Tearing The S's AA5 Radio Repair

[@isoguy.]

I just wanted to thank you for your inspiring videos they have given me the enthusiasm and confidence to fix stuff. Your practical fault finding, repairs and thought processes have led me to a place where I'm now able to repair my gadgets, washer and fridge. Thanks.

[@williammitchem8274]

Shango, I had to do hurricane clean up before I was allowed to watch you. A great Saturday. 😊

[@WOFFY-qc9te]

I hope you have not lost too much.

[@BobWiersema]

A all Taylor Swift radio station sounds like a crime against humanity.

[@tedbell4416]

Sounds like something they would use at gitmo

[@tomtke7351]

She's made a buckful of money so lots of people love her.

[@JonnyMac351]

@@tedbell4416 Used at Guantanamo Bay

[@aaronlockhart9491]

I thought there were actual laws against playing the same artist more than four times in a row?

[@BobWiersema]

@@tomtke7351 You know the people that make Ex-Lax have made a load of money too but I've never heard anyone say they love the stuff. 😄

[@darikdatta]

I'm not saying you're late but I just had to kill a bunch of time watching a guy fix a CD player he found in a muddy riverbed in China. He did an amazing job, I subscribed.

[@12345678989814]

😂

[@bruceferrero8178]

😅

[@erikdenhouter]

I just planted one too. Harvest in about a year.

[@isoguy.]

Thought it was just me that had to do all the outstanding jobs before being allowed on the net for the next shango vid. Made me laugh though, my other half thought shango066 was some sort of dodgy web site exhibiting semi clad ladies. 😂

[@jaakkolehto1487]

The best day of the week. Shango day!

[@tedbell4416]

Best part of the weekend for old farts like me

[@moisessan1]

That man is amazing!! And the best are his comments about the radio transmissions!! 😂

[@bojacque6474]

Damn! the mystery plant is doing pretty well

[@MrDoneboy]

It's a type of ivy, apparently.

[@hestheMaster]

Appears to be a heart leaf philodendron which has tendrils on the lead vine.

[@StanleytheCat-v8z]

Where did the seed come from again?

[@Kittendownloads]

Ive been working on the road and skipped going to the bar because I saw you posted this video. Worth it thank you shango.

[@thedogbarked123]

so it would be interesting to see the audio output on an oscilloscope and with the signal generator you could qualify distortion and response visually.

I thought the same thing. Maybe try another speaker, also.

[@alphabeets]

Exactly. 👍

[@russellhltn1396]

Yeah, I was wondering about the speaker too. A few shorted turns on the output transformer could do some interesting things as well. It might be worth using a signal tracer/injector to check the sound at various stages.

[@johnnytacokleinschmidt515]

HP 334 Harmonic Distortion Analyzer with detector circuit. I'm also concerned about speaker condition and high frequency bypass. Interesting case.

[@justsumguy2u]

When diagnosing for distorted audio, 35/50C5 should always be checked on a tube tester that checks for shorts. They were a bad design from the beginning, and h/k shorts were very common (which will produce distorted audio). The tube must be left in the tester for a couple of minutes to heat-soak---just popping it in and out quickly usually won't catch it

[@hallieboy]

I believe the term for the "tearing" on the S's is Sibilance. I learned that from my Shure audio obstacle course record. Stylus mistracking on a record makes that sound too.

[@SusanAmberBruce]

Yeah, like a lisp

[@dddevildogg]

A fool with no logic to adjust an EQ can easily make a recording that nukes esses , cymbals and snares and even vocals.

[@SnepperStepTV]

got this radio from the 80s, i think its a KLH. my dad gave it to me instead of throwing it out, its a fantastic looking unit even/especially with the wear and tear it has.....if only any of the local stations would play anything i wanted to listen to on my radios! fun to tune in and get an inkling of how to do this thing i've been doing since i was 12 better.

[@SnepperStepTV]

3:36 by the by, we really need more Am radio stations covering eras and vibes like that in oldies and country and classic rock, etc. those of us who refuse to put bluetooth radios in our classic cars (because you shouldn't have the damn phone anywhere near grabbing/music changing rage when you're driving- classic or not but especially classic) and therefore only have AM radio.

