Fix A Radio Receiver!

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

To learn electronics in a very different and effective way, and gain access to Mr Carlson's personal designs and inventions, visit the Mr Carlson's Lab Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/MrCarlsonsLab

[@liamtheinventor1522]

Hi Mr. Carlson I am trying to fix my Eico model 460 scope and I’m trying to find a .25mfd 400vdc, .1mfd 1600vdc capacitors. Do you know where to find them?

[@zundfolge1432]

@@liamtheinventor1522 many places you can get capacitors. JustRadios, Radiodaze, ect. They might not have exactly what you need but you can combine 2 capacitors if you wanted exactly .25mfd............. .22mfd and .03mfd in parallel will do it.

[@liamtheinventor1522]

@@zundfolge1432 thanks

[@zundfolge1432]

@@liamtheinventor1522 yep! I collect and restore antique radios of the 1920s and 1930s. Nothing better than a radio that doesnt work......thats when the fun begins.

[@OleF112]

@@liamtheinventor1522 a little tip: Subscripe at patreon for Paul Carlson. There you find all information you need. Paul put many years in finding best sources for quality parts. There you will find your Eico capacitor source! And many help for all other things, including contact to Paul himself.

[@ericdumptee9084]

Love to see the alignment...thats a nice clean set, it 'deserves' to be put back in playing mode..

[@deadfreightwest5956]

I agree. Asking us if we want to see an alignment is like asking a kid if he wants ice cream. You scream, I scream, we all scream for ALIGNMENT!

[@digus]

^This!

[@SamuelGGuss]

Another vote for the alignment video! I just discovered Mr Carlson's Lab, and i'm hooked. Been watching old and new videos as time permits. Thanks, Mr Carlson!

[@mikeburch2998]

Yes! Please do the alignment. I would like to see the receiver at peak performance. You'll probably make it hotter than new. :-) De K8MB

[@stephtronix1811]

Yes, it does deserve an alignment it be nice to see it getting tune!

[@FranLab]

I have one of these that I also did a total restoration of back in the early 90's - great radio!

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks for stopping by Fran!

[@erikdenhouter]

(Sorry Paul, once I need to try something. Remove this if you find it unfitting:) Hi Fran, do you know what shadow banning is ? Some are treated like that for years on your channel, for no reason. I can see my reactions there, but no one else can, including you. I found out after two years. THIS reaction on Paul's channel is the closest I can get to tell you, unless I open another platform account (Twitter, Facebook), which I refuse. Maybe check your e-mail accounts, I wrote to one of them to tell you. Hope to solve this somehow, Erik.

[@erikdenhouter]

Well, no reaction at al. It seems that there are corners build into KZbin that just don't 'exist', but I still found one after being misled for two years. And Fran is in it; I can speak, but no sound is coming trough, I am only allowed to 'watch the Fran community', while there is clearly a text field that says: "Add a public comment...". But as soon as I watch Franlab trough another computer, all my comments there are gone. Weirdly misleading. Thanks Paul, in any way a great channel here :)

[@jackierabbit450]

Hey Fran, I have a slightly older 1945 RCA similar to this with a wood case, I never got around to fixing it, but I didn’t realize you were into tubes! Would you like me to send it to you? It’s yours if you want it... I’m thinning out all of my stuff and need to find homes for certain things, and I would be tickled if you wanted it...

[@genestatler2514]

Yes, Paul I would love to see you do the full alignment on this radio. I really love these old radios. Thank you.

[@dts1449]

An alignment video? Yes PLEASE and THANK YOU! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience, I truly enjoy your channel.

[@Drew-Dastardly]

"Screwdrivered!" - I remember my old college tutor on my TV/Radio/VCR repair course used to say "The Phantom Twiddler has struck again!" about this phenomenon. LOL.

[@Drew-Dastardly]

It wasn't just DIY customers who would be Phantom Twiddlers, the poorly trained techs would do an I.F. alignment using metal screwdrivers. We always "twiddled" the ferrite cores with plastic trimmers designed for the job.

[@IMSAIGuy]

alignment!

[@thecelticprince4949]

seconded

[@digus]

Turd!

[@CNKayutube]

Yes but only with a guitar string , a tuning fork and a stick of gum

[@MultiPanda009]

i work as a service technichian. in my school i had a lot of electronics and automation but since then i never really had to do electronic troubelshooting. i like this videos and the chanel i finally get a grasp of it how to do it in a real world application. thanks :)

[@NigelDixon1952]

Paul, you are doing the world a great service by bringing countless electronic items from way back when back to life. Not only that, you show how it's done, and you even teach others how to do what you do. Without you and others like you, the world would soon forget about the early days of electronics. Thanks for another great video.

