Does the old gear stay old?
 

Hello all,

I am restoring some old tube radios and I and wondering if improvements should be made beyond the original equipment state. I am thinking of two upgrades.

One could put a phase-lock-loop under the chassis which would stop old sets from drifting. There would be nothing added to the front panel.

One could also swap out the envelop detector for a product detector to make for better SSB reception.

These improvements would be out-of-sight and out-of-mind. The set would just perform better and probably enjoy more use.

Any thoughts?

Depends. If the radios in question are rather common, I doubt it. But if the radio in question is something like my 1935 RCA AR-60, w/6 known survivors, maybe not. In any case, you should likely write out a description of what you did, & tape/affix it inside the radio so future owners can see what you did..

I don't think selenium rectifiers should be kept in anything, regardless of rarity. When those go belly-up, you'll have a heck of a time getting the smell out of everything.

No Kiddin'..I had a stinkpot go bad in an E.H. Scott 800-B, liked to NEVER have got the horrible Rotten Eggs smell outta The Ships' Radio Room..

Hmm... I have been thinking, for the preservation of original appearance, perhaps the seleniums could be left in there but NOT hooked up and modern replacements wired in underneath the chassis. Also, note the changes as Sandy said, and of course state why these mods were done.

Unless it's rare and great, I myself care only about functionality and neatness....

Same here really. I would only go for the most reliable cap replacements should any of mine fail, and as my sets don't use any actual cans, the replacements would be pretty obvious, especially if they're a different color.

I should add that I have nothing that is either rare or great :)

I have a personal rule as well, that if it's unrepairable, it goes. If I have it a year and I haven't worked on it to some extent, it goes. If it works but I haven't used it in over a year.....well, you get the idea. Keeps me from getting packed in :)

Ha, neither do I. Great to me though, which is perfectly fine.

I haven't even worked on any of my sets, I'm lacking in tools and space. Also, three of my sets were plug-and-play. It's only the XL-100 that has issues. Anything that's unrepairable for me would be ratted for parts. I have stuff that got here last year that's still in shipping boxes, sealed! Even if I don't use something for a long time it stays, I'm just kind of picky about what I'll take.

I have an RCA AR-60 the set that supposedly, Amelia Aerhardt's Last Transmissions were heard on in '37..

G'day all, I have an old RSGB book that talks about one chap's efforts to replace most of his old Eddystone receiver's valve stages with field effect transistors.

Apparently it was quite straightforward to do (in most, but not all stages), and improved the receiver overall. Regards, Felix (vk4fuq) aka catman.

Hi Kamakiri,

I am dressing up a Hallicrafters 160. Not rare, not great, but cool looking. I am planning on hiding a DDS freq. stabilizer under the chassis. Not a big deal, just a few wires. See http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=27366

I have an old Hammarlund SW receiver too, but I don't think I will do anyting except paint and clean it.

Steve