[@KJB-Man]

Definitely either IF or capacitance distortion. Possibly from having only 1 IF can. Also, those tacky couplets are not very stable. Best way to see the distortion is to use an small, battery powered AM transmitter shooting a 1K 5K 8K clean sinewave into it, on a few AM channels. And monitor the output on a scope. It would be easy to see IF modulation (bleed over) or a distorted sinewave; possibly saturation, chopping off the top or bottom of the waveform. It is hard to do such diagnostics with an AM radio station, because it is not a clean signal. And AM voice audio would be about impossible.

[@erikdenhouter]

I was waiting, and waiting... and waiting........ but no scope.

[@volvo09]

I agree, I have no idea why they would broadcast Classical music on AM, or pop music... It works for talk and oldies.

[@JerryEricsson]

Great day in the Morning!! A video from Shango! Thanks it was a good video and touched on some great trouble shooting steps, always nice to have a bit of learning with my morning coffee! Thanks.

[@danhubanks554]

Thanks!

[@chuckbrown617]

Those bright dots in the night vision image aren't video noise...

[@tedbell4416]

Those little white specks on the night vision video I think is the actual radiation coming off caught by the camera. Might be wrong but it sure looks like it.

[@Joetechlincolns]

I was wondering that, I have seen that before somewhere where that was demonstrated.

[@erikdenhouter]

Images from inside the Chernobyl power plant show the same, particles hitting the camera sensor.

[@alisharifian535]

​Those old photos were taken by film cameras they do not have sensors. @@erikdenhouter

[@minty_Joe]

@@erikdenhouter Yes. Even film footage of Pripyat (nearby Chernobyl), before the city was evacuated, has some white flashes embedded due to radiation release.

[@erikdenhouter]

@@minty_Joe Did not know that, (and) that's scary.

[@SpinStar1956]

When I was a very-young child (back before I knew about radiation and before anyone ever made a big-deal about clock hands) , I took a powerful magnifying glass to the radium dial-hands of a Westclox Baby-Ben alarm clock; I was exceptionally nearsighted, and I could see what looked like a bubbling-frying of light on the coating. It was fascinating to watch! On distortion complaints, I always first sub-out the speaker. I used to keep an exceptional speaker (in an enclosure) and used it for all my service work. That way, you know exactly what it should sound like. However in this case, I immediately recognized the 'S's' as mainly an alignment problem whereby the signal is shifted in the passband. If you use a very full range speaker (and consistently the same one), you will notice a slight attenuation of the low-frequency response, that is not readily detectable with that little factory speaker. So, as you saw when you centered up all the alignment, it (even with that speaker) sounded much better. But remember, problems with 'S's', is usually always alignment. And you are correct with the extra wire connected to the tuner; which will cause an impedance mismatch, just by itself (stray inductance--becoming part of the alignment!) and by anything else it is connected to. The external connections for the antenna is much more tolerant of different antennas (wire-lengths etc.) connect to it. Also, one of the connections should go to an earth ground. You can improve the performance of a lot of these older single IF radios by grounding them and giving them a proper counterpoise. Enjoyed the video! 73...

[@jgarner420]

Toob Time! My favorite morning of the week

[@GadgetWusky]

I think the radioactive radium paint with the degraded phosphor can be rejuvenated with a layer of new non-radioactive glow in the dark paint

[@gabrielleeliseo6062]

Wow, we even get an ASMR box opening in the beginning. xD

[@geralderdek282]

The only good thing about the recent Florida hurricane is that the power outages have allowed excellent radio reception. I picked up knx 1070 on my grinding yachtboy while dxing this Morning at 4am!

[@tarstarkusz]

10:15 There were no lasers in the 1950s. They were invented in 1960 and there was probably a few more years of development before any industry was using them to do work of some kind. It is probably etched either chemically or mechanically.

[@tennesseetrawlerman2228]

I have run into the similar sound distortion that you mention where the "S" sounds are kind of scratchy. I troubleshot myself blue in the face until I finally connected the output transformer leads to a good external speaker that I have on my bench, and lo and behold the sound was perfect. That unit you are working on has a pretty sketchy looking speaker with glued areas that can distort the coil alignment and cause a sound very much like you hear. Just an FYI.

