1964 Wards Airline Transistor Radio Diagnosis And Repair

[@tomfranco4866]

Shango keep the videos rolling I can't get bored of you

[@JerryEricsson]

Monky wards, back when I was a SP4 in the Army, stationed at Fort Lewis Washington, having just returned from a tour in Vietnam, my wonderful wife and I went shopping at the local Wards store in Tacoma. They had some clerk there trying to get everyone to sign up for their credit card, and we took the bait. We had never even heard of credit cards back then, it was 1971 and we both grew up in the Dakota's where such things were never even thought of, we were taught that if you don't have the money, then you don't need what ever you are trying to buy, with the exception, perhaps of a car our house, and back then, the car I drove from South Dakota to Washington after coming home from Nam cost me all of $150.00 which I had. So when the card arrived, we really took advantage of it! We treated it like found money! Hell yes, new cloths, a new AM/FM/SW radio, and what the hell, there was a dining room in Wards, we ate there regularly. Then one day, after a fine meal at the cafe, the clerk checking us out informed us that they had orders to seize our credit card! Seems we went over the limit, hell we never read the letter that came with the card telling us that the credit limit was $300.00. Now I am happy that it happened, as we have always been much more careful with credit cards, so Wards did us a good deed by introducing us to the credit card system. I now have a couple of cards, my wonderful wife had 3, I have, thus far canceled 2 of the three,the last one goes today if I can reach the credit holder and inform them of her recent death by Cancer. It was a trip to hell for my family and, of course for her, but we all have to go some time, and her time was 11 days ago. The pain is still ever so real.

[@johnsampson1096]

One of the engineers I worked with always used his famous quote, "The emitter base junction is like penicillin to a transistor". Glad you showed everyone how important voltage checks are especially on anything solid state. A lot of people probably would have shot gunned the transistor.......

[@2509498788]

So nice to watch this channel . When stuck in Vietnam till airports open. April 30

[@luvradios]

Awesome troubleshooting, don’t see a lot of shorted transformers, I would have been obsessed enough at that point to open the can for a peek but you rocked this man, started with dead and ended with a working unit.

[@danmackintosh6325]

20 seconds in, i think anyone with "enough" projects has experienced this situation before now. There's a couple of cases like that on my "round tuit" pile. Looking forward to this, a good length video to keep boredom at bay. Thanks for sharing man.

[@JerryEricsson]

I had the big brother of that radio bought it new when I was in the Army back in 73. Always was a great radio, mine had the shortwave bands, I was always into SW listening but man that radio could put out music. She died when my son had it in his car, which was stolen and burned in a field near the town where I worked as a police officer.

[@geralderdek282]

I've got this radio under the plata name. Mine needed only a audio coupling cap to play perfectly. I've been collecting and repairing transistor radios for over 30 years and only just discovered your nicely done video. Nice to watch someone else also doing the same kind of work I love doing!😊

[@rustymotor]

Good that you are organised to keep all the parts together in a bag, I have had some down time during this C19 event and I decided to revisit some of my old projects. I am working on an old Nixie tube counter/timer unit that I put away several years ago and I am annoyed that I have lost the screws and the metal top cover. Might be a good time to clean up the shed and hopefully find the parts.

[@jrs0007]

I had a radio with the same problem shown here - a shorted IF transformer. As shango showed, jumping the transformer made the FM work with no AM. I didn't have a replacement transformer, but found a 455kHz ceramic filter from a chinese IC radio kit. Installing the filter brought the radio back to life with reduced gain on AM due to losses in the filter. The selectivity is sharp and FM didn't seem to be affected. For fun, I replaced the stacked FM transformer with a 10.7MHz ceramic filter from the same chinese radio. Now the FM selectivity is as as narrow as the IC radio was with only a little reduced volume. After aligning the other stages, the radio works great. The fidelity is not quite as good on AM since the bandwidth is so narrow, but radio is now a worthy DX test candidate. Thanks to shango for his expert analysis and explanation of the theory involved. I would have liked to have had shango as a teacher when I studied electronics in school. So much for shotgunning caps and transistors. Keep up the great teaching videos!

