Sylvania Educasting SCA Radios Diagnosis and Repair NOS Factory Defect

[@Nick2011881]

14:04 "Yes hi, can I speak with the business owner?" "mmm Saifroin Mcbible Plairsol"

[@LakeNipissing]

The hangup was instant with that one!! :)

[@cipherthedemonlord8057]

Hilarious

[@davepike6170]

Yes, I was laughing out loud!🤣

[@renejansen5939]

@@davepike6170 Same here LOL!

[@renejansen5939]

That's the way to handle telemarketing scam!

[@brianleeper5737]

The only SCA radio I have ever come across in the wild is a Johnson Electronics (out of Winter Park, FL--they were out of business before the late 90s) unit that was hanging on the wall in the telephone room of an office building that I worked in the late 90s. It has a line-level audio output. After determining that it was in fact abandoned, I removed it. It's crystal controlled, set for 101.1 FM (WWDC - DC101), inside is a switch that gives you either the SCA audio or the regular FM audio. There was still an SCA carrier on 101.1 when I removed the unit in 1997, but it was gone by 2005 or so when I last tried it. The SCA carrier was some sort of Muzak.

[@jamesmdeluca]

Probably a real use of Muzak elevator music!

[@gordonwelcher9598]

I found something like this used with the cafeteria PA at a place I worked. I switched the output from Muzak to the stations regular light rock and dance programming. People liked it, the secretaries were dancing in the lunch room. Unfortunately they played one of those fascinating talk shows during lunch time. It was in English and we were in Quebec. There were complaints so we had to listen to Muzak again. Talk shows are a disease. They have infected the entire AM band.

[@pauldorobialski8871]

Thanks for posting. I owned one of these radio's in 1975 when I started to DX the SCA bands. Nice to see a good service tech at work.

[@tomwold8269]

Great fix. That's mind boggling it was messed up right out of the box. Would think they would have tested it before they put it on the market.

[@dkd1228]

The caps on the detector output are there to roll off the 75us preemphasis applied to commercial FM broadcast signals. You'd also have to remove these if you were to install a stereo multiplex decoder as they would filter out the L-R signal at their 38kHz suppressed subcarrier.

[@mjg263]

Dang, now I want one of those Sylvania portable am/fm radios!

[@robinsattahip2376]

Thank you, that was interesting I never knew those existed.

[@bobh7784]

Sylvania, Batavia NY... had some good designs and some g-a-r-b-a-g-e, needless to say some quality control issues. Thanks for the analysis ( I saw the bridge before you did though). Your humor is the best!

[@JohnGotts]

Great video. I enjoy you digging into vintage equipment and making it work better than it did from the factory. I find myself doing that with eBay specials from China.

[@billmyke746]

That defect could explain why it was still in the original packaging.

[@Musicradio77Network]

I guess that KNX is still covering the news during the repair, including illegal fireworks which is going on in California. Here in New York, it’s still the same as it is in LA. Remember back in 2018 where he did a video on his 1962 Panasonic B&W TV resurrection and got it off and running during the 4th of July while illegal fireworks went off in the background. NYC is started to have a major crackdown on illegal fireworks.

[@bugdrvr]

I'm up on the east side of LA and it's been like 4th of July here for about two weeks now. On the actual 4th there's an absolutely insane amount of fireworks going on. Picture the grand finale of a BIG display except here it's in all directions and goes on for about four or five hours. I'd never seen anything like it in my life until moving here. It's actually pretty amazing as long as no one manages to light anything on fire. The cops here just watch the fireworks with everyone else.

[@mikemoyercell]

i love that Panasonic TV repair video. Id love to have that TV myself!

[@cipherthedemonlord8057]

Fireworks are fun though.

[@brianleeper5737]

@@ct6502c My neighbor across the street (I live in the country so I cannot see his house from mine) was shooting off aerial fireworks last year...till the cops showed up. One of my neighbors used to be a volunteer firefighter and I suspect that's who called it in. I think for my 4th of July celebration I am going to set off an automotive airbag inside a 50-gallon drum full of water. That should make a nice splash.

[@olegkostoglotov8800]

NYC seems to have major crackdowns on anything that is patriotic, or traditionally American. Curious how they can never quite seem to get around to doing anything about vandalizing, or ripping down statues, or vandalizing places of worship.