[@TobiasThede]

Radium paint, what a interesting coincidence, my dp-66 geiger counter arrived a few days ago.a correct working one,of course.

[@KennethScharf]

The speaker is also quite torn up and patched. That could distort the sound. I always use rubber cement to patch speakers. You could put trimmer caps across the IF coils after removing the fixed caps. Then adjust BOTH the cores AND the trimmers until you got optimum bandwidth. It would be a royal PITA to do, but you could use one of those Nano VNA's to see the bandwidth shape.

[@bigalsmallengines]

Great repair. I do kinda like the look of that Silvertone. Cheers!🍻

[@mikefinn2101]

Shango nice saturday morning. Drifted resistors always occur needed to check all it sounds great I think the alignment new resistors and proper ant hookup. The speaker is a bit old I don't think you will get it any better. thanks Mike

[@chetpomeroy1399]

That Geiger counter might *really* come in handy soon, as it is quite effective at detecting radioactive fallout. Bert the turtle told us to "duck and cover."

[@LiquidRadio]

36:33 KNX is also on a lower AM frequency than KBLA. Efficiency of propagation on the AM band decreases as you move up the dial. For example around here KLIF at 570 KHz is 5 KW and WBAP at 820 is 50 KW. Both have similar coverage.

[@bigcatauna]

Expect a w-2 in the mail for that green paper looking stuff,compliments of the irs

[@monkeyboy4746]

Yes, use the Geiger counter, fantastic! The phosphor just "wears out" after so many years, I wonder what would happen if you placed a florescent light tube near it. Radium is beneficial to your health, just ask Eben Byers.

[@volvo09]

Oh yeah those guys are great, it's amazing what stuff they find in a mud pit and how perfectly they fix it!

[@erikdenhouter]

And you misplaced your comment....

[@thomasconnatser2478]

132 Norblitt Sparks (Arvin) built this radio. They built many sets for Sears through the 1950s when Warwick Electronics became the major supplier of Silvertone sets.

[@LiquidRadio]

A radioactive radio! You’re in flavor country now!

[@UHF43]

Metallic flavor, to be precise.

[@minty_Joe]

David Hahn (RIP) would have been proud of shango right now.

[@jeromewysocki8809]

Great video, as always. Another possibility to the audio distortion problem might be because of the radio transmitter. I read somewhere that modern transmitters on the AM broadcast band don't transmit in true amplitude modulation like they used to a few decades ago. It's apparently another form of modulation that sounds reasonably close to true amplitude modulation. I wish I remembered where I read this, as it was some years ago. All my tube radios now sound like this, whereas a few decades ago, human speech definitely sounded cleaner and more distinct on them. Maybe someone can chime in who knows more about why changes were made in the designs of current day AM broadcast transmitters.

[@eefjuh5533]

You mean pulse width modulation (PWM)?

[@jeromewysocki8809]

Eefjuh55... Yes, I think it was pulse width modulation (PWM) that I read about, a long time ago. I'll have to look up that term and learn about it, as to why this is so. I do remember in the "old days" how much better radio speech was with classical amplitude modulation, probably by plate modulator with the transmitter. The plate modulation transformer must have weighed a ton!

[@nuwan7987]

Waiting for your video 😊

[@davidhollfelder9940]

It sounds like the audio tube bias is off center (clipping on one side), or detector diode error .. IF Q too narrow? AFC weak, overloading?

[@clifffiftytwo]

The radium is stll there (half-life 1600 years) but the ZnS phosphor degrades. “Radium dials usually lose their ability to glow in the dark in a period ranging anywhere from a few years to several decades, but all will cease to glow at some point.”

[@billharris6886]

Hi Mr. Shango066, sorry to be late with a comment but, your video just popped up on my feed. To trace the audio distortion, I suggest connecting some headphones to your signal tracer and probing the different stages. I clearly hear the distortion and several things could be causing it. I have had numerous leakage problems with those R/C networks so, end up replacing these with discrete components. The green ceramic disk cap is also suspect because it is feeding the control grid of the 12AV6 with a 5.1 meg grid resistor. The speaker is also a big suspect. I noticed some really large electrolytic caps, that 35W4 can tolerate up to 40 uF. One IF transformer is really cheap, it drops the receiver gain and selectivity.