[@nickchatziandreou4863]

Creatings from Samos Greece .I thought i new a lot about radios but when i see your vidios im convinced that i dont know that much about radios. Your awesome

[@ВладимирГадалов]

Хорошее Радио!Отличная работа!

[@chriswareham]

I have an Airline guitar with the same logo as this radio. Made in Chicago by Kay back in the 50's or 60's and sold by Wards. Don't know how it ended up in the UK, but it's a wonderful guitar.

[@TurboTel68]

Thanks for all the extra content, you guys are really helping to keep me sane! Stay safe out there!

[@denisgiati6129]

beautiful radio and I really enjoy watching your videos and also appreciate the rarities of TV and radio that you show us in your repair videos !!!A hug here from Brazil to the friend there from the United States !!👍👍

[@gerardcarriera7052]

I can tell you from experience that the early AM/FM portables below par in sensitivity. They are also very prone to interference from aircraft radio transmissions. My feeling is that FM didn't become popular until the early 70s, the designers were prone to give the performance edge to the AM band. By the mid-late 70s, that shifted to better FM performance and adequate AM performance. This is another one of your terrific videos. I would have never suspected a problem with an IF can.

[@dougbrowning82]

And now you don't get any AM capability at all.

[@johnchildress6717]

In the early 60,s the FCC wasn,t even certain of the transmission format of stereo to be used They were still experementing.

[@wierpkevin]

thanks for flying with WFUBAR Wards Airline today. all of our stations are stacked.

[@TonyButchT]

Always good to join you (and learn) when you troubleshoot! Thanks Shango!

[@MrBillmcminn]

There’s triangle Conelrad markers on 640 and 1240 AM it would have been made before 1963 or possibly 1965 if they had a surplus of parts at the factory

[@jamesweekes6726]

Genius on those phone calls, thanks!

[@craignehring]

A for effort on this bad boy Airline radio. That tuner assembly is a trip and the overall build is amazing

[@frazzleface753]

Surprised Bo-Rap didn't give you a strike! They're crazy strict on that one. And 27:20, a nice little bit of Ramsey Lewis, Sun Goddess 😎

[@greengrayradio1394]

You got a tough one there, Shango! It sounds like the white IF can makes the radio oscillate spuriously in the (455?) kHz IF. Did I see a ferrite bead on one of the transistors there? Maybe they had problems and had to put it on to reduce oscillation. It sounds as you have like a 'beat oscillator' going at times. Damping the offending stage with a little 10-100 ohm resistor, or a ferrite bead, in series with the base might help. You'll fix it! I can't but admire the "seemingly hopeless" projects you have brought to life! Love your projects, keep 'em going, stay healthy!

[@LakeNipissing]

Hint: "Real 92.3" was coming in at 103 on the FM dial... oscillator is running + 11 MHz.

[@maltronics]

Transistor radio`s will be a essential part of life,when the world has severe power cuts

[@cargo4441]

I'm thinking Crystal. Will be the preferred ham setup.

[@maltronics]

@@cargo4441 That`s a cats whisper away

[@cardboardboxification]

solar panels and some batteries are your friend

[@MrKillswitch88]

I've like off grid years back and a good solar setup does wonders especially if one can get Good deep cycle batteries so one could run more than just a radio plus being able to run a tv or a laptop ect is a bonus.

[@rancherfarmerguy]

@@MrKillswitch88 I wonder if there has been a run on 12v 100Ah sealed lead-acid batteries or any solar type batteries. Hell, it happened to toilet paper!

[@bigmsound]

This Wards Airline radio and many, many others was manufactured by "Shin Shirasuna" a/ka "Silver", as indicated on the speaker. Shin Shirasuna made many lines of stereo amps, receivers and tuners, etc under the "Silver" brand for europe and asia and also manufactured many lines of stereo equipment for Harman / Kardon throughout the mid 70's and into the 90's. The Harman / Kardon HK795i, PM665vxi are a few examples of Shin Shirasuna products.

[@allenschmitz9644]

mY GUESS on this is circa 1965/66..and japan was better than Hong Kong radios, I remember this brand radio..by 1969 Panasonic was the top dog of portable a.m./f.m. radios.

[@NorthRiverTV]

Thanks for posting this. I have the same exact radio, and it exhibits many of the same issues.... deaf / low audio output on FM, distorted audio above minimal volume on AM. I might have to open it up and check it out now.