[@airplaneengine]

I have an old "Radio Talking Book" "Property State of Minnesota" SCA radio. Got it from a thrift store many years ago. Never worked properly, I noticed it had a cracked and crumbling slug in one of the coils, it's been stashed in the closet since. I should dig it out one of these days. I've been in an argument before over the legality of listening to the service if you're not the one the radio was issued to.

[@darikdatta]

I bet that solder bridge would have been a lot easier to fix if you'd put a gob of flux on it. When the solder is sticky and slushy like that it's probably full of oxides. A quick fluxing will usually make it act like brand new. I put a bit of flux on whenever I reflow anything just for style points. It makes a huge difference in how the solder behaves.

[@jdmccorful]

Interesting tip. Will have to try that sometime.

[@theogdirkdiggler]

Or a good ole suck!

[@DrewskisBrews]

This the era of stuff I was taking apart at age 6-9. 1986-1999. Great googly moogly, was that ever a different time compared with now. All this is startingto become ancient experience, and something unique these days.

[@arthureverett8220]

Good job!!! They look like well made radios. Good find

[@Masterkill45588]

I got a warm fuzzy feeling as you broken that warranty seal

[@seanbryant2848]

Love this video... keep the faith, friend, and keep up the good work.

[@AERVBlog]

Nice video. I almost never use my 67KHz and 92KHz sub-carriers any more except maybe for talkback from the station on a tricky remote where the marti transmitter won't reach. Don't do much with the Marti transmitters and receivers either (special frequencies for radio station use for news and remotes). Most of remotes and news stories are done on cell phones or internet connections. I remember the days when Muzak elevator music was transmitted via sub-carriers. Tunable SCA receivers are a rarity since they are technically illegal but since there is almost nothing on there anymore who cares.

[@JuanBataan]

I really love watching from this channel. Greetings from Philippines

[@fanofoldfans9238]

The close up of the speaker grill with the green thingy in it reminded me of the Andromeda Strain movie during the scan for the virus. Maybe JPL used those during the Apollo missions for crew members families. Bad batch of Rubycons they should've used Nichicon!

[@olegkostoglotov8800]

Nothing wrong with the Rubycons other then age, far better then Elna caps, and light years ahead of Jamicon.

[@larry8253]

@ 34:50 "I just pulled it out last week"...........that's what she said... 🤪 LOL, sorry, couldn't resist Shango 🤣

[@jeffadams5510]

Gotta love those dollar store sunbeam batteries! :)

[@johnathanstevens8436]

"The International Correspondence School is experimenting with a system called Educasting developed by TuTor Tape Laboratories in NYC. An instructor tapes each lesson, following up with multiple-choice questions. The tapes are broadcast over FM stations in Scranton and Philadelphia, and students within a range of 29 miles listen on a special FM radio which is loaned for the course." -- from "American Education" U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office of Education, 1967 So I'm guessing that the 1-4 were either different courses or somehow integrated with the multiple choice questions.

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

Loaning, of course. God forbid the students own the radio.

[@michaelwitas9482]

According to data I found on the internet, Educasting Systems was incorporated in February 1968.

[@charliec9283]

Hearing Meg Myers version of Running up that hill. Great video!

[@KC4RAE]

"Do you copy"? "Do I copy"? "Do you copy"? I need to start a feature called "Words Of Wisdom From Shango066"

[@ThejasonJaw5442]

Like the radio - Do they still use sub carrier radios

[@cargo4441]

Looking forward to a bang up fourth of July extravaganza blowing up some cool stuff.

[@joeblow8593]

19:42 The guy doing the promo ID for KNX sounds like the same one doing the promo ID for WLW out in Cincinnati.

[@michaelturner4457]

I used to like WKRP in Cincinnati

[@bigsky1970]

There are people who do radio and TV imaging for a living. They're making pretty good money, the more station clients they have. Some do both station imaging and voice overs for national advertising.

[@olegkostoglotov8800]

@@michaelturner4457 That was Hoyt Curtain who did the promos for that show, as well as Les Nessman's fanfare, and narrator for the "Superfriends" cartoon.

