Love this article. About once a year, I’ll buy an eBay tube radio from someone local. I’ll fix it on up since the tubes are usually good and all that needs to be replaced are the sad wax caps. Maybe a little realignment as well since I have it open.
I then give it back to the seller who usually is excited about having it work again. Once in a while I will put the stories on eham.net.
If for any reason the radio breaks, going to send the author an email to offer to fix it for free. All it takes are about $3 worth of mouser capacitors in my experience.
So you run a charity repair service? You buy something from someone, fix it, then give it back to the person you bought it from? That's a very noble hobby.
The latter. I don’t really consider it a charity since the people could easily pay for it (plus tube radios are so simple to fix). However, upon receiving it back, they are quick to realize the missing memories they might have given up.
Selfishly I do it to keep up my soldering skills when none of my amateur radio related radios need servicing. Plus putting a little good karma out there never hurt anyone.
"I realize that each time it flickers to life could be its last. How does one go about finding ancient tubes nowadays? Where are the parents with the know-how to fix such things anymore?"
Fixing it is non-issue. Almost evey part will be available if not a direct replacement then a close substitute. Even new electrolytic capacitors can be made to look like old parts by burying them in the case of the defunct part.
As for tubes, it's almost certain they'll be standard octals (they were commonplace by 1941), and there's any number of them around both new-old stock and secondhand.
An AM-only radio of that period almost certainly uses the "All American Five" set of tubes. All of which are still available.[1]
Note that many of those things are a hot-chassis design. The chassis is directly connected to one side of the power line, so there is a shock hazard. On some units, the shafts of the controls are live.[2]
"Note that many of those things are a hot-chassis design."
Right, hot-chassis was mainly a US phenomenon due to its 110/115V supply. It was very rare in other countries such as in Europe, UK, NZ and Australia that used 220/240V because of the danger. If memory serves me correctly, I think hot-chassis was banned in some countries such as Australia. Of the 220/240V countries some European ones did permit H-C but such sets were rare.
Amplifier tubes have only a little overlap, if any, with the tubes you will find in a typical AM radio like the one described. Maybe the rectifier or the output tube.
There is still (!) plenty of old stock of radio and television tubes out there, however.
There are. I had the resident guitar expert at work pick me out a cheap-but-decent guitar+amp combo for my son, and the amp ended up being a 1-watt tube amp
Right, but I'm not so sure about superhetrodyne-specific tubes such as pentagrid and triode-heptode converters like the 6J8G (perhaps I'm wrong, I've not followed the matter that carefully lately).
Reckon the demand wouldn't warrant tooling up (and they're messy complex tubes to make).
Tube amps are really the default type of guitar amp for every genre. I can name hundreds of guitar players famous for playing tube amps, I don't think I can name a single one known to play solid state amps.
>I don't think I can name a single one known to play solid state amps.
Dimebag Darrell and Buckethead are two names who come to mind, favouring the even response of solid state over the more-dynamic valve amps.
If we include pre-amplification such as guitar pedals, solid state is everywhere - a DS1 or a Rat gives that even response for big gnarly cold distortions.
Then there's the Boss HM pedal which spawned a whole genre of it's own when players used it as a pre-amp for that unique "chainsaw" sound.
So, you're right that most players opt for valves at the amplification stage, but solid state is all over guitar music.
With digital simulation, things are slowly changing and a lot of players now use digital amps on tour as a matter of convenience, even big names. This has been debated to death on guitar forums, but some would argue that digital is now undistinguishable from the tubes.
>This has been debated to death on guitar forums, but some would argue that digital is now undistinguishable from the tubes.
I find that it's impossible for the average listener to identify the difference in recorded music, especially if there's a lot of distortion in play, but I can entertain the idea that it's a detectable difference.
As someone who moved from solid-state and digital amps to tube amps I find there to be a huge difference in terms of dynamics and response, which massively influences the way I and others play. I can't imagine Jeff Beck or Gary Moore getting the same results with non-tube amps, since their playing relies so much on dynamics and physically feeling and moving air in the room.
edit: for live touring, though, it's so much more efficient to use digital or solid-state options for size, weight and reliability, if it doesn't directly impact the artist's ability to perform
I have never used a top line modelling amp, like kemper or whatever...but I immediately play better through my tube amps than lower end digitals (Katana or whatever). It is dynamics as you say. Anyone would prefer to hear me play (as if) through a valve amp (vacuum tubes are called valves in Britain). Valve amps are still the default option for higher end enthusiast amps, although modeling is taking over with pros for convenience
Seriously. The author is smart enough to get their piece published in the LA Times. You would think they know how to search YouTube for "how to repair old radio".