[@TestTubeBabySpy]

I've noticed more uploads from some of our favorite youtubers, and it's so cool to have something to watch while mankind is on hold rn. I am working on a video of the old Western Electric Hawthorne Works. My 200 subs will be ecstatic! 😅

[@bobroth1951]

Very interesting. Anything can go wrong after being unused for 30-40 years in any old radio. I've seen this type of thing before. Fix one part and then something else goes bad almost immediately. Reminds me of old cars.

[@allenschmitz9644]

no 'patina' fad's in radios.

Shango rest assured every single one of us has had the same exact experience with "Fixed! Nope,dead". At least you didn't call the customer and it died in front of him right after you put the cash in the register.Ouch.

[@tedspang1945]

Nice. You troubleshooting was on point. I got a GE super radio with the same symptom of signal loss in the AM band. Hopefully this video will give me a good place to start.

[@tabasco1998]

Gotta love the constant coronavirus isolation entertainment youve been giving us recently

[@1marcelfilms]

Its gonna be hell of a flashback watching the videos back in 5 or 10 years

[@1marcelfilms]

absolutely

[@eduliss1]

Hello Shango 066 I am a Spanish subscriber, I really like your channel and I do not miss any of your videos, I am very concerned about the news of the covid 19 coming to Spain from the USA. I already know that we Spaniards are having a very bad time. Please take good care of yourselves it is something very serious do not take it as a joke. A greeting from Spain.

[@jquest43]

From usa? More likely from EU.

[@eduliss1]

🇪🇦

[@MrUbiquitousTech]

Nicely done, more than once in the same video! I admire your stick-to-itiveness, Shango doesn't give up! Tpilet paper, vodka, and mumble rap, what an odd party.

[@LakeNipissing]

59:31 was awesome comic relief. I love how you handle phone scam callers, Shango!!

[@mikeyf103]

I spat my coffee out

[@warmsteamingpile]

I'd love to apprentice with you. Did electronics in a musical instrument shop in the 80s. Your videos show me how much I don't know.

[@jquest43]

Come on down..I will let you sleep in my living room. I'm at 33666 Diablo St in Los Angeles ,do you like cats( I have 15)?

[@boggy7665]

The advent of commercial voice radio was nearer in the past when this radio was made, than the year the radio was made is to us now.

[@worroSfOretsevraH]

Oh I'm always excited when a shango video pops up. Especially a radio repair.

[@stridermt2k]

I love all of the videos...at some point I will hit the end and I will be sad again.

[@isoguy.]

Awesome, vid, as usual. Can't get enough of your vids, I'm addicted but it's not a habit I want to break. Thanks for sharing. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@fluffyblue4006]

Great vid, thanks. Just one thing really disturbs me deeply, here. You said something like this-and-that is doing TV, and another is doing tube radios, so I'll do the transistor radios. I really hope that's a joke of some kind. Please keep on doing what you're doing, including TV and 'valve' equipment of all kinds, even including car repairs, lawnmower mods and plumbing.

[@teacfan1080]

What a challenge this one turned out to be. The Montgomery Ward Airline COVID-19 transistor radio kerfuffle. Great video to watch...there's a major snowstorm going on right now where I live. Hunker down, stay inside and curl up to a good Shango066 video!

[@rogertyler3237]

Yep You'r Right I Always Test Things Before I Rebuild The Unit. It Looks like The Radio I Had When I Was In His school.

[@AMStationEngineer]

Night time Dx would have to be among any of the best of that era. Stay well.

[@Mr.-Wint]

The japan 'Silver' brand also made car radios in the 70's !

[@davidmorris-jones210]

Most interesting videos thanks. I dabble I'm a UK ham radio operator. Cheers.

[@joeblow8593]

Trivia: In case anyone was wondering. At 33:45 is The Box by Roddy Ricch. It spent 11 weeks at #1

[@billmcdonald2436]

I prefer to watch these transistor radio videos over the TV’s. I’ll watch both but I like these better.

[@rsattahip]

In pieces is fine so long as you're the one who took it apart.