[@johnnytacokleinschmidt515]

24:56 very funny! :-) Are they able to simultaneously transmit 4 subcarrier audio programs on one channel or are the 4 SCA selectors particular to the transmition of each station i.e. bandwidth or band center? Thank-you! God Bless

[@johnnytacokleinschmidt515]

@H Higgins Thank-you for the reply. I'll have to see if our radio museum has a copy. Be well and God Bless.

[@frankpitochelli6786]

Very good job, nice trouble shooting.... Do you think some of the other electrolitics may have a high ESR..?? I like how they would flow solder on all the traces . Best wishes.

[@P51ride]

Vinegar works good to remove. battery corrosion. I almost given up hope with a battery pack from a Radio Shack HTX 202 2 meter radio but I immersed the empty pack in vinegar for 30 minutes to 1 hour and it was clean

[@MVVblog]

This subcarrier "thing" is intriguing. No subcarrier here in Italy? Or we have Asian subcarrier stations and we don't know?

[@SpinStar1956]

At the end there, shango066 gave us a view of our futures...

[@Atomshamradio]

Love all of your old goodies.👍

[@joeylanclos9067]

I know of 67 and 92KHz. But what are the other SCA frequencies? I used to hear byproducts of the 67KHz on the classical channel

[@palipixel]

Sorry if mentioned previously, and may be old hat but... There's some juicy emitter resistor bypass elcaps that will kill the audio amp chain gain if they're dried out. Rubycon were kinda off-brand back then, if not now. Cool Sunbeam C-cells BTW.

[@chessapk5034]

Sunbeam makes the best batteries, that is why Shango uses them

[@cat-lw6kq]

That warning label I just called the SCA police on you.

[@glenncerny8403]

I play a pre-recorded segment of morse code when telemarketers call.

[@Synthematix]

play them the titanic morse code

[@davemcgaffney9401]

Better yet play them a script from another scammer!

[@astral16]

I Always enjoy your videos

[@keithwhisman]

Should try sending one to Sylvania for warranty repair.

[@davemcgaffney9401]

Well beyond the 90 day warranty !

[@micmac99]

Educasting was apparently owned by Walter Annenberg's Triangle Publications (TV Guide and Philadelphia Inquirer parent company)

[@monkeyboy4746]

So it was a subscription only radio service for educating people and the price of the subscription was having to buy the radio/decoder? Maybe used in remote communities where there were not established schools perhaps, just guessing.

[@davepike6170]

Dang...now I want one of those radios to play with!😁

[@hadireg]

👍👍👍👌 on top of being highly educational, Shango066 can be hilarious 😉 still I don't know why I love those radios & Tvs

[@alexinnewwest1860]

So I’m new to this and a bit confused. What are these radios purpose and what would you use it for Thx

[@iworkout6912]

Our local PBS TV station used to have classes recorded in class rooms for students in school to help with homework, etc. I'm guessing it was radio that was used for this before they switched to TV. Or maybe for students who couldn't get to the school for some reason.

[@Mister_Brown]

current usage around here is for reading services for the blind, i made a gnuradio sketch a while ago that uses a tv tuner to extract sca audio and most of them were people reading newspapers and books so blind people can get news.

[@moshly64]

Also used for subscription foreign language services & in store muzak for large grocery & department stores.

[@davehebert3403]

I have an idea. What you could do is get two lengths of wire, and solder all the old electrolytics together in parallel. Then you connect them to a MOT for the 4th. Your wife will love you :D.

[@gavincurtis]

16:00 torture video for Louis Rossmann.

[@tarstarkusz]

You have no idea how much I hate that damn cars for kids commercial. They play it like 20 times a here in Philadelphia. Annoying people coast to coast.

[@chessapk5034]

its K-A-R-S kars for kids. LOL, snackums ommercial

[@olegkostoglotov8800]

All they are doing is taking your car to a used car auction, PBS has started in on that racket as well.

[@scottbrady7499]

these subcarriers, in southern cal, are analog transmissions: old school. nothing about the 2012-2014 fad of stations, like sports dial or college dial fordham U, in nyc having two, or three subs in a digital-type situation. these sub stations are dwindling away. i've got a toshiba iPod thingie called an IBM zune that shows how many digital subs a station has going, pretty effectively. 1965

[@jamienoel]

How many recognized his sign of distress?