[@thomasjessop8367]

It is always good to go through and watch and see a FULL ALLIGNMENT.

[@Stevie_D]

To those that feel they have to give a thumbs down to what a lot of us see as PRICELESS content, can I suggest we all would be better served by your sharing your POSITIVE comments and additions, or dare I suggest posting your own video for us to “see how it’s really done”. Paul is helping us all by putting himself out there and his generous sharing - at what we all can agree is a SIGNIFICANT effort on his part. Cowardly hiding behind a thumbs down adds absolutely nothing to Paul’s intentions or his MANY appreciative viewers. Sorry, I had to get that out.

[@harrystevens3885]

There are people who just go round and give thumbs down regardless of the video content he could be baking cake for all they care.

[@-yeme-]

I understand the sentiment but you have to remember the numbers involved. When tens or hundreds of thousands of people watch a video its an absolute certainty that a small but significant number of them will be one or more of: in a terrible mood, not very bright, clicked by accident, completely or partially misunderstanding something that is said, actually clinically mad etc etc. In short, when, as I write, the like:dislike ratio is around 200:1, there is no need to worry or even pay attention to the 1.

[@55commander]

We assembled a Heathkit Superhet as freshman in High School, 1964, electronics class. Still remember the amazement that it worked. Ended up going into the Navy advanced electronics program and on into submarine service. Thanks for giving us your videos, I for one would like (need) to see an alignment video. I have an old Marconi table top am radio that needs to be checked out. Thanks.

[@antoniodimeo]

Yes, I'd like to see the alignment procedure. Thanks Mr. Carlson.

[@SIXSTRING63]

Another great video Paul! I look forward to your videos along with Joe Smith’s videos( multimeter robustness testing mostly). You two guys have the best EE chops on KZbin. You both design and build your own test equipment, can just look at the circuit and find the issue with little testing, reverse engineer circuits, you both are very good at mechanical work and engineering also. I was a mechanical engineer/toolmaker/CNC programmer most of my career but always had interest in electronics since I was a kid. Being a gigging guitar player for the past 40 years I dove back into that pool when all the good old techs I trusted started to retire and unfortunately pass away. A lot of books before the internet on the subject and these days videos from guys like you and Joe have gotten me to the point of being the guy in my area that most bring their tube amps to for repairs. The last few years I have gotten into old tube radios too. Just wanted to say thank you and others with amazing skills for sharing your knowledge. I’m also a subscriber to your Patreon channel and love the projects and the details of schematics and parts list. Keep the videos coming!!

[@dynotec1]

Yes, please do an alignment video. I'm new to the radio and electronics hobby and I can use all the help I can get. I still have a lot to learn with equipment setup and connection points. Thank you.

[@Stevie_D]

Full alignment PLEASE! Thank you for sharing your "back to the basics" troubleshooting technique then demonstrating simple ways to prove basic functionality. After watching you "peak-by-ear" I am going to take a working radio and play around with the adjustments to see for myself what happens. I would NOT have dreamed of such tweaking before seeing you do it. I find myself saying "Yeah, I can do that" at every step in all your videos - KEEP IT COMING!!!

[@Moraren]

Your super probe is so dang neat! Sniffs it right out like nobody's business!

[@5Breaker]

"Screwdriverd into outer space" you say? Ask HandToolRescue, he's got the right screwdriver for you.

[@nate4745]

Yeah, made me chuckle

[@hofnerbass]

Your knowledge never ceases to amaze me. You are the best on the internet. Please don't stop.

[@BartdeBoisblanc]

Mr Carlson I built a 7 transistor radio in an electronics course at a Community Collage. The kit had RF and IF coils, alignment took patience. We used the strongest AM station in North Texas WBAP 820 AM to tune the radio.

[@curtisgriffin7924]

Love to see you align it using the old time test equipment!

[@erin19030]

My radio. lab is nothing but vintage 1950’s and 60’s test equipment, except for my scope. The scope is an early 70’s Leader 50 Mhz model. I added peaking coils to the vertical amplifier to extend the overall scope response. For AM radio it does the job. In the 1950’s and 60’s all we had were 5 Mhz scopes.