[@arthureverett8220]

They always take a dump once you put them back together!!!!! Had that happen to me a couple of times!!!!

[@richardgunther1658]

Great vid Shango, thanks 4 your expanded postings 👍😷

[@Jeff-cu8mv]

Childhoodradio on eBay sells those transformers, along with other transistor radio parts.. Great vids, keep up the great work..

[@1914grant]

Another Excellent Video

[@shankslitter1344]

I love the radio repair videos. Keep them coming

[@yukayuyu3844]

As you said, this whole video is a great learning experience. Thank you also had no idea you can jump IF stages just like that, though that's a bummer that none of the IF transformers you had at hand were suitable

[@dedmazai9212]

Жаль что так все и не завершилось (Жили они долго и счастливо) ..! И да.. Я так и не дождался демонстрации индикатора настройки. А так хотелось взглянуть на его работу...))

[@joelima201]

Good trouble shooting skills , have a similar model , a 14 transistor am/fm Plata Discovery uses a capacitor coupled output stage . Had many faults , and after replacing all the electrolytics got it work okay. Not a hot performer .

[@kevmichael2064]

Thay Made Good Stuff Back Than....I have Sony Radios from the Late 70s-Early 80s.. Still working on ALL Bands... Made For the Japanese Market....LW-SW.,...FM 76-90mhz and the 90-108mhz is TV Channel 1-3... Just Beautiful!!!!👍😎

[@hql400]

1:04:12 perhaps the whole if-stage is swinging ? This can be possible to cause silence beside the dying oscillator/converter, that works very well in the beginning... 1:06:00 This sounds like oscillation of the if-amp with if-distortion

[@tony--james]

another Shango066 awesome video, that was a couple of trips on the short bus , that went Crinkley Dinkle when the radio played rap lol

[@RoughJustice2k18]

Interesting box the transistor radio came in - first we had Mrs. Miller, now Mrs. Fields!

[@enzoperruccio]

@shango066 will you ever do a tour of your TV/Radio collection? I lost track at this point

[@saarike]

Columbo would say, that that was a hard case! Thanks a lot for great vid.

[@charade993]

I love it here.

[@glennidalski6833]

Very informative shang066 thank you for the videos

[@roynexus6]

I love transistor radio vids

[@jeffreyhickman3871]

This is almost 😅 like 👍 my dad’s radio 📻. It’s probably from the 1970’s. At least, somewhat better quality than 2000, and past. Even a few great 👍 songs. Your friend, Jeff.

[@rogertyler3237]

I Still Mess Around With Stuff Like That. That Old Stuff IsbBuilt Better Then This New Stuff They Make Nowadays.

[@pcno2832]

58:16 What's a tube socket doing in the middle of a crappy, late '70s Soundesign, particleboard-console chassis?

[@RoughJustice2k18]

I am only guessing here, but that "tube socket" might be for an external scope or some other kind of test equipment - not necessarily a tube.

[@luvradios]

PC No , most likely where the tape deck plugged in, they used that type of plug/socket pair in those combo stereo’s back in the 70’s.

[@jw228w]

always great video learning to diagnose. if u get a chance would like to see you work on something simple and explain the thinking as to how you go about fixing issues.so many component on these old radios i dont know how you know where to start. thanks john

[@bruceferrero8178]

Was waiting for you to operate on the if transformer!

[@brucapozzoli]

My favorite channel

[@ayazdani88]

Very true. Diagnose; don’t just change things based on cliches.

[@mrnapolean1]

59:15 receives a gibberish call, speaks in gibberish and I hear the hang up beep.

[@robertgeary7520]

Great video 👍👍

[@Rfk1966]

Transistor Thursday. Thanks for the entertainment during the Covid times.

[@arthureverett8220]

That radio appears to be only battery operated unless it has a jack for an ac to dc adaptor I didn’t see a power transformer inside the set. I like the chrome plating on it

[@allenschmitz9644]

yep, batt. only...

[@connorm955]

I guess Silver is the OEM on this one. They made a boomboxes for Wards too like the GEN-3960

[@stevencarlson5422]

I love how much you enjoy your rap music !