I was going to write that expertise in one area doesn't necessarily transfer to competence in another, but then it occurred to me: Perhaps the radio is still running off the same valve that his father installed in 1978 and that is part of the emotional value that it holds for him.
If your father fixed something for you, it could feel like a betrayal of his memory to hire someone to fix it again for you.
Though personally, if I had the deep emotional connection with it, I'd want to fix it myself (almost certainly with assistance from some amateurs who know the radio).
You're never going to "teach a man to fish" on how to keep his one, mostly-reliable, tube type radio going. You can teach him to switch tubes, but eventually it's going to get more complicated than that, and you can only get so much experience from a touch of help every few years.
Whilst it doesn't happen very often it never ceases to amaze me that some of those old radios will still work after being switched off for about half century.
I've switched them on expecting fireworks—the plates in the 5Y3G/T or 80 rectifiers glowing red hot because the electrolytic caps had shorted to deck—but no they actually still worked.
What's more I've even had some of those ancient wet electrolytic caps (the 1930s-style 8μF/400V types in vertical cans mounted on the chassis) actually work.
Mind you, I certainly don't recommend you do that—do as I say not as I do (I'm rather gung ho about such matters and rather enjoy the fireworks). Be warned, you can not only blow up the rectifiers but also the power transformer and that'll likely be much harder to replace than the tubes.
I recall several years back being so shocked that some of those old wet electros still worked that I pulled the top seals off several and stuck my multimeter in the electrolyte and noticed that essentially there was no voltage between the electrolyte and the case. I even stuck my finger on the Al foil and could feel very little until I pushed hard and then suddenly whammo—ouch. A fascinating exercise, it's an excellent illustration of how good aluminum oxide is as an insulator and dielectric.
Please don't try this unless you are as mad as I am—and even then don't do it!
Had that problem myself. Parasitic drain is shitty bad design—full stop! The only things that should drain when the car's not being used are the clock and or the radio's memory and they only take flea power.
Franky, I'm pissed off with much modern elecronics (I used to work in the prototype lab for a large multinational electronics company and crappy design like that wouldn't get past the breadboard stage let alone make it into production).
It's doubly annoying because I know it is possible to design storage systems that do not require energy - every computer manufactured in the last 30 years has had them!
That's rather unfair. Whilst I cut my teeth on old radios like that (which were essentially obsolete when I was a kid), and their operation is second nature to me, I know many electronics people brought up on transistors, ICs and 5-Volt supply rails that wouldn't know where to begin fixing one. For starters, plate voltages upwards of 250V scare the shit out of them.
How long can a vacuum tube survive sitting on a shelf? Decades, apparently, but centuries? Millenia? What's the diffusion rate of air through the glass envelope?
Also, wouldn't keeping the tube filament temperature stable maximize longevity? In other words, couldn't leaving it on be better than using it once a day?
There are about 10 companies that still make vacuum tubes for a variety of products. There is also stock you can find on eBay or at ham radio festivals pretty easily. There are even customers who make crystals for old rigs like the Hallicrafters and Drake lines.
one may not need to find ancient valves - my little (65-year old) brother builds valve amplifiers and repairs valve radios as a hobby, and seems to do ok. only problem that as far as i can see, many valves are apparently sourced from russia (i don't know about this definitively).
Russians and other ex soviet countries kept manufacturing tubes well after the west stopped. They're often great quality military grade parts, a lot better than the Chinese remakes and fakes one can find at the usual online places.
The same applies to germanium transistors and diodes, passive parts etc: excellent quality at very reasonable prices. Those who currently don't want to, or can't, buy from Russian sellers, can find the same items at various shops in western Europe: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Ukraine (some shops still active and worth helping), Romania, Poland, etc.
You know, it depends how desperate one gets. I have longtime friend who occasionally repairs ancient B&W TV sets, not from the 1950s but earlier 40s and even late 30s. When he couldn't get new picture tubes he simply invested in vacuum pumps and necessary tube components and snipped the necks off the tubes and rebuilt them—and they worked perfectly OK.
I reckon he was mad to attempt it but I have to eat humble pie because he became so expert at it. And what's more, he did all this in his backyard shed at home!
yeah, my bro doesn't, AFAIK, buy from russia direct. but even if you buy from UK suppliers, you are still indirectly supporting the russian economy. i haven't brought this up with him - we have enough disagreements about politics as it is.
Well you are maybe placing a few bucks in some English person's pocket where there was already money long gone to the Russian economy, and reminder that most people in Russia don't even support the war so it's not like you are making an impact outside of buying an Englishman tea after he already paid a Russian for his... idk what they prefer to drink over there other than Vodka. :P
Even in Russia, it's mostly a cottage industry, they aren't shipping thousand's monthly and definitely are not funding a war machine from that small investment, it also costs them raw resources when they do eventually manufacture. War has a way of getting funding much greater than from it's exports.
