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  • SW, not HAM...

    From Poindexter Fortran@VERT/REALITY to All on Thu Mar 29 11:08:05 2012
    I started working on an old Lloyd's 10-band shortwave radio last night. I bought the radio a couple of summers ago for $5 at an estate sale, couldn't pass it up. About a month after I started using it, the tuning needle stopped working.

    Pic: http://pics.livejournal.com/poindexter/pic/0000k20q/

    When it worked, it was great - with a wire spool antenna I was able to pick up Radio Havana very well.

    The radio frame is made of leather-wrapped wood, and the back came off with 4 screws. There's a HUGE ferrite AM antenna and a lot of real estate to work with. Once I got everything open, used a bit of white lithium grease from my camera kit to lube the tuning gears.

    There's a grain of wheat light bulb illuminating one side of the dial that's burned out, I want to find a replacement before I put it back together. Maybe I could hack in an LED?

    While the case is apart, I went over the outside with simple green and the window with glass cleaner. scraped paint residue off of the knobs, and will give the leather a coating of conditioner. It's nice working on something so well made and meant to be repaired.

    http://pics.livejournal.com/poindexter/pic/0000pr3g

    Last night, I stopped off at Radio Shack; they had a Grundig AM loop antenna for $14.95. It does a great job with my little pocket shortwave unit, which doesn't have an antenna jack. My tabletop SW radio has a mini-jack to plug directly into the antenna, and looking forward to trying it out while direcly connected.

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  • From Phantomrage@VERT/PRS to Poindexter Fortran on Sat Mar 31 12:16:00 2012
    There's a grain of wheat light bulb illuminating one side of the dial that's burned out, I want to find a replacement before I put it back together. Maybe I could hack in an LED?

    First take a VOM and check that the voltage is for the little light. I would bet its around 12 volts.

    I also, find, that LEDS are kinda directional light. So I sand the round tip off the led and sand the sides down to make the light photons spread out more like a filament light.

    Also, leds, are low voltage, and you would need a resistor in line with it.

    here is a great site that goes into detail on LEDs.

    If you knew this already. Sorry for the repeat. http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/components/led.htm







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  • From Deuce@VERT/SYNCNIX to Phantomrage on Mon Apr 2 15:57:31 2012
    Re: Re: SW, not HAM...
    By: Phantomrage to Poindexter Fortran on Sat Mar 31 2012 11:16 am

    There's a grain of wheat light bulb illuminating one side of the dial that's burned out, I want to find a replacement before I put it back together. Maybe I could hack in an LED?

    First take a VOM and check that the voltage is for the little light. I would bet its around 12 volts.

    Also, check if it's AC instead of DC. My rig uses 12VAC for the lamps.

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  • From Phantomrage@VERT/PRS to Deuce on Mon Apr 2 18:10:00 2012
    There's a grain of wheat light bulb illuminating one side of the dial that's burned out, I want to find a replacement before I put it back together. Maybe I could hack in an LED?

    First take a VOM and check that the voltage is for the little light. I would bet its around 12 volts.

    Also, check if it's AC instead of DC. My rig uses 12VAC for the lamps.

    A++ for that. I forgot about that point. Thanks!

    My mind is slipping...









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