Care and Feeding of Radios, pls ?

[Steve Green NEPA]

A few questions about those archaic things to which all of us adhere.....

Here, its a re-fitted Hammarlund HQ-180 .... a GE Superradio 2 ..... a Grundig S450 'field radio' .... a wee Radio Shack-job 'Tune-It' AM-SW-FM .... and a Hamilton Beach can opener / AM-FM that came with the place.

Ergo: Is there any sensible way to keep them all operable and behaving, other than hauling them all somewhere for an annual checkup?
A spritz every so often of The Big Bath tuner cleaner helps -- on those older tuning knobs. But I'm afraid to use such electromagnetic napalm on the push-button systems of the portables. Can I use that stuff safely ?
Should portables with both battery-and-wall current usage be kept best plugged into the wall ?
Are oscillator problems that cause the cheaper 'replica' radios (as the wifester uses) which get short-wave stations on AM, permanent ?
Aside from the age of the rig, how soon or often should the owner of a tube-circuit radio check for drying capacitor syndrome, or other aging symptoms like blurry dials, awkward back-tuning with loose dial cords, cooties or other ailments peculiar to seniors?

In summary: How do all you folks generally keep your radios fit and instinctively prepared for ravenous hunting ?

 

[channel99]

Generally the best way to prevent problems is to power the device on occasionally. Older capacitors, in particular, tend to deteriorate if left for long periods without power applied. Move all of the switches and controls thorough their range a few times. You really don't need to add cleaner regularly unless they become scratchy.

However, leaving anything that remains powered on, even partially, while plugged in is not a good idea - either unplug it, or use a switched power strip. If I recall, the HQ-180's kept the RF section tube heaters on at all times to reduce warm-up drift - you really don't want that now on an older unit.

If there is a real oscillator problem, that could be the symptom of most any part failing, however drift at warmup, especially when the radio has not been used for a while, is not uncommon. If it settles down after 15-30 mins, that's OK.

Don't store them in damp, of very humid locations. Anything else really depends upon a particular symptom appearing.

 

[KeithE4]

I don't know if the HQ-180 had this problem, but many Hallicrafters and Hammarlund receivers of the 1950s and '60s suffered from "shorted IF transformer mica syndrome." The capacitors in the IF transformers of many of these units consisted of two pieces of metal with a sheet of mica in between, with the transformer coils connected across them. They would occasionally arc over and the mica would have to be removed, with a fixed capacitor soldered in its place. This happened with my HQ-145, which required (going from memory; it had failed in 1973) a 47 pf mica cap soldered across the primary of the first IF, which only worked on the upper (11-30 MHz) range and was the transformer for the 3300 kHz IF for that band.

 

[channel99]

I don't know if the HQ-180 had this problem, but many Hallicrafters and Hammarlund receivers of the 1950s and '60s suffered from "shorted IF transformer mica syndrome." The capacitors in the IF transformers of many of these units consisted of two pieces of metal with a sheet of mica in between, with the transformer coils connected across them. They would occasionally arc over and the mica would have to be removed, with a fixed capacitor soldered in its place. This happened with my HQ-145, which required (going from memory; it had failed in 1973) a 47 pf mica cap soldered across the primary of the first IF, which only worked on the upper (11-30 MHz) range and was the transformer for the 3300 kHz IF for that band.

Many of those IF transformers were made by Miller I believe, regardless of the radio brand.

 

[Kelly A]

Don't wash them with soap and water. Especially ones that are plugged in.

 

[boombox4]

Turn each one on periodically and use it. The caps won't dry out as quickly. I switch on my Superadios at least once a month or so, and listen to them (or DX with them). Same thing with my older portable, digitally tuned, PLL SW radios. The microprocessor likes to 'see' a voltage so it can initialize quickly. Turning the radio on now and then will keep it running well. If you don't use it for an extended period (like a year or two) it may act wonky until it's turned on and off a couple times. And if they're battery radios, use batteries. Even though radios like Superadios have internal wall-warts, using them with batteries is probably a better idea, as internal adaptors can run higher voltages than nominal, and even though transistor radios can often handle higher voltages than nominal -- they don't like it, and you're asking for problems, especially if the radio is a couple decades old.

I once ran my DX-398 on a 9V wall wart instead of a 6 volter for a few minutes by accident, until I realized I was using the wrong adaptor. The radio didn't blow up. But if I would have run it for an afternoon, it probably would have had a failed component.

 

[MarioMania]

I'm confused of what this topic is about..

 

[frankberry]

I'm confused of what this topic is about..

It's about maintaining aging radio receivers.
I'm moving this thread to the Engineering forum

 

[DavidEduardo]

Don't wash them with soap and water. Especially ones that are plugged in.

And then blow dry and tune for lowest smoke.

 

[boombox4]

I'm confused of what this topic is about..

He wants to know what he can do to make sure his radios continue to play OK as the years go by.

Actually using them -- I think -- is probably the best way to keep them running.