UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum - View Single Post

sobell1980 · 18th Nov 2019, 8:55 pm

Hello all, sorry for my sporadic replies on here lately. I do appreciate everyone's input. Work has been commencing on the set. I have now completed the recap, well all the big waxies . I have replaced some perished wiring too along the way. All the electrolytics have been replaced too. You will be pleased to hear the correct rates bulbs have now been fitted and the set was running an hour without blowing the bulbs or seeing them glow intensely every now and again like they did before. I soldered the shunt resistor for the bulbs again and possibly recapping the set may of helped if the bulbs were seeing an occasional high DC from a leaky cap.
I have also found the alignment way, way off. I found the tuning slugs for both IF transformers screwed all the way in. I've set it up on my sig gen by ear for now. I now receive radio 4 on LW, Talk Sport and Absolute radio on MW. Here is the thing, I only get very good reception with a crock clip and lead clipped to the control grid of V1 or the TC connection. This is the same on LW or MW. The set performs tremendously with this lead clipped on to the top connection of V1. On MW I traced back trying the lead in various points. I worked back through both sides of L8 with the lead clipped onto various terminals I was testing. All made the set burst into life. I then moved back to L6 . Clipping my lead onto the S13 side of L6 again made a whopping difference. When I tested the other side of L6 connected to R2, no difference, the set can just be heard as quiet as a mouse. Move back to s13 side of L6, bursts loudly into life. The same happens on LW but I've not gone across the LW coils with my test lead yet. When I was aligning the set by ear, I connected the test leads of the sig gen to sockets A and E and nothing could be heard. Also connecting a length of wire to the aerial socket makes no difference. Only probing from S13 side of L6 through to CG of valve 1 will burst the set into life. Could it be an AVC issue? I thought this because its across all wavebands. Could I disconnect R2 to see if it is AVC issue? Any thoughts or to make me think in the right direction would be very grateful.
Very best
Dave.

18th Nov 2019, 8:55 pm	#27
sobell1980 Octode Join Date: May 2011 Location: Bromyard, Herefordshire, UK. Posts: 1,241	Re: Ekco U49 restoration Hello all, sorry for my sporadic replies on here lately. I do appreciate everyone's input. Work has been commencing on the set. I have now completed the recap, well all the big waxies . I have replaced some perished wiring too along the way. All the electrolytics have been replaced too. You will be pleased to hear the correct rates bulbs have now been fitted and the set was running an hour without blowing the bulbs or seeing them glow intensely every now and again like they did before. I soldered the shunt resistor for the bulbs again and possibly recapping the set may of helped if the bulbs were seeing an occasional high DC from a leaky cap. I have also found the alignment way, way off. I found the tuning slugs for both IF transformers screwed all the way in. I've set it up on my sig gen by ear for now. I now receive radio 4 on LW, Talk Sport and Absolute radio on MW. Here is the thing, I only get very good reception with a crock clip and lead clipped to the control grid of V1 or the TC connection. This is the same on LW or MW. The set performs tremendously with this lead clipped on to the top connection of V1. On MW I traced back trying the lead in various points. I worked back through both sides of L8 with the lead clipped onto various terminals I was testing. All made the set burst into life. I then moved back to L6 . Clipping my lead onto the S13 side of L6 again made a whopping difference. When I tested the other side of L6 connected to R2, no difference, the set can just be heard as quiet as a mouse. Move back to s13 side of L6, bursts loudly into life. The same happens on LW but I've not gone across the LW coils with my test lead yet. When I was aligning the set by ear, I connected the test leads of the sig gen to sockets A and E and nothing could be heard. Also connecting a length of wire to the aerial socket makes no difference. Only probing from S13 side of L6 through to CG of valve 1 will burst the set into life. Could it be an AVC issue? I thought this because its across all wavebands. Could I disconnect R2 to see if it is AVC issue? Any thoughts or to make me think in the right direction would be very grateful. Very best Dave. Last edited by sobell1980; 18th Nov 2019 at 9:00 pm.