repair/restore goes well in the future. Best, Don
Great video Don! My heart jumped a bit and I was flung back into my chair thinking that dial pointer surely broke as it suddenly flew off! Thank goodness everyone's okay. I really enjoy the fact that you take such time to individually clean each component. You have great patience and work with less hand movements than others. It really drives the point home for me that working slower is actually faster. Take care.
You and me both! The compression ring placed on the pointer shaft really had this one locked down. Fortunately it didn’t break when it finally released. Thanks for reaching out Ryan, more to come as time permits. Best, Don
Nice fix on that very strange dial plate issue Don, you’re doing exactly what I always stress to my viewers, always cover the speaker and to keep the tuning capacitor fully closed when working on the chassis. Thanks for sharing.
Ken, definitely an odd issue for sure. Thank you for watching. All the best. Don
Thank you Mr. Don. That was another very interesting video with lots of tidbits of knowledge to glean. But that dial plate. Now that I can not stop thinking about. Yes you won the fight and I had not a seconds doubt that you would. But why does it do that popping/static sound? If it is because of "static" buildup on the plate itself, a ground wire should solve it. I don't know if you tried that.
And yes, I found myself leaning away while you were pulling on that dial pointer! 😆
Glad you enjoyed it. I tried grounding the dial scale, but still had a little crackling as the dial scale came in contact with the either shaft. I think that is a viable solution as well as the grommets because once the chassis is back in the cabinet, it will add stability to the assembly. Thanks for watching and reaching out. All the best. Don
Thanks Don. I hope all is well with you.
Thanks for watching Ian; doing okay. All the best to you. Don
Hi Don,
It's been a while since I saw one of your restorations. It's always nice to watch as you bring one back to life.
I've got the same tube tester, the I-177B. Love it.
Thanks for showing all the little stuff when you work on radios. -- Thomas
Thomas - great to hear from you and I hope this finds you doing well. I bought my I-177B many years ago and it’s definitely added value. I appreciate your kind words and taking time to watch and reach out. All the best. Don
Nicely done Don. It sounds great!
Thank you kindly! I appreciate you watching Rick. All the best. Don
Don't you just love the cost cutting GE did on that dial face? They avoided having someone install 2 screws to hold the dial in place. I love how you used the grommets to isolate the dial face from the shafts! Great idea!
Dan, definitely an oversight or just cost cutting back in the day. I appreciate you watching and reaching out. All the best, Don
Thanks for a great video, Don. I like the longer format as well
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching and reaching out. Best, Don
Nice work Don. Nice to see a longer video from you. Odd problem with that dial face noise. Looks like you have it sorted well now. :)
Thanks Doug. Probably my longest video published. Lol I think the dial scale design was most likely cost cutting or an engineering miss. Things have been a little hectic here; I actually did the repairs a good while back, but just found time to edit and publish. Hope you’re doing well my friend. Best, Don
good vid
Thank you Gary. All the best. Don
Great video! That was definitely a GE design flaw, with that metal dial scale directly rubbing against the tuning/volume control shafts, causing that noise. Looks like this an oversight of its design engineers. I don't think it's a good idea to have a ground terminal for an AA5 radio that has a hot chassis, especially if someone were to decide to wrap the conductor around a water pipe! With your modifications and repairs, it looks like a pretty solid receiver now!
Chet, I feel the same about the dial scale contact points causing the noise. The ground terminal on the loop antenna is a separate winding that’s not connected to the chassis, which could be hot as you noted due to the polarity of AC. It seems to be a pretty good player at this point. On to the cabinet work when time and weather permits. Best, Don
Hi Don, wasn't it possible to stick a ground lead on the dial frame ? Like soldered on the bracket of the dial lamp ?
Definitely helped doing this, but still some noise with the receiver out of the cabinet. Placing it back in the cabinet where the dial scale is stationary with your recommendation provides results equal to the grommets. Thanks for your suggestion and watching. Best, Don
Excellent video Don! Enjoyed it from start to finish! As to the static, is it possible that some weak intermittent shorth through the volume control to the shaft might account for the static? It would seem some very small voltage is present on the control shaft(s) and I can't see where else it would come from.
Thank you for watching the much longer video. The static even occurs when the metal dial scale comes in contact with the tuning shaft isolated from the volume control shaft. Another viewer suggested grounding the dial scale back to the chassis so floating it using the grommets on the shafts or grounding it back to the chassis seems to settle it down. Thanks again for watching snd your input. All the best. Don
Very enjoyable video with some great problem solving tips! How did you keep tension on the dial spring?
Thank you for the kind words. One end of the spring is attached to the pulley and the other end of the spring is fastened to the two ends of the dial cord that is pulled tight from two different directions. Hope this helps. Best, Don
The chassis looks great! BTW - I have the same tube tester. Do you have the ancillary box with adaptors?
Thank you Bob, just the tester and no ancillary box with adapters. What makes up the extra….? Best, Don
@@RestoreOldRadios The box has a cable that connects to socket#3 for various tubes that the main box cannot test.
@@Radiowild Thanks Bob, I need to look for the documentation online for this feature. I’m assuming it would be easy to build the interface cable?
@@RestoreOldRadios I don't know. When I bought mine, it came with it so I guess it could be done if the ancillary box can be found.
Greetings from Belgium Don!
Can you indicate the reference of the cable used to rewire the IF transformers?
Thanks
I’ve bought it a few times off eBay. One supplier that has some listed now at: www.ebay.com/itm/325284912713?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=oevo5DLzSDm&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
Hope this helps and thanks for watching. More info below. Best, Don
Genuine Gavitt Branded Cloth Push Back Wire. 50 feet of BLACK & 50 feet of WHITE. Wire is 22 awg 7-strand and fused (tinned) for easier soldering. Cloth jacket has a waxed cotton outer braid and a Celanese inner braid.
Just curious about those two "humps" in the loop antenna. Is it possible there might have been a ferrite bar at one time that sat under those elevated sections of the loop?
You never know, definitely a possibility. More on the GE Beam-a-Scope antenna that was used in different models at: www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Craft/1930s/Radio-Craft-1939-04.pdf page 605. Thanks for watching and reaching out. Best, Don
What's going to happen when like the analog television channels AM get's removed from the airwaves I foresee this happening within 5 years
I can use the Bluetooth add on circuit that I shared or use one of my close proximity transmitters to stream music. Thanks for reaching out. All the best. Don
Pirate radio stations will come out. Who would try to stop them......and why?