07-26-2014, 02:32 PM
Hi ! First, let me introduce myself. I am a retired EE. I began to collect antique radios when I was 12 years old, a half century ago. My current project is a 48-482. You can see a before picture of it in the table radios forum.
I bought the radio on eBay, and got it for what I consider a very reasonable price, perhaps because the shipping cost was a bit high, but, considering the weight of the radio, and how well the unit was packed, I have to say the shipping was very reasonable. On receiving it, after carefully unpacking it and vacuuming out as many styrofoam bits as I could find, I assessed the condition. Cosmetically the case looked quite good, and the interior looked surprisingly good. I then gave it the acid test... try it out. I know, I know... there are going to be a few of you who will cringe at that, but, let me assure you I was watching the 5Y3 the whole time, and the plates stayed nice and black. I learned that trick a half century ago.
Anyway, the radio actually played pretty well considering it is unmolested. It even has the original "line cord antenna" as shown in the Rider schematic. On AM and SW it picks up quite a few stations. I live in Providence and it was receiving WOR New York in the daytime no problem, which is kind of a test I have to see if an AM radio is basically working OK.
FM is another kettle of fish. It seems to only be able to receive one station on the band, and that with a great deal of distortion. I have tested all the tubes and found only 2 weak ones. I have laid in replacements for those. I have also bought replacements for every capacitor in the radio. A few of the paper ones look "iffy"... and I may as well do the lot... the electrolytics I replace as a matter of course on a radio this age. I laid in micas for the tiny values, but will only replace them if all else fails, they usually stay pretty well. All the resistors appear fine... we will see after I replace the caps what happens.
Wish me luck, this should be fun !
I bought the radio on eBay, and got it for what I consider a very reasonable price, perhaps because the shipping cost was a bit high, but, considering the weight of the radio, and how well the unit was packed, I have to say the shipping was very reasonable. On receiving it, after carefully unpacking it and vacuuming out as many styrofoam bits as I could find, I assessed the condition. Cosmetically the case looked quite good, and the interior looked surprisingly good. I then gave it the acid test... try it out. I know, I know... there are going to be a few of you who will cringe at that, but, let me assure you I was watching the 5Y3 the whole time, and the plates stayed nice and black. I learned that trick a half century ago.
Anyway, the radio actually played pretty well considering it is unmolested. It even has the original "line cord antenna" as shown in the Rider schematic. On AM and SW it picks up quite a few stations. I live in Providence and it was receiving WOR New York in the daytime no problem, which is kind of a test I have to see if an AM radio is basically working OK.
FM is another kettle of fish. It seems to only be able to receive one station on the band, and that with a great deal of distortion. I have tested all the tubes and found only 2 weak ones. I have laid in replacements for those. I have also bought replacements for every capacitor in the radio. A few of the paper ones look "iffy"... and I may as well do the lot... the electrolytics I replace as a matter of course on a radio this age. I laid in micas for the tiny values, but will only replace them if all else fails, they usually stay pretty well. All the resistors appear fine... we will see after I replace the caps what happens.
Wish me luck, this should be fun !