[@johnnytacokleinschmidt515]

39:35 it is pretty amazing how the politicians have kicked the door open and rolled out the red carpet. (Hmmm literally a red carpet...) I don't mind at all the idea of people coming from other countries and being proud of who they are and from where they came. However, they should be enthusiastic about America and becoming Americans and integrating themselves into our country. That doesn't make me xenophobic. If the government expends great effort and resources to bring foreigners here who then want to set up little neighborhood and town versions of their previous homelands (what they do in the privacy of their homes is up to them) and begin to demand Americans honor and abide by their customs, traditions, and laws outside of the Constitution then that is indicative of something very subversive and my wariness of such does not make me a xenophobe, bigot, or racist. It is because I'm a realist and a patriot for our great country that I question motive and legality and advise caution and warning. God Bless the United States of America

[@gavincurtis]

I was just going to say...might as well keep them on those channels. We will all be speaking Chinese soon.

[@1112223333111]

Does it mean he needs to escape from LA?

[@1112223333111]

get to da choppaaa!!

[@jasons8479]

Imagine if students all had to do corona remote learning in that era with those things.

[@luisreyes1963]

A radio receiver that was a forerunner of online learning. Interesting.

[@tony--james]

An unusual crackle pony radio, very cool!!

[@Synthematix]

Sylvania is the Chuck Norris of radios

[@Eagleoneradiogod]

You should have 147.435 and 462.700 playing in the background. I use to talk on those repeaters. When I lived in west covina.

[@cipherthedemonlord8057]

Overflow of hammer and sickle 🇨🇳 radio. Now I kinda want a sub carrier radio.

[@MikeB_UK]

Something definitely off with the radio playing from 24:55-to 25:46. A very odd droning, whining noise. :-)

[@MrUbiquitousTech]

It's a detector to let us know who suffers from TDS.

[@Ellenslife851]

All I heard that girl say in that modern day song was diddle diddle diddle diddle. Dee

[@astral16]

Your ability to read stupid details is incredible

[@bob7872]

It's also interesting that you have a lot of Spanish stations, and as you tune the dial while you're testing the radios, there are more Korean* than Chinese (*yet they got control over the virus quickly.)

[@Sys-Edit0r-1995]

If you had a $20 RTL-SDR and SDRAngel installed on a Linux or windows PC you could see the sub-carriers in the demodulated baseband! Unfortunately they haven't implemented code to listen to them yet.

[@sarahhoward9081]

Are those things really working with those old ever ready batteries?

[@theogdirkdiggler]

Those are from dollar tree!

[@SDS-1]

Wahoo!!! Shango vid

[@blazertracer1]

It's a AM and FM radio with the AM disabled unless you open it up to flip that switch. Could have saved money without having a entire AM radio in it.

[@Mister_Brown]

a lot of the am radio is using the same signal path as the fm radio at least thats how most am/fm transistor radios and pretty much all am/fm tube radios work also this is a modified radio so you'd start with the radio you think is going to be available forever not some custom one off

[@cmans79tr7]

14:03 from the comments i knew it was coming, but when i actually heard it i still laughed so hard i couldn't breathe. Obviously shango has a way with words.

[@chrisa2735-h3z]

I thought it was funny that behind the dial cover on the subcarrier receiver, the dial numbers were still there underneath it lol😂

[@olegkostoglotov8800]

That SCA broadcast sounded like it was Japanese on the first radio, Mandarin on the last, a multi ethnic SCA station or was it a different one? One of the others sounded like Korean maybe?

[@richroj]

I love your videos Shango066 !

[@keathrhymer5449]

what were these used for ??

[@joeblow8593]

Here we have....

[@SusanAmberBruce]

That's crazy and funny towards the end of the vid :-)

[@KameraShy]

Siri, Do I have crabs?

[@chetpomeroy1399]

That seems odd. Why would a solid-state receiver need a thermistor? SCA broadcasts are pretty rare these days.

