This may get lengthy too! (VHF90C)
 

Hello all & welcome to my odd, leaded solder-induced little tale of a set named "Ol' Smokey" due to the result of the Hunts cap-related incident that had led to my taking him apart. (SWMBO will not allow this anthropomorphism any longer, not since "George W" [DAC90A] allegedly gave her a belt of mains. From now I must not assign Human characteristics or gender to inanimate objects. :censored: :-] )

Anyhow, after a rather more comprehensive overhaul than first projected (aren't they all), the set is running well. And so he, sorry, "it" chuffin' well ought to be. I simply replaced every waxie and that dreaded Hunts with brand new polypropylene jobbies, including the one that is hidden beneath the volume pot, which of course I only spotted as I was preparing to re-attach the volume pot and its bracket to the end of the chassis! That's me to a tee, that is.
A couple of the dropper segments were replaced with spares from the box of :censored: that lives in the hut, all valves replaced with known strong ones and only five resistors throughout the set required substituting with new.
That little lot has taken me a good few weeks since first I posted a thread about this set that, confusingly, shares its model number with an am/fm set of more conventional appearance. Limited grip, stamina and ability to stay awake got in the way a bit too, but this little set has been with me since I was much younger and I am rather fond of it.

Long story short:
Having satisfied myself that the set would not behave as though a new Pope had just been elected, I powered it up (Cheers Mr BBC Commentator for turning the word "power" into a verb) using the lamp limiter and as the device warmed up he, oops, it had obviously forgotten the words as all it did was hum! :'(
The mains smoothing caps were left alone as, pre-refit, the set had shown a remarkable lack of hum for an untouched ac/dc set. Perhaps my regular use of the set had not preserved the caps as first assumed? No, something else was afoot here, after double-checking all the new soldered joints and noting that the pitch of the hum didn't seem to be 50Hz when compared to my almost new Ferguson clock/radio that hums like a :censored: and has done so always. I hadn't missed any dodgy caps, had I? No, as it happens, as I discovered when I accidentally nudged the UF89 (V4 on the Bush cct diagram) nearest to the smoothing can. All of a sudden I have a set that sounds better now than ever before, no hum and I mean none that's audible even at low bedside volume at night! (panic not, I have it plugged in through a timer that only gives it 45 minutes then shuts it down even if I'm asleep) So those ancient smoothing caps live on.

OK, what have I to hide? Why are there no pics emblazoned all over "Success Stories"? :-[ Well, the set wasn't that dirty and the grille cloth didn't come up 100% like new after gentle washing, so basically my Ol' Smokey (:-X ) still looks like an old radio. I always run him (Oh what the :censored: ) with a slim, microwave oven/sewing machine-style bulb behind the dial so there wasn't even anything interesting like a burned scale to sort out.

The bits I used are brand new and as such probably would deter some when compared to the brilliant recreated period caps etc. that some of you make.

Oh, and the camera's :censored: at the moment due to my failure to buy a firmware flash from a reputable source! :wall:

Tomorrow I shop! Tonight I'll enjoy my little Bush, not smart enough to be called a success in the way of those beautifully refurbished sets that appear in "Success Stories", but preserved for now.

Which leaves me free to make a big push on the backlog of sets that don't actually live here but are passing through. :blah:

It's ok, you can all come back now, I'm off. :)