There's one of these radios on eBay right now with a date code of November 2004 on it and its plastic case is already badly yellowed. So if you think that the days of being a problem with white or beige plastic are over, you're wrong... and also the seller listed it as "For parts or not working" and said, "it only works when you squeeze it".
"...powdering a radio..." Practices I never thought I would hear of. On sticky plastic, weirdly I haven't had that happen to my ThinkPad yet. Granted, the thing is only from 2008 (right near the beginning of Lenovo taking the IBM name off the line), maybe 10 years isn't quite the magic number for that bag of nightmares to strike (though the closet in which it currently sits has quite dry air--again, not sure if that's playing any role in its lack of degradation or not).
I bought one of those Radio Shack radios in 2005. I am very good to my electronics, but this puppy only lasted 4 months, before the display blanked out completely. The rest of the radio functioned as intended. I used it for a while, only listening to memory stations.
RadioShack sure had a lot of high priced low quality products near the end of RadioShacks life. I remember when RadioShacks had good radios and electronic parts and no cell phones. What a dud.
A lot of cheap radios have this phase shifting in the audio to simulate stereo. I have an AM FM Weather band radio that has one speaker and this fake stereo effect which screws me up whenever I try to use the radio to decode data signals heard on the weather band.
I think the radio is actually using the boost converter to boost the voltage up to some degree or using buck/boost converter to convert the voltage to whatever voltage it wants, as well as using boost converter to run the LED backlight -- very terrible idea for a radio.
See my response to another comment. It may have to be tested! An upgrade to better speakers would almost certainly be possible. The question is, "would it be worth doing". I don't think so, when so many better quality portable radios are available everywhere.
And that's why radioshack went away, selling products under their name that were sub-par, but that's how a lot of well-known brands have met their demise, it's the ones that stay around that are the ones to back... :)
From the way it sounds on my 50 dollar tablet, I'm sure there would not be any powder poofs from this radio. I have an Eton brand radio with a bad case of stickeyness. However that's spelled lol.
Do you have any of GE's Superadios? Blows away pretty much any other "average consumer" portable radio, especially for AM reception and clarity. Picked up a Model III up years ago for ten bucks, well well worth it.
Yes. I have an older GE branded SRIII and the newer, currently produced RCA variant. Both of mine work well, though I've heard that quality control is variable on the newer ones.
Love your videos! But quick question. Have you spoken or seen maxxarcade recently? Been missing his videos as well as yours. Just hoping nothing bad happened to him.
A lot of AM radios have terrible sound quality on AM. I looked up the chip on a Panasonic I got and the specs show it only produces up 3KHz or so, not the 10KHz available.
I still think the backlighting circuit is still faulty, they may have part of it oscilating all the time and switch the output. Perhaps the supply decoupling is at fault and the oscilator is making the supply dirty with r.f. I have had many good products from radio shack/tandy, that radio isn't one of them, if it was mine i would re-home it in the trash can, even i have a radio that makes that sound crap, and i dont listen to radio lol :-D
I had a mouse that had that same bluish plastic that degraded and turned all gummy. You can't wash it off with soap, and I;m not sure I'd put powder on it. I used lighter fluid and a paper towel, and actually cut the stickiness and wiped it down to fresh, non-sticky plastic.
Bob and Kim Rivard yes, for sticky plastic, lighter fluid works..goo gone also works alcohol works too, but it takes way more rubbing. I've seen MANY pieces of electronics with this problem. A hint, when buying a piece of electronics...the cases that seem slightly rubbery(gives them a nice non-slip feel) are the ones that will eventually have this issue.
It's low-budget production methods of either pliable or rubberized style plastics. They have silicone oil added to them which helps release them from the manufacturing molds, and then they wipe them down after shaping. However a lot of silicone oil is still trapped in the porous plastic and starts seeping out over time. www.michaelshell.org/gadgetsandfixes/keypadsiliconeoil.html
pauljs75 that is not the same thing..the link is for rubber keypads.. What's being discussed here is not rubber, but hard plastic, with a slightly rubbery feeling surface that feels nice when new, but degrades into a sticky mess, particularly on the parts that have been touched regularly. It can be cleaned with a suitable cleaner, as discussed previously in this thread. As for the silicone rubber keypads, yes, the cheap ones shed silicone oil, which results in the buttons not working properly...again, properly cleaning the excess oil off(and replacing any conductive paint that's worn, for the keypads that use it(many don't-they use conductive rubber instead), fixes them.