[@nyki7fykxtjxyi]

6:30 were those sparkles in the night vision the radiation manifesting?

[@Joetechlincolns]

Likely, I've seen this demonstrated before somewhere

[@erikdenhouter]

Images from inside the Chernobyl power plant show the same, particles hitting the camera sensor. If you look close you even see that they don't hit much outside of the source, so the lens must focus them somehow to the sensor.

[@chevguy8587]

are you speeding up the video at times? some times it sounds like your talking really fast

[@JulianA-tr6pt]

I believe he did. I went and checked my video speed during the beginning!

[@chris_vk3radio]

Certainly sounded & looked like it to me as well...

[@johngalt7382]

I thought the "All Taylor Swift all the time" thing was just Shango humor, till I actually heard it.

[@XGarage-nj2uf]

It was Metallica all day...

[@Suddenlyits1960]

Its sonic waterboarding.

[@Nirky]

I believe the characteristic etching on GE tubes was chemical and not laser.

[@randyab9go188]

I thought on some GE it was a sand blasting process?

[@mrnmrn1]

I think both laser etching and sand blasting would be too risky (those methods can cause internal stress to the glass, and later it can crack due to that). I also think it was chemical etching. Maybe hydrofluoric acid with some dye.

[@jeromewysocki8809]

Nirky, I agree with you here. Hydrofluoric acid will etch glass and looks just like you see it here. Old incandescent light bulbs with frosted glass were made where the inside of the glass was etched with hydrofluoric acid.

[@mrnmrn1]

@@jeromewysocki8809 I think when they make markings with it, they probably add some dye. The frosted glass is just frosted, while these markings have some metallic, brownish grey color for better visibility. Soviet tubes were also marked this way. I hate when a tube is marked only with silkscreen, it comes off very easily, especially from used tubes when the paint is baked. It's the best to have both type of markings on a tube. Some manufacturers, for example Tungsram used color (in their case yellow) silkscreen which turned grey from the heat. So it's a nice indicator to decide if a tube is used or new. For some decades, they also simultaneously marked their tubes with etching on the top, so if the silkscreened marking came off, you could still identify the tube easily, without going full Sherlock, visually analyzing the internal structure of the tube and measuring the heater. Unfortunately they stopped doing this and their later tubes are only marked with silkscreening.

[@jeromewysocki8809]

mrnmrn1, I agree with your comments. Years ago, I read somewhere that if you cannot identify the tube because the numbering wore off, you can place the tube in a refrigerator on a humid day. When you remove the cold tube, you will frequently then be able to read its number through the condensation on the glass. Use a magic marker ( a Sharpie) to then write the number on the glass, or use white tape. This worked for me a number of times, to identify the tube type.

[@richardbrobeck2384]

I have worked on that model before too and I think the only thing that would improve the sound is diffrent speaker .

[@WECB640]

From the Billboard Hot 100.. 1985 the top 28 position belongs to, "The Firm".... RADIOACTIVE!

[@natechrisman5333]

Amazing I love it keep up the great work.

[@johnmadow5331]

I got one from retired employee when I worked for Emerson Electric in 2000 before I left Illinois to work for Philips Electronics in Lancaster, PA. I traded for identical model at the radio show in Illinois and the one I got was recapped and paid $25.00 for trade in value.

[@HappyDiscoDeath]

I can discern the difference made by the new resistor that replaced the one that was baked. The new one noticeably cuts the tearing by quite a bit.

[@HappyDiscoDeath]

LOL my autistic super sensitive ears of science

[@HappyDiscoDeath]

The hissing S's seem to only be on some stations, maybe the ones that are poorly modulated?

[@jamesplotkin4674]

That speaker has still a few tears/holes. Might sound better if the outer edge was uniformly coated with rubber cement.

[@Chems7308]

It's Shango time !!!

[@jonathanhendry9759]

AM is probably what classic country was originally broadcast on. It's the native broadcast medium for stuff like Patsy Cline and Johnny Cash.