[@Ranger_Kevin]

I mean... that is just restauration/repair 101 - "when you take the thing apart, take notes / pictures on which thing goes where, so that you can put it back together afterwards" Maybe he just wanted you to see how well he did with the recapping of the radio ^^

[@zulumax1]

Back before digital cameras I would take pencil and paper and write lots of notes and special drawings of complex areas only the author could discern. Place screws and small parts removed in baby food jars with labels as to what went where. Been working on this kind of stuff since the late 60's, still do it for fun and still learning new things, that is why we are here watching Mr. Carlson.

[@sdjhgfkshfswdfhskljh3360]

I thought about it too. Make no mistakes with changing caps and resistors and fail with tubes? No way. Except this was done by different people.

[@gervaserybak6999]

Yes, please do a full alienment...great video, I was sad when the old vac tubes went their way. Nice recount on how the system worked on that radio. Thanks for the great videos!

[@wrcolo]

I'm so glad I found this ....."aaaand it never worked again". I literally almost spit coffee all over my computer. This looks close to my Wards Airline model I've been wanting to go through so this is very helpful information. Thanks!

[@AtakulSozcan]

Love to see Arnold is actually able to fix old radios, he's full with surprises.

[@brytanniparrett]

Just for curiosity, how did you get started in electronics?

[@waynethompson8416]

That would make a fascinating book and movie!!! The Life and Times of Paul Carlson!

[@mscir]

How did you get started? My dad had a friend who was an engineer, he gave me an old radio and electronics handbook, I couldn't understand most of it at the time but I used to fall asleep reading it. Went on to become an ET.

[@jasnic2131]

On a previous video Paul mentioned he used to work for a company doing reverse engineering of electronic devices... ohhh maybe AREA 51 reverse engineering alien tech

[@JoelCHopper]

I think Mr. Carlson was born with a SL6 in his mouth instead of a silver spoon. ;-)

[@jakespede7540]

Make it happen! You are like the Mr. Rogers of radio repair. You're the best at explaining things that make sense if though they are extremely complicated to us that enjoy watching you do your magic. Great Job!! Thanks.

[@TheRadioShop]

Great troubleshooting as always Paul. Nice looking radio! When I first saw it I noticed it looked a lot like the RCA Victor 56X3 but I see now there are a lot of differences. Thanks for sharing, now off the watch the alignment.

[@PaulinesPastimes]

Always good to watch you clearly and precisely troubleshoot things. An alignment would be good. Cheers

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Here it is Pauline: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jafOcq2kdqxgbc0

[@johngooch847]

You are a great teacher my friend. Keep up with the great work!

[@challenger2ultralightadventure]

I remember an old saying my highschool electronics teacher once told me back in 1978. "A little bit of knowledge, can be more dangerous than no knowledge at all". This radio is a good example of that. Cheers from Winnipeg.

[@highseassailor]

Alignment, yes please. Thank you for sharing your calm approach and dependable explanations.

[@cougar1861]

It`s always a treat to see the Carlson Super Probe in operation!!!

[@mackfisher4487]

Such a clean set, thanks for the reminder to taking notes. I find that some tube identification numbers rub off the glass envelopes so it's mine habit to pull one tube at a time and light mark the with a pencil.

[@pneumatic00]

Sometimes you can recover rubbed-off tube ID nos placing the tube(s) in the freezer.

[@mackfisher4487]

@@pneumatic00 neat thanks

[@ianbutler1983]

Paul, your audio is absolutely amazing. It is as if you are sitting across the table from me. It is so realistic, and I have a tin ear, so it must be good.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks Ian!

[@colorblind1983]

YES to the alignment procedure, please!!!! As always, your videos are a treat

[@vincentstevens5048]

I love your vids and when the alert popped up i was here in a flash (no pun intended). I really hope you'll tackle that AR88 soon, as i have two of those beasts that i want to service and align.

[@DavidTipton101]

Haha...when you first said you could see a problem I though the rectifier tube was in the wrong position next to the tuning capacitor. It was the only correct one! I guess that is a standard layout for an AA5. Nice job as always Paul, cheers 🙂

[@havarticheese]

A full alignment would be great. Yes, please!

[@1pilotsteve]

Your audio is excellent

[@volvo09]

Yeah, very clear. Must be a cell phone mic :)

[@jhoskins5630]

The exact radio I had in my room as a kid from about 9 to 16. (1960-1966) Love it!

[@felzke440]

I would like to see the alignment. At present, know just enough to get myself into trouble so will continue to watch your videos and build on your knowledge. We used to "fix" our radios and tvs by pulling out all the tubes and going to the grocery store which had a tube tester and tubes for sale. 99% of time I was successful. I have Crosley, Arvin, radios as well as others. My Crosley clock radio which i "repaired" in 1960 is still working well but clock quit about 20 years ago. Would like to get it back up and running so am also learning to work on watches and clocks. Thanks ever so much for your producing these wonderful informative videos.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

You're very welcome!

