RCA AM Pocket Radio Diagnosis And Repair Ft squealing overdrive clipped lit debilitating sadness bra

[@terabbs]

I wonder if someone connected a wall-ward to the earphone jack thinking it was a way to power it. I can see that frying the output stage of that radio. seems to sounds nice for such a honkoidial. Love getting the bonus Sunday vid's shango.

[@shango066]

Bingo that's a real probability I never thought of

[@russellhltn1396]

Possible, but I don't know of too many wall-warts with phone jacks. Direct drive amps really doesn't like going too low in impedance. Since the speaker is 60 ohms, I wonder what happens if you connect an 8 ohm headphone? Shorting the headphone jack would certainly do it.

[@michaelturner4457]

@@russellhltn1396 The only thing I can think of that used a wall wart with phone jack for power, is the Sinclair ZX80 and ZX81 computers. Don't know how popular they were in the US though. Maybe the 9V battery was connected in reverse and that killed the output transistors?

[@stirlingschmidt6325]

It was common for 'universal' replacement wall-warts to come with a variety of plug types that could insert either way, to accommodate a wide variety of gear. SUPER EASY to cause damage with them...

[@me3333]

@@michaelturner4457 I had a first generation Craftsman cordless drill that had a 9 volt wall-wart charger with a headphone jack

[@orionwarren4244]

So refreshing to watch someone who wasn't among the , ahem, '81 million Americans' who had THEIR brains drained simultaneously a couple years ago. Oh, and the TV and radio repair thing is cool too!

[@poormanselectronicsbench2021]

I was expecting a continuation of the Ford ECU recapacitation, but, this did not disappoint. One thing for sure is, nobody will ever put a copyright claim on that speech.

[@craignehring]

shango066, you sir are an absolute delight in both your diagnostics and political commentary THANK YOU

[@stephendeluca4479]

9:50 That's the first potable radio I've ever seen. Great in emergencies when the water supply is contaminated.

[@Robbyinsaintpete]

Potable is make smart! (To paraphrase.)

[@luthmhor]

One of my favorite YT comments ever, nicely done.

[@markrhine5809]

Dear Shango066, I am now repairing or or should I say am into trying to repair transistor radios. This is so enjoyable for me, I am also doing some kits. I have been doing a lot of studying and reading manuals and schematics on transistor radios, thank you kindly for all the videos you do, I am learning so much by watching your great talent..... Have a great day, sir

[@hadibq]

haha "crank it all the way up so it's clipping..." precious😄 !! Yet another great repair Shango066 ! TY

[@garp32]

I've been lucky enough to score a few parts cabinets with older silicon and germanium transistors in my garage sale/flea market travels recently. Will certainly come in handy. Very cool that viewer sent that in to you, and thanks for the bonus video!

[@volvo09]

Nice repair. I used to think radios were boring, but you got my interest peaked. And after watching enough of these repairs you begin to see patterns too.

[@iworkout6912]

Not listening very closely, but I thought your tuned in "The World of Tomorrow" preacher on a Sunday night in my bedroom at my parents house and I was 10 years old. Anyway great repair, I learn from every repair you do, especially the little transistor radio ones.

[@Rev22-21]

I'd forgot about " The World Tommorrow" programs....

[@sitarnut]

Think it's brain drain Biden...

[@randyr.parker2698]

It's AMAZING that two transistors were bad at the same time in one radio. VERY strange! Thanks for another video Shango!

[@johnthedicsmith9416]

What is amazing is everything he says about transistors I believe more than the current administration

[@randyr.parker2698]

@@johnthedicsmith9416 YEP!!!!!!!!

[@codezero6023]

Yeh, Brandon sounded clearer when you bridged those solder joints with that cap. It didn’t make him smarter though :-)

[@JJ-el8li]

Brain Drain :)

[@uTube486]

I just finished a medicine cabinet job; It didn't go so well. Watching Shang do his magic unwinds me.

[@godfreypoon5148]

Interesting, so did the guy making the speech.

[@jeremybender401]

Reverb was merely the acoustics of the venue (Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland), not some subversive plot to control tiny minds or boost ratings.

[@tectalabyss]

Hi Shango0. Great to see a Sunday video too. Cool little radio. The Slivertone TV yesterday was awesome.All my best.

[@M0XFXUK]

I was surprised at the difference replacing that cap made. I love the commentary. 🤣

[@TechGorilla1987]

LGBFJB+ Fan club checking in early...

[@mikedevita5558]

Lol

[@5roundsrapid263]

15:20 That’s irritating; shut it off! The squealing is bad, too… 😆

[@enginecrzy]

Just needs a good whack.

