Earlyish Pocket Tranny PYE P202BQ

[Herald1360]

I have an interesting little set to repair (from a local repair cafe this morning). It's missing its badge and any identification markings.

The tuning dial only shows MW markings but it does have a LW range though not clear whether it's full coverage or just around 1500m.

Batteries are "N" type which is a bit unusual (not to say pricey) but the set in there is new. It's not dead and can pick up a couple of MW stations albeit very faintly. Volume control seems to have little if any effect.

It's a six transistor transformer coupled P-P output setup.

A trawl through RM for UK sets 1958-1964 identified it- now I just have to breathe some life back into it!

[Mike. Watterson]

N type are cheap in packs with two other kinds in bargain stores.
Duracell are x3 overpriced at least here.

[GeoffK]

The volume control slider or track might be worn out, try shorting across the volume control tags.

[linescan87]

Hi, I did a red one of these a while ago. Funnily enough mine was also missing its badge. LW is indeed a 1500M present, though adjustable.

[paulsherwin]

Originally Posted by Mike. Watterson

N type are cheap in packs with two other kinds in bargain stores.

Yes, Poundland stock them for some strange reason.

[Mike. Watterson]

Originally Posted by paulsherwin

Yes, Poundland stock them for some strange reason.

Dealz here is the Irish branding. The only store with Sterling play money. Everyone else has the Euro play money
The small 12V cell in the pack for wireless doorbells and ancient keyfobs that don't take a lithium coin cell.

I can't think of anything I've seen in 30 years that uses the N. Though I have because they are cheap.

[Herald1360]

Originally Posted by GeoffK

The volume control slider or track might be worn out, try shorting across the volume control tags.

It seemed to be open circuit in situ, but after removing from the PCB it checked out OK, swinging 0-5k-ish from both ends to the wiper. Haven't refitted it yet.

Shorting across its tags looks like it would upset the AGC/bias to the first IF.

[GeoffK]

Originally Posted by Herald1360

Shorting across its tags looks like it would upset the AGC/bias to the first IF.

Should have wrote 'short between volume control input tag and slider tag', bypassing the volume control to give full volume. A resistor of around 470 Ohms could be used as a shorting link to spare the audio amplifier stage from going to full volume and still show if the control was faulty. Shorting across these tags would maintained AGC.

[simpsons]

You might be interested in that Tim nonode, of this esteemed forum, offered an insight into repairing his PYE P201BQ.

The P201BQ looks identical to the P202BQ except for its black leather case.

Chris

[linescan87]

Chris, it's interesting to note that both our radios have the Pye badge missing and have been covered up the same way. I can only think of two reasons for this.
1:Pye ran out of badges during the production run.(unlikely)
2:The radios were de-badged and sold third party.

I'd be interested to hear others opinions on this.

I had to replace all the electrolytics in mine, there's 5 in total if I remember correctly.

[Herald1360]

This little set is now singing nicely. It's quite lively for such a small thing- it must have been a real treat for its first owner who would have paid something like £225 in today's money for it.


The fix was the same as for linescan87- replace all the electrolytics. Only one of the originals looked passable on a peak ESR tester, three simply weren't detected as components (open circuit I guess) and the fifth looked suspiciously high on capacitance.


I've attached a few more pics of the insides- it looks rather under engineered from the number of components trailing across the track side of the PCB. Maybe the PC layout draughtsman was over-challenged to get it all onto a single sided board!


I had a poke about for N cells- cheapest I could find were about 80p so a replacement set isn't too bad, though I doubt they'll last very long. At an hour a day, maybe a month?

[julie_m]

N size cells are available in NiMH, though capacity is a bit low at just 500mAh. Or you could use a single lithium-ion cell if you can find one of a suitable size for the set. A standard vape battery probably will fit.

[linescan87]

Great stuff, glad it's sorted. Yes I find mine quite lively especially after dark, no problem picking up the UK stations. Bit fiddly too work on though..