M. K. : That "rubber" in the keypads is often is an elastomer type plastic. And the casings on electronics are molded in a similar fashion to those keypads. Sometimes stiffened by changing the mix, or putting a mold over another plastic piece in the injection-molding process. Sticky stuff is from the material being compressed and having the mold release agent that leeched in being pressed back out. In some cases the elastomer plastic can break down, but that's usually in an environment where it's exposed to other chemicals. A workshop or garage is a common example because hands never get washed and various petroleum distillate based compounds will eventually dissolve an elastomer plastic. Either way though, the worst offenders involve an overly cheap material being used, perhaps one not really suited to the job. For specifics though I found a whole list of 'em: www.jjshort.com/Rubber-Properties.php
Thanks for sharing, William, always enjoy your videos! I had a quick (maybe) question. What would you suggest for a camcorder? I'd like to start making more UA-cam videos and use something beyond my cell phone. I'd like 1080p, and decent quality overall (picture, focus, sound). Thanks for any insight you can give.
The built in speakers really don't sound that good at all, they could sound better, but that said, this radio is better than no radio at all I would say. When you plug the radio in, does the backlight stay on when the radio is turned on, or does it turn off after being left untouched for a few seconds as it does on batteries? I wonder if that whistling noise you spoke of is being caused by the display or the LED driver. Did you notice the pitch of the noise changed when the backlight went off?
Gigabyte has a pretty decent driver finder on their web site. They'll also tell you what chipset and peripherals your board has, if you'd rather go to each manufacturer and get the latest drivers (which is a good idea, especially if the board has integrated graphics and you're using them). Caveat: Later Intel CPUs moved the graphics core into the CPU itself, and not all of them have graphics cores built in. In that case, look up the CPU by its model number to determine what you need.
Yeah. Even the Sony radio that I bought off Amazon for 20 bucks was basically unusable on the am band. And just doesn't sound very good on the FM band at all
uxwbill Huh I wonder if that's why my bedrooms stereo FM act's up at times. I listen to my favourite FM station a lot especially when on my computer that is just on the other side of the room, the thing already has signal problems (no idea if it's structural or electric). Had to get a TV/FM antenna to boost reception. How much RF does a pc put out?
I wonder if it's just a rebadged Somy or Colby? They've gotten better at style, but still no substance. Not the kind of thing you'd ever get yourself (knowing better), but is a gift from grandma kind of thing. And even trying the headphone port does nothing to improve the audio on those things.
Ladies 'powder their noses',
Gentlemen 'Powder their portable appliances'?
There's one of these radios on eBay right now with a date code of November 2004 on it and its plastic case is already badly yellowed. So if you think that the days of being a problem with white or beige plastic are over, you're wrong... and also the seller listed it as "For parts or not working" and said, "it only works when you squeeze it".
"...powdering a radio..."
Practices I never thought I would hear of.
On sticky plastic, weirdly I haven't had that happen to my ThinkPad yet. Granted, the thing is only from 2008 (right near the beginning of Lenovo taking the IBM name off the line), maybe 10 years isn't quite the magic number for that bag of nightmares to strike (though the closet in which it currently sits has quite dry air--again, not sure if that's playing any role in its lack of degradation or not).
I bought one of those Radio Shack radios in 2005. I am very good to my electronics, but this puppy only lasted 4 months, before the display blanked out completely. The rest of the radio functioned as intended. I used it for a while, only listening to memory stations.
RadioShack sure had a lot of high priced low quality products near the end of RadioShacks life. I remember when RadioShacks had good radios and electronic parts and no cell phones. What a dud.
I had this very radio that I converted into an XM boombox in 2005. I ended up moving to another boombox setup and destroying it in the process.
Haven't seen a new video in awhile. Everything alright?
I'm very busy.
uxwbill no worries!