[@ThresholdDreamer111]

ITM! You, sir, are a national treasure. :)

[@raymondcourtois67]

15:33 It looks like one of the leads from one of the transistors isn't soldered on the bottom of the board.

[@miriamsmith7135]

Great video. I have a radio just like the one you're working on. Works great too.

[@JerryEricsson]

I do agree with your info on engineered speeches. I was stationed with The Old Guard (The Army's Official Ceremonial Unit and Escort to the President) at Fort Myer Va. in 1975-77. My first assignment with that unit was with the Battalion Headquarters of the 3rd US Infantry Battalion (reinforced) TOG. We didn't do a lot of communications, but handled the Theatrical Lighting and Stage Sound equipment for the Unit, which was used by not only our folks, but by many Senators and Congressmen when they spoke at holiday ceremonies in conjunction with our unit activities (We put on re-enactments for the public at the back steps of the Jefferson Memorial and on the back steps of the US Capitol Building as well as our "Spirit of America" show at the Capitol Center. Our Amplifiers (Hand-me-downs from the US Army Band) did have base boosters and echo built in, push one button on the remote operations board and you got exactly that sound! Being the bi-centennial of the United States, we worked our asses off with all the damn ceremonies as well as our official duties of burying soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery which ran along the border of Fort Myer. Members of our Unit served as the Tomb Guards (A highly sought duty by some soldiers. I had no desire to even try out for that) We could do hundreds of things with the system, only one soldier knew everything about the blasted thing, and the lighting board was fantastic as well. When that soldier got out of the Army, he was picked up by Disney and began using his skills at Disney World. He did train his replacement though so the shows could go on.

[@THEtechknight]

Don't forget the modulated-in Nielsen PPM in the audio of the speech on this video. that shit ruins all stations. the fencepost shifting tone sound is nielsen PPM.

[@johnchildress6717]

Thank you for serving our country.

[@vancouverman4313]

"Tomb Guard", did they have lots of grave robbers in the past or are they there to prevent vandalism?

[@JerryEricsson]

@@vancouverman4313 The Tomb of the Unknowns contain bodies from WW1, WWII, Korea and Vietnam. They are unknowns, names known but to GOD and represent those who were never recovered, those soldiers who marched off to war, never to return home. They are guarded as an HONOR to protect their remains from disturbance and are under armed guard 24 hours per day, 7 days a week in all weather. It is a great honor to be selected as a member of the Tomb Guard, I would never have qualified, nor did I desire. Members of this unit must live an honorable life both during their service and after. They are issued a badge to show their qualifications and are the MOST strac members of the US Military. Sure now the folks buried in the tomb have been Identified by modern methods but they still represent those who never came home to the families of the fallen and never recovered from America's wars. Google The Old Guard to find more.

[@eeengineer8851]

I thought this radio looked exactly like a kit (EKI) one our electronics tech class built in 1985. So, I dug the one I made from a drawer to look. The shape and overall design/style of the case is the "same" except my kit one the tuner and volume are swapped sides. Also the earphone jack on the side instead. The PCB inside totally different layout too. Mine has made in Taiwan molded into the back. Its like a sort of clone where all the details are different but still looks mostly the same.

[@andygozzo72]

most of those far eastern pocket radios were pretty much 'similar but different',

[@keithbrandaw7229]

Thanks for bringing out radios to fix , Nice to see on Sunday .

[@perrymckinney6146]

I did a recap on this same model, had the same symptoms too. It’s working pretty well now after the recap.

[@acmefixer1]

The 9012, 9013, 9014 ... Series are really low cost BJTs for consumer electronics and they're very common. The 2N3906 is a bit wimpier - the better substitute is the PN2907A. I managed to get a bunch of 2N5400 PNP general purpose low to medium gain transistors that would work good for these radios. The - what did you call them? Bubble top transistors? Are the TO-106 and TO-105 cases. They're lower power than the usual TO-92 transistors. You said they go bad more often, and the TO-92 are less prone to going bad. But then this radio blew out both TO-92s just to be spiteful! Usually I figure that if one electrolytic capacitor has gone bad, it won't be long before the others go bad, so I replace them all. Thanks for the memories.

[@jrocco36]

Question. I just got a 12 transistor AM radio (yeah I know 6 too many transistors for a AM radio ) anyhow when you first turn it on it sounds like it needs alignment but after about 30secs starts to play fine. I replaced all the electrolytic capacitors. Im wondering if the osc transistor is bad.

[@monkeyboy4746]

Ohh, a David Lynch shot for the start of the video. I am so hyped up on this video that my eye has started bleeding.