[@michaelyancey3021]

That's what WSM-AM 650 (Nashville) was built for (Country). They're in their 1-year run up to the station's 100-year anniversary on Oct 5, 2025. And the Opry will be 100 two months later, I think. And The Carter Family (and June Carter) got their start at XERA in Mexico (later XERF). They lived in Del Rio (Texas) and made the trip across the river to do the show. I worked for a company founded by James O. Weldon who built the... 500 kW transmitter at XERA around 1936-37.

[@jonathanhendry9759]

@@michaelyancey3021 One of the major AM country stations was in Chicago of all places. The "National Barn Dance" program started in 1924, even before the Opry. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Barn_Dance

[@Suddenlyits1960]

Modern country sucks,but the 50's and 60's stuff is great

[@roberthorseman7432]

Back in the seventies in the UK we had telephones with that radium stuff in the dial Ithink they were called trim line phones.

[@kevvywevvywoo]

trimphones used tritium

[@DmitryEljuseev]

From my previous ham radio experiments: an electromagnetic noise in different locations may drastically vary. A "bad radio" very likely can be just a bad antenna, especially if the test is made inside the large building/in the city center.

[@321CatboxWA]

Unfortunately some AM stations broadcast with reverb. Why ?

[@defaultuserid1559]

I thought my Granco slug tuned FM radio had audio problems but the only thing wrong was the oval speaker. It wasn't torn or anything but hardly made any sound at all. It sounded great with a good speaker.

[@VicGreenBitcoin]

Have you ever seen the red mercury bulb in those old machines?

[@motorlibro]

do you have another speaker you can try?

[@TheRogey1]

Sounds like Speaker(has it been tried on another speaker)? On low volume the sibilance will show more.🤔

[@JulianCrippen-w1b]

Hey there, I do like the station 1260 AM. Cool, music station. Love you dude cool tub radio.

[@ON5ALE-Alessio]

Do you have the dimensions and number of loops of that "horse race cirquit" antenna ? I will replicate it .

[@111000100101001]

The radio sounds great after you went through it and realigned it with aerial coil mounted properly. As for the TS radio station, yes it is Total Stupidity but thankfully only temporary until good music is modulated!

[@Christopher-re2hl]

How is the avc voltage is it overloaded ? try applying a negative voltage from a battery and see what happens. It could be the 2.2 meg resistor from the volume control has went way up or something is pulling it low

[@InvestigationsDepartment]

Would any glow in the dark paint work to rejuvenate the hands. Like maybe the phosphorus rust paint?

[@Flexin010]

Sounds good at the end.

[@jeffreyhickman3871]

I think the case of the tearing S's are a speaker/field coil, or speaker/magnet issue. The paper of the speaker 🔊 may be worn out, but speaker re-coning glue should do the trick. It may even be a tuning capacitor issue. This radio 📻 comes complete with Taylor Swift's own radio station. It's probably also had its share of Oprah Winfrey talk on it as well. Your friend, Jeff.

[@BudTheDrummer]

If i take a component out of circuit, must I desolder it from the bottom? If i cut the lead, how do I resolder it?

[@billmyke746]

Depleted radium, my favorite kind.

[@tedbell4416]

It's the best flavor

[@ianmorris8534]

What was that number for the OJC promo again, didn't quite catch it........

[@bobbyk6585]

Shango on Yom Kippur. Yes!

[@senorverde09]

I mean it's sibilance and low bandwidth AM radio. Other than a cooked speaker I can't see what else can be done other than paralleling a cap to ground off the volume control to filter off some of the high frequencies.

[@321CatboxWA]

What if you apply fresh phosphor?

[@hugh007]

Sounds pretty spitty on my headphones. Could the output transformer have shorted turns and the 50C5 is working too hard into wrong impedance?

[@douggrisack5916]

Knx booms in here in western Canada now that the nights are getting longer.

[@moisessan1]

Shangoo like a fish in the sea!!!

[@scottrance-im7xz]

Definitely has distortion , yep the S sounds just as you describe it as tearing . Sounds alot like my transistor radios on AM band . I've got this same radio in white ,a model 10 ,so watching intently on this one .

[@tentacle1984]

What trimmer tool is that for the tuning capacitor?

[@tomtke7351]

I say the radio sounds pretty distorted... similar to over compression.....