A lot of cheap radios have this phase shifting in the audio to simulate stereo. I have an AM FM Weather band radio that has one speaker and this fake stereo effect which screws me up whenever I try to use the radio to decode data signals heard on the weather band.
I think the radio is actually using the boost converter to boost the voltage up to some degree or using buck/boost converter to convert the voltage to whatever voltage it wants, as well as using boost converter to run the LED backlight -- very terrible idea for a radio.
Nice radio the ones I use are a Blaupunkt BPR-3 which is a stereo digital one and the others I have are tecsun pl 660 if I wanted AM.
Would the back light stay on if plugged in and radio on? Maybe a battery saving feature?
Yes, I think it does. I meant to include that in the video.
You make great videos! your ICT/electronica skills are incredible 😃
1:35 thanks for giving me the middle finger William 😂
Wait... maybe you can hear the difference with the dynamic bass with the headphone jack.
See my response to another comment. It may have to be tested!
An upgrade to better speakers would almost certainly be possible. The question is, "would it be worth doing". I don't think so, when so many better quality portable radios are available everywhere.
Ahh Cheap mono radios. I seem to recall that there before the 1990's mono radios were much more popular This just proves how much better thing are.
And that's why radioshack went away, selling products under their name that were sub-par, but that's how a lot of well-known brands have met their demise, it's the ones that stay around that are the ones to back... :)
What's that radio in the back of the video
I enjoy your videos a lot. I really like the variety of themes they are associated with but please more farm and car videos.
I wonder if it'll be possible to upgrade the little radio to have a better sound capabilities?
From the way it sounds on my 50 dollar tablet, I'm sure there would not be any powder poofs from this radio. I have an Eton brand radio with a bad case of stickeyness. However that's spelled lol.
The "whine" could be due to a bad filter capacitor in the gain circuit.
Do you have any of GE's Superadios? Blows away pretty much any other "average consumer" portable radio, especially for AM reception and clarity. Picked up a Model III up years ago for ten bucks, well well worth it.
Yes. I have an older GE branded SRIII and the newer, currently produced RCA variant. Both of mine work well, though I've heard that quality control is variable on the newer ones.
Love your videos! But quick question. Have you spoken or seen maxxarcade recently? Been missing his videos as well as yours. Just hoping nothing bad happened to him.
It is my understanding that he is very busy with work.
I'm presently very busy, but hope to upload some more videos soon.
A lot of AM radios have terrible sound quality on AM. I looked up the chip on a Panasonic I got and the specs show it only produces up 3KHz or so, not the 10KHz available.
I still think the backlighting circuit is still faulty, they may have part of it oscilating all the time and switch the output.
Perhaps the supply decoupling is at fault and the oscilator is making the supply dirty with r.f.
I have had many good products from radio shack/tandy, that radio isn't one of them, if it was mine i would re-home it in the trash can, even i have a radio that makes that sound crap, and i dont listen to radio lol :-D
I've been a subscriber for quite a while, but is the Key Keeper your real brother?
Yes, the Keykeeper, Furhead and college153 are really my brothers. Why would I make something like that up?
I had a mouse that had that same bluish plastic that degraded and turned all gummy. You can't wash it off with soap, and I;m not sure I'd put powder on it. I used lighter fluid and a paper towel, and actually cut the stickiness and wiped it down to fresh, non-sticky plastic.
Bob and Kim Rivard yes, for sticky plastic, lighter fluid works..goo gone also works alcohol works too, but it takes way more rubbing.
I've seen MANY pieces of electronics with this problem.
A hint, when buying a piece of electronics...the cases that seem slightly rubbery(gives them a nice non-slip feel) are the ones that will eventually have this issue.
It's low-budget production methods of either pliable or rubberized style plastics. They have silicone oil added to them which helps release them from the manufacturing molds, and then they wipe them down after shaping. However a lot of silicone oil is still trapped in the porous plastic and starts seeping out over time.
www.michaelshell.org/gadgetsandfixes/keypadsiliconeoil.html
pauljs75 that is not the same thing..the link is for rubber keypads..
What's being discussed here is not rubber, but hard plastic, with a slightly rubbery feeling surface that feels nice when new, but degrades into a sticky mess, particularly on the parts that have been touched regularly.