[@ripemelon393]

I have one of those radios, it is very old, early 70’s

[@terrywilson4118]

I have a radio in the exact same case but is branded Fairmont... Has a different circuit board though.. Yours is the first one i have seen that closely resembles it....

[@Srinathji_Das]

Thank you for your videos! 😊

[@sonnymollet6661]

another Genius fix by shangoo, with added facts, we hear you, we hear you

[@Nick215NY]

Fantastic diagnostics as usual, bravo.

[@annaplojharova1400]

These transistors really never go bad on their own, it is always something else killing them. Often with these halfbridge output stages (mainly when higher than 3V supply gets involved) it is the user accidentally reversing the battery polarity. Then usually both transistors in the output stage blow at once. Or (mainly with the higher power higher voltage amps) a failed electrolytic can cause high frequency overload of the amplifier, leading to the output overheating.

[@annaplojharova1400]

@@daleburrell6273 Never met such transistor to be the cause. Being a causality of something else failed, most of the time. Like user error (load short circuit, reversed supply, voltage set too high on the universal adapters), some other component failed (open resistor, shorted capacitor, even open capacitor causing wild oscillation). But that does not count as the transistor failure being the first cause...

[@shango066]

Im not sure they would even conduct if power was applied in reverse. Who knows what someone may have done to it in the past 30 years

[@annaplojharova1400]

@@shango066 Problematic is the emitter base in reverse, exceeding the safe rating (usually 5V is allowed, but externally observable breakdown happens around 10V or so). It seemingly does not conduct that much, "just a few uA leakage", but this leakage is causing very localized damage within the transistors. So small, you can not practically measure it. But this then acts as a kind of seed for complete destruction later in time.

[@bluepen61]

Stirring repair! Thank you for sharing this with us.

[@andygozzo72]

i've only ever had an odd couple or so of those TO92 types fail, .....and one of the domed ones, but then havent come across many of that type so far ..

[@andygozzo72]

maybe someone tried to power it from an external dc supply and was maybe too high voltage, or wrong polarity, and blew them,

[@tomcroley7084]

I have some of these old radios and am amazed at how good the sensitivity and selectivity are for their size. What do you think caused both BJTs to short?

[@acmefixer1]

My guess is the radio was left in a car on a hot day, and they played it loud and both transistors went thermal runaway and a hot spot punched through the junctions - shorted.

[@gearheadted9210]

I always hear a loud ssqueel when brandon is bumbling along

[@angryshoebox]

I had an RCA transistor radio just like that one, in the mid-'70s when I was a kid. Mine was a light beige color. I didn't know they made them in "sun gold". I thought at first that it was a light beige one with badly yellowed plastic.

[@zulumax1]

I'm going out on a limb here and say that the 71 in the date code on the speaker is 1971? The popular colors were gold and green, specifically harvest gold, and avocado green. This one is sun gold, must have been a copyright on use of the color names, sure looks like harvest gold to me.

[@agostinodibella9939]

That sure sounds like a lot of “crazy noise” coming from that radio!

[@AUATUWVSH]

would have been more sating to listen in on the speech with a Russian transistor radio

[@Mrhellacat]

I still have this model somewhere! Well made radio

[@drsysop]

All Russian airliners banned from US & Canada airspace & we took all Russian products off the shelves in stores now also. Hope you can still get them Russian transistors from your sources. -Cheers!

[@billgueltig6136]

Russian tubes are what keeps my old equipment going

[@drsysop]

@@billgueltig6136 Yes they are good.

[@jsciarri]

Too bad we can't ban crappy made in Chna products from being placed onto our shelves. But that will never happen with this old Dumbocrat in office.

[@jeffreyhickman3871]

Great 👍 RCA radio. Looks like the perfect little transistor radio to take everywhere with ya. It’s one ☝️ of those 9 volt battery radios. I’m going to guess that this is a 1973 RCA. I bet ya got it for around $5. Great mustard yellow color. Your friend, Jeff.

[@ultraproject2619]

I've seen quasi complementary 2 x npn output stages, however this is the first 2 x pnp, not sure why they did that with silicon devices.

[@tedcowart3647]

Great Sunday morning video! The radio turned out great and looks to be in great condition. The government must have fired up a JB robot to do that speech. He sounded like one of those old WW2 speeches with all of the background noise. He was actually probably in his depends in the Whitehouse drooling on himself

[@kilwala2242]

The speech reminds me of that episode of Star Trek were the leader of the Nazi planet was a disheveled drugged up old man who was nothing more than a living meat puppet for the people actually controlling the planet.