[@brucebuckeye]

Yes Paul, would love to see an alignment video! Thanks

[@tallperson9422]

Beautiful radio that really deserves an alignment video. Thanks Mr Carlson.

[@msg0391]

I vote for a complete tuning if you can. As always Paul GREAT! video, Thanks!

[@nelsonpwj3967]

I am a beginner too. I love to see full alignment video please. I learn a lot from my mistakes it's ok because we are learning ! This video is for beginner ..... love it 😀😀

[@coldpond]

Find your videos captivating. I know nothing of electronics, yet I'm still drawn into listing and watching. Perhaps it's your methodical approach and knowing something is getting fixed or repaired. At any rate, interesting.

[@americanmultigenic]

Great fun, as always. Thank you. I am curious to have heard you touching on whether "tubes in the wrong sockets" is generally benign (as here) or whether the owner was lucky not to utterly fry the thing to toast (or have it exhibit unwanted pyrotechnical / ~detrimental~ behaviors :-) ). I was on the side of being surprised no damage was done by it being powered up while massively misconfigured, but i am an utter layman in the field of electronics.

[@pneumatic00]

That's definitely a valid concern. As it turns out....once the rectifier is in the wrong socket, there are no big volts being made, hence there is no "big" power available to fry anything. The more generic lesson is that once you know the set had been worked on (whether by back-story or by observing the new components under the chassis) you know that you cannot assume ANYTHING was done right. Not that you are looking for some reason to trash whomever did the work, but just as far as how many blind alleys you DON'T want to chase down/spend time on.

[@paulwalker1542]

Yes, I would really enjoy seeing an alignment done on this radio. Thank you Mr. Carlson

[@jaykay67design]

Beautiful tube radio with the classic flying wiring on the bottom

[@paulbione5267]

An alignment would be good. I know you've done them in the past, quite a few actually, but they're always interesting to watch. Thanks Paul.

[@montygore]

I love to watch your old radio videos. I dont have the chance to work on this old stuff. Please do an alignment video.

[@mikeyoungblood1706]

Your knowledge is absolutely astounding,

[@barryf5479]

When I was a kid, I used to intentionally tweak the oscillator trimmer capacitor on my superheterodyne radio in order to listen to the police band. They've since changed frequencies but for some kid in grade school, it was a fun thing to do.

[@mikemorgan5394]

I've just started watching this channel. Love it. I've fiddle with electronic off and on Most of my life from being a Microwave systems operator in the US signal Corps in the 1980s to a Network Engineer as a profession. Thankfully I managed to do it without working down to the component level. Never really was that interested in it until I saw Mr. Carlson here. He's very detailed I love that. So I'm going to ask a dumb question. Feel free to laugh. Is it possible to build a SW radio just for listening to the 40 meter band and to design it so all the components work to maximize signal quality and audio quality to make a perfect listening experience for ONLY that band? I mean absolute clarity. No noise from internal components. Everything perfectly designed to be a one trick pony of a radio.

[@acestudioscouk-Ace-G0ACE]

You have got to feel for the guy who couldn't quite make it happen but you did a great job sorting it Mr Carlson.

[@egomezmx65]

Great video (again) Paul! yes, I would like to see the alignment. Keep up the great work. Too bad there are no real "big thumbs up" button

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Thanks 👍

[@780brando]

I would love to see an alignment video on this radio! And a before and after of tuning in some weak stations to show the improvement from the alignment if possible. Thanks for your great videos

[@RocRizzo]

My grandmother had the same exact radio. It lived in her kitchen. I certainly would like to see a full alignment. Too bad her's is long gone, with her. I remember listening to it in the morning to WOR in NYC back in the 1960s.

[@followthetrawler]

No substitute for experience... another great video, and yes, lets see a proper alignment.

[@jggmobile]

Always love the alignment videos. Thanks Mr. Carlson.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Very welcome!

[@trev9874]

YES PLEASE SHOW THE ALIGNMENT PROCESS thanks for you excellent content on your show

[@whstark]

Great Repair. Reminds me of others I got in the past someone worked on. The cap and signal tracer was a good idea for beginners to use. Maybe it will fix allot of those old radios. I had a heath signal one and a sencore Z meter witch was expensive and hard to fix.

[@tomhood8897]

Thanks, Paul! It would be great to see the alignment video.