It can be cleaned with a suitable cleaner, as discussed previously in this thread.
As for the silicone rubber keypads, yes, the cheap ones shed silicone oil, which results in the buttons not working properly...again, properly cleaning the excess oil off(and replacing any conductive paint that's worn, for the keypads that use it(many don't-they use conductive rubber instead), fixes them.
M. K. : That "rubber" in the keypads is often is an elastomer type plastic. And the casings on electronics are molded in a similar fashion to those keypads. Sometimes stiffened by changing the mix, or putting a mold over another plastic piece in the injection-molding process. Sticky stuff is from the material being compressed and having the mold release agent that leeched in being pressed back out.
In some cases the elastomer plastic can break down, but that's usually in an environment where it's exposed to other chemicals. A workshop or garage is a common example because hands never get washed and various petroleum distillate based compounds will eventually dissolve an elastomer plastic.
Either way though, the worst offenders involve an overly cheap material being used, perhaps one not really suited to the job.
For specifics though I found a whole list of 'em:
www.jjshort.com/Rubber-Properties.php
That was quite a differance in sound quality between this radio and that little Panasonic. Not many good things about this little radio.
Thanks for sharing, William, always enjoy your videos! I had a quick (maybe) question. What would you suggest for a camcorder? I'd like to start making more UA-cam videos and use something beyond my cell phone. I'd like 1080p, and decent quality overall (picture, focus, sound). Thanks for any insight you can give.
I haven't been following the camcorder market, so I can't really be of much help.
The built in speakers really don't sound that good at all, they could sound better, but that said, this radio is better than no radio at all I would say. When you plug the radio in, does the backlight stay on when the radio is turned on, or does it turn off after being left untouched for a few seconds as it does on batteries? I wonder if that whistling noise you spoke of is being caused by the display or the LED driver. Did you notice the pitch of the noise changed when the backlight went off?
And this is why Radio Shack folded. It sounds sooooo cheap, in audio quality and button sound.That whine does seem to be effected by the back light.
Do you receive 101.5 CIL-FM?
I don't know. It doesn't sound like they play anything I'd want to hear.
@uxwbill
Hi, I was wondering what motherboard drivers you usually install and where you get them. Thanks, also great video as always.
The only place to get any drivers is from the hardware manufacturer, whenever possible.
@uxwbill
I have a Gigabyte GA-H110M-A. So I go to the website and download what drivers? Thanks for the reply.
Gigabyte has a pretty decent driver finder on their web site. They'll also tell you what chipset and peripherals your board has, if you'd rather go to each manufacturer and get the latest drivers (which is a good idea, especially if the board has integrated graphics and you're using them).
Caveat: Later Intel CPUs moved the graphics core into the CPU itself, and not all of them have graphics cores built in. In that case, look up the CPU by its model number to determine what you need.
@uxwbill Can you do a windows and driver install video? Thanks
No.
uxwbill
Ok then. Do you recommend any chair or desk?
No.
Do you have any car updates?
Did uxwbill die? I'm craving an adventurous video
his voice sounds like VWestlife's voice, but more enthusiastic
great!
A good fix for sticky plastic is to wipe it down with rubbing alcohol
Yeah. Even the Sony radio that I bought off Amazon for 20 bucks was basically unusable on the am band. And just doesn't sound very good on the FM band at all
There must be a lot of computers running down there to make that much noise.
No, it really doesn't take very many, given the plethora of clock sources in a computer system. Most of the time there are only three running.
uxwbill Huh I wonder if that's why my bedrooms stereo FM act's up at times. I listen to my favourite FM station a lot especially when on my computer that is just on the other side of the room, the thing already has signal problems (no idea if it's structural or electric). Had to get a TV/FM antenna to boost reception. How much RF does a pc put out?
I wonder if it's just a rebadged Somy or Colby? They've gotten better at style, but still no substance. Not the kind of thing you'd ever get yourself (knowing better), but is a gift from grandma kind of thing. And even trying the headphone port does nothing to improve the audio on those things.
i guess you from northern il
I have this radio I love it
Wow
indignity
newer junk, not worth it at all
shame its poor quality