[@brainndamage]

To adjust the output stage bias with temperature (or rather keep the bias roughly the same as germaniums were very temperature sensitive)

[@davemcgaffney9401]

@@brainndamage Just a little more info for people reading this thread... The hotter the transistors got the more that they conducted (current)... The more current that they drew the got hotter they got and then conducted even more until the transistors failed... It is called thermal run away... More elaborate audio circuits like the audiophile GodZilla power amp failed with smoke and fireworks when the bias circuit went out of spec... Lots of Voltage and Current unprotected = smoke and flames... A great sounding amplifier while it worked but it didn't like reactive loads... The bias circuitry was there to slightly turn on the output transistors... Without bias the audio would sound terrible at low volume.. Therefore the Sylvania (japanese) added a thermistor to the radio that would reduce the current to the transistors as they heated this device...

[@ShadowsOnTheScreen]

I am confused. How do the buttons work?

[@markmarkofkane8167]

Is it illegal? Interesting video. Bridge over troubled circuit.

[@Jericho297]

I personally hate the white and grey coloured casings that newer radios have.

[@robinsattahip2376]

I hate the new radios, that are essentially a radio on a chip with a few supporting components.

[@cipherthedemonlord8057]

I hate the cheap generic garbage we have now. Few things have character and class anymore.

[@wrenchhead944]

call me dumb, what is the name of the tester being used?

[@ralphups7782]

I am thinking, that the birds are working on a colour set. ;-)

[@michaelturner4457]

Is SCA radio a US only thing? Because I never came across them in the UK and Europe.

[@brianleeper5737]

The only SCA radio I ever came across in the USA was locked up inside a telephone room of an office building in 1998 and was used to feed audio (Muzak I think) to either a music-on-hold or background music system. It had an external antenna jack (F-connector type), no speaker, only line-level outputs (either balanced 600 ohm via screw terminals or unbalanced via a phone/rca jack). And this use of SCA in the USA was already obsolete by the early 2000s--the unit I found in the telephone room was abandoned, probably left by a previous tenant of the building.

[@davemcgaffney9401]

@@brianleeper5737 Found the same at the Pro Football HOF here in Canton, Ohio... It was for background music and WAS Musak...(elevator music)...

[@brianleeper5737]

@@davemcgaffney9401 I'm pretty sure that fast food restaurants like Burger King and McDonalds were heavy users of SCA, many of them had 6-element FM Yagi antennas on their buildings in the early to late 90s, most of which have since been removed. The ones Burger King used were almost always slanted halfway between vertical and horizontal polarization. No idea why they did that, and I only ever saw that on Burger Kings.

[@Wenlocktvdx]

There were only a very few in Australia although BBC did provide a Word Service subcarrier. The subscription wasn’t cheap but they did supply a nice looking radio. It was on 3RRR which was operated by RMIT in Melbourne. They used a 50khz subcarrier so no other receiver could tune it.

[@stvlu733]

What is a sub carrier station technically speaking on how it works? Does it work similar like the second frequencies reserved for Digital HD FM radio?

[@brianleeper5737]

Sub carrier is AM modulated signals sent on the FM carrier at frequencies above those used for audio. That is why they had to remove those capacitors, they would filter everything out above the audio frequencies. Digital HD radio also uses signals sent on the FM carrier which is above the frequencies used for audio, but the modulation is much more complex than AM. The FM carrier is something like 100KHz wide so you can see there is space for additional signals in addition to the audio.

[@batterymakermarkii2654]

I just sent you an article on facebook messenger, shango...it's all about these radios....

[@simonmorris3964]

A return perhaps?

[@cookingwithchefjeff]

I'm surprised that this wasn't tested and caught in the factory.

[@MIW_Renegade]

Probably a lazy guy who didnt want to test em

[@Rev22-21]

Some of these companies tested 1 in 10. If that one passed the other nine shipped. And presto....

[@ralphups7782]

I am thinking, that the scientist have discovered time travel, hope this comment has reached you.

[@Synthematix]

If it was passed as working from the factory it would have a QC PASSED sticker by the battery compartment, anyway, capacitors are the ultimate components to be used in planned obsolescence failures. the cap you fitted while it will get it working aint really suitable, id fit a 4.7uf cap, dont think these were meant to go into clipping and will probably do more damage

[@keithwhisman]

We don’t have any Chinese radio stations in Arizona that I know of, it would be interesting to listen to something different. Listen to some Native American music stations for something different.

[@radiotvphononut]

We still have Radio Reading Service for the Blind and they are a subcarrier of public radio.

[@Abhishek-C92]

selling these radios? if yes i want to buy 1 or 2 .