[@johnnytacokleinschmidt515]

That's about right

[@nickb.8876]

Neat little radio. Those things are always interesting

[@Atomshamradio]

Thanks for sharing I enjoy your videos 💯👍

[@michaelturner4457]

I used to have one of these radios, although mine was branded HIRA, and was originally bought in 1972. As for the two shorted output transistors, it could have been someone connected a battery with the wrong polarity.

[@martinda7446]

Only thing I'd day about using those batteries is that a 9V battery relatively has giant internal resistance compared with those lithium cells. So under fault condition it will deliver whatever currents are demanded. Enough to pop a tiny transformer too. So do like Shango and use the meter and be ready to disconnect if you value the thing you have on test.

[@martinda7446]

Say even doh.

[@johnnytacokleinschmidt515]

9-volt battery can deliver over an amp of current. It will be discharging rapidly of course.

[@martinda7446]

@@johnnytacokleinschmidt515 A fresh one - those lithiums?

[@johnnytacokleinschmidt515]

@@martinda7446 I don't know about the lithium batteries he uses. I can guess several to maybe ten amps. Just a guess. One amp is enough to burn up the transistors I'd think.

[@martinda7446]

@@johnnytacokleinschmidt515 I was simply pointing out you are safer with a treasured item by using a low energy 9V than a close to unlimited energy supply. He was using skinny wires and crock clips etc and sure there aren't many cases where it would matter, but there are some, and transistors sinking an amp are already dead,(in this case) its what is connected to those transistors that may be sensitive. It was a warning - take it or leave it. (I guess you will leave it).

[@johnnytacokleinschmidt515]

I've noticed the single-ended class A radios burn allot of power. I'm seeing about 50 milliamps at 6 volts. 4 D-cells. No change in draw with loud audio except for a little wiggle in the meter. Need efficient push-pull for prepper radio. Thanks for the 2 videos dropped this weekend. Have a great week!

[@shango066]

Yes they do thats normal..emp make prepper radio useless..

[@quantumleap359]

I have a portable phono made by GE in 1964. It had a bum right channel, ended up being an NPN output transistor with an open B-E junction. Stuck a 2N2222 in there, all good. This thing uses 22 ohm speakers, and the rectifier off the motor winding was a selenium bridge! In 1964! I guess they had a shitload of them left over from the 50's.

[@thedailybench2527]

Ah yes another video to occupy my morning! Also if you are interested I wanted a old GE portable am radio repaired you would like it it’s got a huge ferrite rod AM antenna and Is really nice up until it stopped making sound.

[@brigganthewolf1461]

Probably a P780. I have one of those. He did a video on one of those.

[@AureliusR]

I'd be glad to fix it

[@jorgamund07]

When I heard the speech coming out of the radio, it occurred to me that was how many of our fathers and grandfathers listened to such political speeches as well. It sounded a LOT more impressive with the AM sound than it would if I pulled it up on C-SPAN in HD. And it sounds/reads even less impressive in transcript form. I wonder how many bad policies of the past were sold to the public simply because the arguments received an illusion of stature from lower quality transmissions.

[@LeonardoX86]

Cool to see a sunday video. What happened to the lots of tv's you found in that dusty place videos back?

[@KB-mk9lv]

glad I showed up for your sermon today. always well worth the time. yeah! be gentle with the transistor! what did it ever do to you?

[@markrhine5809]

Dear Shango066, Is there a video showing that small dim blub and how you built that?

[@Pablo-he7gm]

Thanks for the Sunday edition!

[@vancouverman4313]

At 21:51 I didn't realize that the gruff voiced, A. Jones was working for KFI. If it isn't him, that guy could be his stand in.

[@jamesmdeluca]

Greetings: Your first view of the output pair shows a Crack in the left transistor.

[@mateuszsp8ebc691]

OMG. I just realized that this RCA radio is playing a broadcast of Your president speaking in Warsaw (our PL capital) or Rzeszów - my home city, where there are a lot of USA troops now.

[@Wellguysiguessthatsit]

I was trying to repair a sears portable radio it sounds good if you don't turn it to 100% volume but I cant find much information on it it has this weird station drift you can tune it to a very strong station but it seems it drifts off to a different station

[@bob7872]

Our patience waiting for the help WE are supposed to be getting while he MIRACULOUSLY finds money to help other countries! But anyway this is a repair video, so thanks for taking the time to do it for us.

[@dalesworld1308]

Now I need to convince my wife I need a $600 Flir to fix two dollar radios.

