Small Philco-Ford multiband portable radio

[radiotvnut]

I picked up this 3-band Philco-Ford battery operated portable radio for $4 at the flea market. It was made in Japan and I think it's from 1970. I fired it up and it works fairly well; but, could use a control cleaning and a re-cap. These Philco-Ford portables don't show up very often in my area.

[Kamakiri]

I've never tried to re-cap one of these sets. Since it obviously won't motorboat through the audio, what's the signs of bad capacitors in a transistor radio?

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

what's the signs of bad capacitors in a transistor radio?

Tinny sound (coupling caps losing capacitence) and if the AVC filter cap loses value the IF strip can go into oscillation.

Be very careful when unsoldering and soldering on these old radios, the circuit board traces will peel off real easy. Solder wick is your friend.

[Kamakiri]

I have one transistor set that I know I'll never find another one like, that I would love to repair or have repaired. It works, but the sound is barely audible, even with the radio right to your ear.

Not your normal everyday set though

[Electronic M]

Just load uup on vodka komerad, it vill be head splittingly loud then....LOL.

[Kamakiri]

If it was Chernobyl built set, it would glow in dark!

[Sandy G]

Kewl....Izzit "FM" too, or LW ?

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

I have one transistor set that I know I'll never find another one like, that I would love to repair or have repaired. It works, but the sound is barely audible, even with the radio right to your ear.

Not your normal everyday set though

Is that a real Russian built radio, or a far-east rebadge? I see there's no Russian translation for AM.

[Kamakiri]

It's a real Russian radio, made by TENTO. Bought it on eBay from a guy in Odessa Ukraine, the same town where my ancestors hail from. Advertised as working, got it, it barely worked, but I liked it and it was cheap enough.

I'd like to get one of the VEF Russian radios, if I could justify spending the money on one.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

It's a real Russian radio, made by TENTO. Bought it on eBay from a guy in Odessa Ukraine, the same town where my ancestors hail from. Advertised as working, got it, it barely worked, but I liked it and it was cheap enough.

I'd like to get one of the VEF Russian radios, if I could justify spending the money on one.

I have a VEF12. Is that the one you are refering to! There's an entry about it on " Jon's valve page" from Great Britain. His has English legends, where mine are in Cyrillic. Reading about your Russian radio piqued my interest in trouble-shooting mine yesterday. The switch doesn't close. The volume control is built like the rest of the radio. Big and heavy.

[Kamakiri]

Yep, that's the one. What's your impressions of it?

[Kamakiri]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Kewl....Izzit "FM" too, or LW ?

I'm not sure honestly, as the scale goes from 67-72. Not a really broad range. Probably FM.......

[Sandy G]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

I'm not sure honestly, as the scale goes from 67-72. Not a really broad range. Probably FM.......

Yeah, I THINK that was the Comecon FM band...

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

Yep, that's the one. What's your impressions of it?

Mine has LW,MW,SW 1,2 and 3. No FM. I didn't get it working yet. Mine was built in 1969. Six D flashlite cells. The band selector is built like an old turret TV tuner. It seems to be built very well.