Philips B5g64a - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

robreddog · 3rd Jun 2020, 2:01 pm

Hi, well since i posted on here about wattage of o/c resistor thanks to the great archive here i have up and running the radio,i changed all moulded caps and all but 2 of the electrolitics, did not find a resistor out of tolerance (amazed) but did not change the dual can smoothing capacitor c1,c2, it looks ok so i left it untouched, question ...would you radio men have changed it ?,i do though have a slight hum that really is not too intrusive,i have ordered x and y caps,do we live with this, it is 64 years old after all.
i was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the sound on fm from 88.3 to 100.7 don't get a lot on am and only radio 4 on lw, question... is that par for the coarse ? or do i need to do more work.
the radio had been clattered on the tuning knob assembly which caused me more trouble than anything else and as for the dial cord !, after advice i used dyneema pre stretched fishing line (20lb) cadged from a mate.
best regards
Rob

paulsherwin · 3rd Jun 2020, 2:21 pm

A slight hum isn't unusual in valve radios of that era and doesn't necessarily indicate a fault. It's difficult to say if your hum is excessive without hearing it. There's no need to change the smoothing electrolytic if it's running cool and the hum isn't excessive.

There is a lot less on MW and LW than there used to be, but in most places you should be able to hear TalkSport, Absolute and R5 on MW and R4 and RTÉ R1 on LW, plus maybe a few local commercials. Remember that the ferrite rod aerial is directional and needs to be broadly side on to the transmitter. Some radios allow you to adjust the rod alignment independently of the radio position, while others require you to move the whole radio.

robreddog · 3rd Jun 2020, 2:31 pm

hi,as i say the hum is not to intrusive but i was surprised because with the chassis out and connected to the speaker which was 800mm away on a shelf the radio was totally hum free.

Herald1360 · 3rd Jun 2020, 5:49 pm

Does look like the mains input wiring is tangled in with the speaker wiring. Might be worth a reroute?

3rd Jun 2020, 2:01 pm	#1
robreddog Pentode Join Date: Apr 2020 Location: Derby, Derbyshire, UK. Posts: 195	Philips B5g64a Hi, well since i posted on here about wattage of o/c resistor thanks to the great archive here i have up and running the radio,i changed all moulded caps and all but 2 of the electrolitics, did not find a resistor out of tolerance (amazed) but did not change the dual can smoothing capacitor c1,c2, it looks ok so i left it untouched, question ...would you radio men have changed it ?,i do though have a slight hum that really is not too intrusive,i have ordered x and y caps,do we live with this, it is 64 years old after all. i was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the sound on fm from 88.3 to 100.7 don't get a lot on am and only radio 4 on lw, question... is that par for the coarse ? or do i need to do more work. the radio had been clattered on the tuning knob assembly which caused me more trouble than anything else and as for the dial cord !, after advice i used dyneema pre stretched fishing line (20lb) cadged from a mate. best regards Rob Attached Thumbnails

3rd Jun 2020, 2:21 pm	#2
paulsherwin Moderator Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Oxford, UK Posts: 27,967	Re: Philips B5g64a A slight hum isn't unusual in valve radios of that era and doesn't necessarily indicate a fault. It's difficult to say if your hum is excessive without hearing it. There's no need to change the smoothing electrolytic if it's running cool and the hum isn't excessive. There is a lot less on MW and LW than there used to be, but in most places you should be able to hear TalkSport, Absolute and R5 on MW and R4 and RTÉ R1 on LW, plus maybe a few local commercials. Remember that the ferrite rod aerial is directional and needs to be broadly side on to the transmitter. Some radios allow you to adjust the rod alignment independently of the radio position, while others require you to move the whole radio.

3rd Jun 2020, 2:31 pm	#3
robreddog Pentode Join Date: Apr 2020 Location: Derby, Derbyshire, UK. Posts: 195	Re: Philips B5g64a hi,as i say the hum is not to intrusive but i was surprised because with the chassis out and connected to the speaker which was 800mm away on a shelf the radio was totally hum free.

3rd Jun 2020, 5:49 pm	#4
Herald1360 Dekatron Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK. Posts: 16,536	Re: Philips B5g64a Does look like the mains input wiring is tangled in with the speaker wiring. Might be worth a reroute? __________________ ....__________ ....\|____\|\|__\|__\_____ .=.\| _---\__\|__\|_---_\|. .........O..Chris....O