[@markseymour5558]

Radium can affect radio signals, I'm curious because both radios obviously performed the same

[@tomj4506]

Try a SPKR. I hear the bad esses & something else. Is that an old repair on SPKR ?? LFOD !

[@PapiDoesIt]

That's just a little bit higher than the normal background radiation in Oak Ridge.

[@ayitsyaboi]

Is this noise on the night shot radiation interfering with the sensor? I know it can be artifacting from the reflective lens, but it looks pretty wild.

[@liamtheinventor1522]

I’m going to assume so because radiation can affect normal camera sensors and even after all this time radium has a half-life of like 1000 years or something and so it’s just as radioactive as it was when it was brand new

[@erikdenhouter]

The bright white specks you mean. Images from inside the Chernobyl power plant show the same, particles hitting the camera sensor. If you look close you even see that they don't hit much outside of the source, so the lens must focus them somehow to the sensor.

[@rickrandom716]

It sounds like it is starving for electricity, but that's just me my ears have gone through 10s of thousand of rounds.

[@johnsampson1096]

The only concern I would have would to be sure the couplate feeding the grid of the 50C5 is not leaking. Unlikely, but possible......................

[@BG101UK]

For the phosphor on the hands: I wonder if phosphor rescued from a knackered fluorescent tube (or even maybe a CRT) might work? It would be the wrong colour, but still …🤷‍♂

[@1marcelfilms]

The AM radio sure is active

[@hallieboy]

LA sure has a lot of stations. In Eastern Connecticut where I am, there is maybe about 1/4 as many on AM.

[@cool69rr]

Would a local/distant switch help?

[@hestheMaster]

No one checked for drifted resistors? Should as a course of action go over any connections to check for COLD solder joints. It happened to me bit not on this particular radio. Seems the s's are much less now after inspection and alignment.

[@Suddenlyits1960]

Agree with you entirely. Classical music is best suited for the FM dial. 40's,50's,60's music is best suited for AM. Taylor Swift is best suited for aural waterboarding.

[@Zirok1982]

Sounds like the IF bandwidth is too wide, even with good selectivity. Having only one IF stage, it could just be a characteristic of the radio, not a defect.

[@adrian_sp6def]

I am curious, is there a way of telling that there is some wrong with S curve without hearing it? For me this receiver sounds good

[@xsc1000]

Its AM, there is no S curve.

[@adrian_sp6def]

@@xsc1000 right, could You tell me then what is about 11:59 talking about tearing on S's (or somethting)

[@adrian_sp6def]

@@xsc1000 but I agree, no phase detector so no S curve, my bad

[@xsc1000]

@@adrian_sp6def Its not about S curve, but its about sound distorsion when S (or Z and similar) is pronounced.

[@Mrshoujo]

At what point do you remove the Radium & repaint it?

[@liamtheinventor1522]

There are two main issues with radium one it’s a lot more radioactive than uranium two our body mist is it for calcium and so it get in your bones

[@larrygenedavis]

I think I may have a watch with that stuff on it. It doesn't work but it still glows . Not sure .

[@ON5ALE-Alessio]

But can't you hear that it is the speaker?

[@steviebaby2690]

The radium is still there, radiating, it's the phosphor that's burnt off.

[@billmyke746]

Oops!

[@Mark.R_]

I assume it was causing the sparklers on the night vision.

[@Lenny8679205]

Is that amount of radiation dangerous? I have a few radio's with that radium paint.

[@Mark.R_]

@@Lenny8679205 Not unless your are licking the dials. There is a old documentary about the workers who made glow in the dark watch hands, it may be on KZbin.

[@corinnegregory9027]

@@Mark.R_ I saw that and thought the same too.

[@12345678989814]

Oh yeah I've been streaming am 1260 ever since it went to country

[@linuspoindexter106]

My plant ID app says the mystery plant is some kind of pennywort.

[@markmarkofkane8167]

Excellent!

[@tomtke7351]

as A.M. is audio bandwidth limited to ~5KHz could this radio design be attempting to inject boosted 5KHz to sound like higher frequencies are present? And there's no deeper frequencies present, at all.

[@ArthurJS123]

Can’t imagine a Sears Silvertone having sentimental value, but ok. Not a bad looking set.