[@Starcrunch72]

damn near pissed myself at 39:20....thanks

[@FlatBroke612]

Does it get 104.9 FM?

[@DoctorLemon]

What station is that?

[@FlatBroke612]

Shuttlecock Big power, Low IQ FM...

[@michaelturner4457]

So the SCA stations in LA are Chinese and Japanese?

[@olegkostoglotov8800]

I think I heard some Korean too.

[@michaelmacdonald3408]

Is that a felony when you violated it LOL.

[@KAFKUBA]

I wished I had a clue shango

[@Broken_Yugo]

Had they not invented solder mask yet, or was blobbing all that solder on just somehow cheaper?

[@brianleeper5737]

Atari products in the 80s had circuit boards that were similar. The Atari 2600 and their 1200 baud modem the SX212 are ones that I saw like that. The wierd thing is, they applied a green solder mask type coating OVER the solder on the circuit tracks. I have never seen any other circuit boards like that, only those Atari ones.

[@theogdirkdiggler]

" Minty Virginy goodness "

[@justsumguy2u]

There's no way that was a factory defect. Every radio was tested in quality control, and that one never would've made it out the door. Someone was in there before you, trying to reflow solder in an effort to make it work, and instead made it worse than before

[@davemcgaffney9401]

These were off the shelf AM/FM radios that were modified for FM subcarrier reception... The company or person that did the modifications probably splashed a bit of solder when changing caps and the radio quit working and was then shelved...it was also cheaper to buy an AM/FM radio built than to have just a FM only radio built to their specs...

[@davemcgaffney9401]

Another thing I noticed was sango basically stayed on FM or #1 subcarrier . He might have gotten more subcarrier channels if he switched to #s 2,3,4 after locating a station that was broadcasting subcarriers...

[@justsumguy2u]

@@davemcgaffney9401 I think you are assuming that these were sub-conctracted out. That's not the case---these were built in-house by Sylvania. It was not at all uncommon back in the day to build radios to a customer's specification, because there was real money to be had in that. If you want proof of that, look no further than Belmont or Arvin

[@davemcgaffney9401]

@@justsumguy2u No argument here... Sylvania still bought the radios from a Japanese manufacturer (they had no plants in Japan) then either had an external or internal group modify the stock radios to their "specs"... No doubt that there was money to be made for customised limited build electronics... The sub-carrier and switching boards don't look to be Japanese parts or design... So a WORKING radio was modified in house and the modifications failed... Why would they try to modify a non-working OEM radio? Logically seeing that just removing the solder glob brought back the radio operations there would not have been any reason for someone to try to repair a working radio BEFORE the solder glob was put there... Looks to me a QC problem and the radio failed after being modified and was thrown in a defective parts pile and stayed there until sold as "as-is" old stock... It wasn't worth spending any more time troubleshooting from a manufacturing standpoint as they had plenty more they could modify... It's fun trying to figure out why the radio just sat there for years untouched...

[@justsumguy2u]

@@davemcgaffney9401 Maybe, but I have a feeling that if a radio failed testing, it was thrown in the dumpster. What would be the advantage of keeping it around? It would cost more money to fix than it would just starting with another unit. The reason I suspected a solder reflow job was because all of the solder joints looked atrocious, not just the ones in the suspect area. It's like they used an entire 1 lb reel of rosin core just to solder one circuit board---there's enough solder on that board to do 5 properly

[@vanhetgoor]

Oh boy! No wonder Japan took over the complete electronics industry in the '70's. It is an A-Class amplifier with two transistors each amplifying only half the cycle, the signal going through two audio transformers. This is bad design, it is like an old amplifier with radio tubes, then you needed transformers because the tubes were on a high current, but transistors aren't. Sylviania was great in the times of hot red glowing radio tubes and when the transistors came it had to step aside. The PCB design is filthy, with solder the thing coper tracks get some extra strength, therefor all boards had to be soldered by hand, making it expensive, to costly for a radio. This is all very sad to look at, numerous mistakes, an industry in decline. If that radio was produced in the USA the factory lost money on it. If it was made in Hong Kong they could make a profit on it.

[@midsouthexpress]

Message understood and agree about the flag.

[@nivlick]

1:45 don’t you mean incorpocrapulated.