Edit: I feel that way about my Apple Platinum 8 bit computer. It was the machine I started on, and I learned a ton! Great little computer. And of course, it can be fixed!
But, I flip that switch, hear that 1Khz beep and do not look forward to the day coming when I do have to fix it.
>These days I use it sparingly; I realize that each time it flickers to life could be its last.
I think seeing that they are made of glass, people assume vacuum tubes are delicate in some way. They are not really, this person should use their radio. Tube radios are much easier to fix in general than a transistor radio.
> How does one go about finding ancient tubes nowadays?
The internet! Or if you want the manual touch, a radio rally. Many tubes are still in production albeit sometimes in tricky parts of the world!
> Where are the parents with the know-how to fix such things anymore?
Also the internet! There are several people who could fix the radio on this thread!
I can count the number of ham labs (owned by 40+ men) i've been in on one hand that didn't have a stack of old tubes in their original boxes lining the shelf above an old CW Transmitter.
I've been in a lot of ham labs; they are everywhere but super cool.
My grandfather, a retired farmer and factory worker, always had an old police scanner going in his kitchen. Prompted me to get a modern programmable one years ago at Radio Shack, which drew hoots of laughter from my city colleagues when I told them. I didn't get the derision - it let him (and me) understand what's local emergency services are dealing with.
Which reminds me of when I was 19 and was stopped by the police for what I assumed was hitchhiking - since I had just walked up a hill from the highway where I had been dropped off after hitching home from college for the weekend.
Alas, the reason he stopped me (which he never mentioned of course) was that I looked very close to the description of someone who had just robbed a bank in my home town.
By the time I got to my parents house, everyone in town had "heard" I had been arrested for bank robbery thanks to a few folks with police scanners.
I had an experience about 10 years ago when I unknowingly jogged in a large park that an armed robbery suspect had just escaped into. I matched the basic description (WM, dark T-shirt) and all a sudden a police officer pops out of the bushes and asks to see my ID. I don't know if anyone was listening on the scanner, though.
Much of the activity I have heard on scanners is mundane: running plates, responding to alarms, ambulance calls, noise complaints, accidents blocking traffic, minor disputes where one side feels compelled to summon the police.
There are the tragedies. Lots of medical calls where someone is unresponsive, which could be anything from an OD to a heart attack. "Domestic calls," usually fights between spouses or parents and adult children. Mental health emergencies. Seniors wandering the street, who have forgotten where they live.
Then there are the serious emergencies: fires, armed robberies, once a car chase. When I first got started decades ago there was a Boston police channel that a gang unit sometimes used but since then they appear to have migrated to a non-public frequency. I frequently hear police now asking specific colleagues to call them, I assume because the info shouldn't be shared over the regular dispatch frequency or would take too long to explain and tie up the channel.
Not that much regular FM emergency traffic here in SF Bay Area. Most is trunked on some digital system; not sure whether you can decode, but maybe with the right SDR.
I remember having an 800MHz scanner in the 80's when cellular was born, and listening to some unbelievably banal and dull conversations. I learned 80% of cell phone calling is "what's for dinner?" conversations.
I was very surprised when it happened, and after that I did not share much about my personal life. I think they thought it was incredibly corny and/or nerdy.
That's a fun read. I've scored some interesting radio gear from the street and found that in the worst case, I can at least give it a good cleaning and pass it along, even if I decide not to fix it. :-)
Recently I started keeping a radio switched on in the kitchen all day, and the family seems to like it. I thought there might be complaints, probably from my teenagers, but I switch it to the pop charts stations a few days a week. And the kids are even OK with 80s stations and tunes they remember from the memes of yesteryear!
There are some interesting hidden advantages to having that thing on all day. For example, during emergencies like extended power outages, it's a very easy and reassuring way to get updates.
But it all started when I grew up listening to Dad dialing in his favorite station, KIXI-AM in Seattle, every morning at his office.
Got to work with a headache and too many projects to finish? Well, how long can you focus on those temporary annoyances while the dulcet tones of _Love Story_ play? (Andy Williams, not Taylor Swift)
(BTW if you like that idea, tune into Hayama Beach FM Japan streaming for the next couple of hours and thank me later...)
Hopefully my own kids don't feel too much pressure to check propagation on the bands with a handheld wideband receiver like Dad does on vacation at the beach, but I'm glad they get to experience what a good radio can do.