[@error52]

Here's a useless bit of information: a VEF 206 (12 transistor, all germanium radio) has about the same current draw as this RCA. I had one on my desk yesterday and measured the draw: 8 ma at idle, 15-20 ma at a normal volume, around 30 ma at "annoy the neighbors" volume.

[@kheledkitt]

I prefer the squeal to listening to that sock puppet.

[@michaelbennett1883]

I vote add a switch and put in that bad capacitor as a tone cap for Jason JJ Cruze. Sr. Senile's next work of art speach.

[@michaelbennett1883]

The headphone Jack is to add an accutronics reverb tank

[@bobmarker6812]

Building this radio back better!

[@ab.3800]

Devalue my currency daddy lmao FJB

[@audubon5425]

Don't look behind the curtain at that biolab! Nothing to see here!

[@rock.doctor]

the truly scary part...they were not playing with the flu virus. They were playing with anthrax and so on...

[@johnnytacokleinschmidt515]

Or the other how many? 29? Scumbag liars. Corrupt governments everywhere.

[@jamesatkinson6480]

...'be not afraid'... ...(noise & reverb)... ...(all 20+ mA of it... I heard so much of it that deafness became a friend...! Good work with the SS9012 equivalent replacement, with a 5mA no-signal (audio) current.. Seems that the sqealing caused a larger current drain, and replacing the 10uF electro 'did the trick'...

[@IanDarley]

They wish to be identified as just 'sistors' now, it's not PC to mention the trans part.

[@zsoltlevente1413]

radio repairs are great

[@DubDado]

mega cool presented! ohjeah ;:-) give thanks from austria

[@gregorypiercesr.794]

Sure brings back some memories!😉😉

[@TonyButchT]

Nice repair and always interesting and informative! Whats he runnin' on? Swamp Gas!

[@Atomshamradio]

Biden sounded like Hitler when the volume turned up with the echo

[@Atomshamradio]

Hes a scary dumb man that's ready to fall down on his face🤣😅

[@mountain177]

I was thinking the same thing.

[@waltschannel7465]

It's a double bonus Shango066 weekend!! 😄😄😄

[@teacfan1080]

You radio make again happy!

[@glenncerny8403]

Jill: Did you fill your drawers? Joe: Depends.

[@craigadam]

Yay. Love you man.

[@bensonyau2302]

Does that mean there are 60 ohms earbuds back in those days? Amazing.

[@7MPhonemicEnglish]

When they pour on the emotionalism, you can safely assume that they're trying to play you like a dime Store fiddle.

[@7MPhonemicEnglish]

I found my first radio by perusing digitized images of old Sears catalogs. It was 1972 and I was 5 years old and on pg 597 of the '72 Christmas Wishbook was a little AM radio for $3.99. It came with an ear-phone and Sears wrote that it was "From Hong Kong" which means that it was probably made in China. Anyhow, don't see them around anymore. BTW, the tiny town I grew up in had a Sears Catalog Store which had no sales floor but you could place orders and pick up orders there. I remember going up to the counter and placing my order.

[@gavincurtis]

Sun gold = modern white w/ 3 days UV exposure.

[@CEverett55]

This video cured my fibromyalgia

[@randynelson2265]

I loved the political commentary of the senile old farts rambling speech. And I loved watching this old radio being brought back to service.

[@shaunsiz.itsbetterbytube2858]

Look at the lovely sunset mummy .which one sweetheart

[@Boozion]

I have one of those. It is a nos in it's original packaging. I have the white one. Don't remember if it come with the Biden echo effects circuit installed in it or not? But it does seem to work really nicely. I have all the original instructions with it too. That one there you have looks like mustard. Maybe good with some catsup? 🙃

[@stirlingschmidt6325]

I had one of these back in the day, 1980-something. It was white - evidently, this plastic formula yellows quite a bit.

[@jeffreyhickman3871]

Ya better bask in the sweet sound of this thing (from the speaker 🔊) your friend, Jeff.

[@enginecrzy]

There's a bad egg that still needs replacing, It sounds all distorted still....

[@etsojourner]

What kind of flir do you use? Want to purchase one but have no idea what to get. Thank you

[@billmcdonald2436]

My God I don’t know how you can listen to that so long.

[@fireantsarestrange]

Brandon clips always get my blood pressure up. LOL

[@polska207]

He and the PM in Canada talk about freedom has to be protected while taking away their citizens freedom away or arresting freedom protesters

[@dontknowbrian]

I’d like to see one of these cheapie radios directly plugged into house outlet of 120 volts! Slow-mo video for sure! Maybe a wreck of a turdy TV set dropped into a kiddie pool just to watch the early Fourth of July event!

[@98xjdriver]

Nice intro shot, zooming out was cool.