[@RoughJustice2k18]

A lot of it would be rap with a silent "C"

[@brucecorbettn9bh398]

I was waiting for you to the the can apart and rebuild it. 😀😀

[@zulqarnainkhan3093]

Weldon sir loved it

[@JR-yl8qi]

I got a call from the same people today! Sounds like the same guy.

[@williammunford476]

Keep it up I'm learning

[@rca7591a]

I found one just like on eBay cheap. I like that tuner.

[@JerryEricsson]

Just looked out my front window, it is snowing so damn hard I can barley see across the street! Damn and here I though spring had sprung!

[@crtsaretubular3940]

The reflex, what a game

[@stephtronix1811]

Probably would need to play with the value of tho's ceramic capacitor's next to the can's, to make the coils resonate with the rest of the circuit. Not just the coils but resonance between the coil and the rest of the circuit. It would be a lot of work cause you would have to tune the rest of the circuit also. Like you said you need the original can for the whole circuit to function as intended. Do they design the circuit to work with these cans, or they would choose these specific cans to work whit this design? Great video, by the way, love the awesome contents, your the best man!

[@rolandkeith5322]

Heck yeah do the transistor radios videos as they are awesome

[@davepike6170]

"Heeeere we have, a microphonic resistor!" 🤣😂 LMAO! Seriously, great video, Shango066! Quality entertainment content, as well as very informative and educational TV, as far as I'm concerned! I enjoy seeing whatever you're working on, TV's, radios, cars, whatever! I have a broad collecting interest, which includes radios, stereo equipment, TVs, fans, lamps, etc! Thanks for "doing what you're doing!"

[@AiOinc1]

Who cares if the radio being tuned to a Christian channel in the background is offensive to some? The focus is the radio itself not the station you're listening to in order to avoid copyright issues. People who come here and complain about the station aren't here for the actual content. With that out of the way, Id like to add that I'll watch any diagnosis video you put out. The diagnostic method is very interesting to me, and doing it on this old stuff just makes it easier to see in action. I will say I love the resurrection videos the most and I've gotten into it myself lately.

[@KongKingman]

Anyone is offended, don’t watch it! It’s perfectly legal programming!

[@johnsampson1096]

Great attempt, but what can you do without finding the correct IF can? I'm waiting for part 2 when you solve it. Only kidding, but it would be highly entertaining seeing a scope attempt alignment. Stay safe, Shango!

[@brianfletcher9774]

Could you revisit this radio again ? I’d like to see that radio working. My Grandfather had this radio.

[@bwc1976]

I love your impressions of mumble rap and the way you play around with telemarketers. Also how those CEMX capacitors look like little cans of Diet Coke.

[@hellcattanks]

You could try soldering a 100nf between the 2 transformers, the 100n will short am and fm frequencies, but it will prevent dc from going through and stop the current drain, if the short is just in one place the trans might be ok and work still on ac.

[@dougmiller2937]

I like all the videos and the commentary. I like the portable radio stuff the best. If anyone knows, what is the "test" station with the woman's voice on the upper end oof the Am band?

[@electronixTech]

Nice sounding radio.

[@UDX-340]

Shango066-radiotvphononut-glasslinger all in 1 day, be still my beating heart.

[@alialmahanawi8409]

Mark Elford Yeah man , I’m a fan of these two guys and here’s another great radio repair enthusiast You tuber Australian David Tipton 👍

[@beamer.electronics]

I place Shango066 above the others (also excellent), because of the added natural humour and entertainment :) Shango066 for president - vote now :)

[@rca7591a]

Decoupling capacitors, I'd check those a well as the coupling capacitors. I'd remove the board, take a picture of that dial string and replace every capacitor in the unit.

[@rca7591a]

Start taking pictures and take it apart. Maybe I'll watch the whole video.

[@rca7591a]

That radio is haunted.

[@Funwithhighnotes]

“Well the oscillator stops poppin’ at 100” 😂

[@rogertyler3237]

Jumping The Capaciters From The Top Is Best Cause their vizzable. I Had An Old 1955 Philco That Had Half Volume. I Have Talked To Radio TV Phono But About Stuff Like That Before. & He Wasn't Too Pleased About Me Wanting To Make Bluetooth Speakers Out Of Old Radios. So I Asked Him What Do You Do If You Can't Find Parts For Those Old Radios.