I did a walk-up amateur radio workshop with the Girl Scouts at a STEM festival a few months ago. I likewise was very surprised by two things: the younger kids had _no idea_ what they were looking at (isn't the radio in the phones? Spotify?), and they were also completely enamored with the gear. Some of the older kids (14-ish if I had to guess?) spent a lot of time with it.
For the younger (7-10 year old) kids who came to our table, we actually didn't do anything terribly technical - we just asked them, "What's your favorite type of music?", showed them how to tune to an appropriate local FM station, and let them see the waterfall plot of the station, put the big headphones on, and that sort of thing. If any of them showed an interest, I'd hand them a hand-held CB radio, one of the big clunky 80s ones from Stranger Things, and let them make "their own radio station", then showed them how to pick it up like the FM station. We got a lot of younger visitors this way!
That's awesome, seems like a great contribution to the community. CB radio, too, that's not so common these days. I scan for it sometimes but never find any local traffic.
I get the sense that there are some folk still actively using CB, but I also have the sense that for most people, their needs are better met nowadays by GMRS radios (which are in the UHF/~70cm bands, rather than 11m CB), which provide for legally higher power transmissions, at the cost of a nearly completely unenforced license.
Part two of course is location: I'd expect CB to be more prominent on big cross-country highways; GMRS in wide-open country where folks might be overlanding. If you're hanging out in a city and expecting to hear either, I think you're liable to be disappointed.
CB is line-of-sight, isn't it? It's mostly used by freeway truckers for very short-range comms that you don't need to broadcast across the entire state (accident/speed trap ahead/nearby Hooters fails health code inspections).
My dad always had a radio tuned to a local country station playing lowly in the garage, 24/7. The thing never turned off.
He passed in 2016, and now the radio plays away situated on a workbench in my brothers garage. It gets turned up when someone is actually working out there, but only turned down and not off when they retire to the house.
As I recall this, I remember it wasn't even just the most recent model. Repairing radios wasn't his thing so eventually they'd get replaced when broken, but I can recall at least two distinct radios over the years so I really think he'd been doing that for quite many years.
Not turning it off is one of the reasons it's lasted this long. One of the most common causes of electronics failure is thermal stressing from powering down and up.
As Kevin Kelly pointed out in his book What Technology Wants, most technologies never actually go extinct. There remain people who are still interested in making "new" ones and reparing broken ones. And thanks to the internet, it's fairly easy to find them. For tube radios:
http://www.xtalman.com/ --- Borden Radio Company sells kits to make all kinds of old radios, including tube radios.
https://vacuumtubes.net/ --- "Welcome to the Vacuum Tubes division of Radio Electric Supply, home of the largest supply of New Old Stock vacuum tubes in the world."
Yeah, pretty big change over the decades in that regard. 1940's radio? Comes with schematic, repair manual, and an order form for replacement parts. 2020's radio? Comes closed with special "security" screws, adhesive, etc., encrypted firmware, and a nearly guaranteed lawsuit if you have the audacity to open it up, reverse engineer it and publish schematics, repair instructions, etc.
Btw, anyone planning to tinker with valves/ tubes....I thoroughly encourage it...but you need to learn to safely discharge caps before you open valve equipment. Caps can hold 'instant death' voltages long after they are unplugged. A search on the interwebs will show you the way
This is good advice. The worst failure mode in one of these receivers is repairing or replacing the transformers. Tubes are easy, if sometimes expensive. But the transformers are frequently specific to a manufacturer or model.
The main way transformers are ruined is bad caps. Otherwise they'll last forever. Wax capacitors from back in the day are hot garbage.
Also, these things can and should be updated to correctly ground the chassis, add fuse(s) and have a polarized power cord with sane insulation, as opposed to cloth.
"Our" radio is decidedly more modern, circa early 1970's, but it has played thousands of hours of St. Louis Cardinals games when KMOX 1120 kHz would fade in about 7 PM up here in Western Wisconsin. Every time I consider ripping out the guts to make it a bluetooth streaming speaker, I can't go through with it.
It might be interesting project to add BT speaker instead of ripping whole thing out. Just put a relay to the speaker that switches to the BT receiver when it is enabled and back to old radio when it is powered down
I have a couple of KX-99 AM two-way radios. On of them (Bendix) receives well, but the other one (Bendix-King) has a strange tone and doesn't seem to pick up any signal. The tone is dependant on the frequency it's monitoring. Maybe this is a by-product of a superheterodyne circuit only present in the newer models? I wonder if any radio-savvy reader will be able to point me in the right direction here :)
My father is still alive, but, when he passes away, my version of this is that his crystal radios that he liked to build as hobby projects will still be blathering away since they only depend on the power coming straight from the radio waves in the air.