[@Bdub1952]

I have a shack full of Hallicrafters and Hammarlund boat anchors and love your videos. A solid "roger" on the alignment video, please. My SX-28A could use a little tweaking, too. Thanks for what you do. You are preserving an art form.

[@steveo4233]

Wow, you knew the tubes were in the wrong place just by looking at the tops of them. I'm amazed. Thinking like a true engineer.

[@codpug]

Always great content mr Carlson

[@lawrencelederer5060]

Enjoy these videos very much. I have restored a few myself and it brings back memories when I work on tube radio's and TV's when they were new(!). The sad thing is that the FCC wants to do away with commercial AM broadcasts and convert then all to digital (HD radio). So they all will become just decorative pieces instead of a wonder work of engineering. My 1950 Zenith has such a warm and wonderful sound that just can't be recreated without tubes.

[@robertfakler8564]

I enjoyed this video and would like to see you align the radio. Many of your videos are over my head, but I followed you pretty well on this one.

[@shockwavecity]

For anyone already subscribed to Mr Carlson's Patreon...Are the lessons on Patreon good for someone coming in as a beginner?

[@retireeelectronics2649]

Very nice. Found a Victor DB-463 1960 radio at a thrift store on the floor )-: and will try to restore it, hence watch a lot more of your videos.

[@ve5uo]

Also yes to full alignment! Thanks for another super informative video.

[@BOBXFILES2374a]

Very interesting, all the "stuff" that went into those old tube radios. "Thanks for sharing!"

[@zekezeke3484]

Great video! I especially liked the tie between the theory (circuit stages) and the practical (tube types and tuning gang operation). Would also like to see a video on the full alignment.

[@jimbomatic2000]

Yes, please show an alignment. This is exactly what we all want to see!

[@electronicseasy4485]

You have a lot of cool stuff to repair. But much more impressive is you stuff on the workbench!

[@MrReyRomantico]

I would like to see a full alignment video on this either here or on the Patreon page. Thanks again.

[@wolfcanine100]

do a alignment i love to see these old radio spark back to life.

[@SuperCapsfan101]

Aah, memories! :My dad had that exact radio in the bedroom. Nice job getting it to work!

[@pavadmin2436]

You`re the best! Let`s fine adjust this nice old little brownbox!

[@1959Berre]

Gorgeous radio. Wonderful condition.

[@rascallyrabbit717]

In the 60's I used to hook the tv tower power antenna, tuned to Watertown NY. from Lanark County Canada

[@rayh4508]

Yes please. Love to see the alignment

[@shunloc9704]

An alignment video would be something that I would definitely watch

[@gocars3210]

Yes. Please do video on a full alignment of this radio

[@DonovanChilders]

Absolutely would love to see a full alignment video!

[@48RN1TY]

I subscribed to support you. I really enjoyed your videos you explained very well about the details and functionality of the circuits. Thank you for sharing your knowledge in KZbin world. :)

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Welcome aboard!

[@BenSmithHuugs]

Thanks for this amazing video and your excellent description!

[@terryharrison9306]

I would like to see the alignment, also a clear explanation of each section and what is happening to get the signal from the antenna to the speaker. Thanks for another great video.

[@scottroland6577]

I had this exact radio on my dresser in the bedroom when I was a young kid. I remember the knobs being an acorn shape that had three lines parallel to the table top though.

[@donpeterson3545]

I agree with the others, I would like to see how you would align this 5 tube receiver.

[@Dave2108]

Lovely video.. i would love to see a full tune up of this set.. Love watching these Tube videos.. Im learning with out knowingly that im learning. lol.

[@gwesco]

Go for the alignment. It's good to see the proper sequence.

[@johnh10000]

Yeah I'd like to see the alignment too. Perhaps you have one of the "modern" tuning caps, which became popular in transistor radios. Plastic square looking thing.

[@rohnkd4hct260]

That's why you always take notes, and maybe even pictures!

[@davidsharp1401]

Yes, please show us the alignment - I'd really like to see an FM alignment too!

[@skykingagi]

I would love to see a video of aligning that radio. Maybe a video of telling the previous owner what was wrong with it? Priceless! lol!

[@autoneurotic]

Definitely want the full monty with the tune up!

[@jeffj2495]

Nice vid and explanation. You may consider using a narrow pointing tool - even the insulated screwdriver when pointing to parts. Would be easier to see than your finger. Kinda surprising someone would take out the tubes without noting their original locations.

[@davidwalle5025]

full alignment, great video