Youngest restorer yet - Printable Version

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Youngest restorer yet - skyscraper - 03-02-2014

Or at least in serious contention

My 10 year old brother and I finished his first radio last night. It is a Crosley 58TK that a gentleman gave him as we were leaving the Atlanta meet. We started on it because it was already mostly recapped, I thought it would be a good introduction.

We replaced a capacitor, the speaker, some wiring, a tube, the knobs and missing antenna mounts. Reflowed a solder joint and restrung the tuner, and it came to life. It sounds decent, for a regular aa5 with small speaker. The sensitivity is good as well, we were able to listen to New York, Toronto and Nashville.

He's hooked. We'll start on the 38-12 this week.

[Image: https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-o3AR4xtSq3Y/UxOCyhJ_SkI/AAAAAAAACLs/HMRpGDXUX5c/s640/DSC_7986.JPG]

[Image: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-LNN0d14DYPM/UxOCsWYLEUI/AAAAAAAACLk/JAJIkhVL32A/s640/DSCN3155.JPG]

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RE: Youngest restorer yet - morzh - 03-02-2014

My son has seen me restoring a lot. I gave him a radio kit a year plus ago.
So far he is not too interested.
I guess two EEs in succession in one family is enough....he will grow up to be some (shrug) humanities major.
(I got hooked when I turned 8).

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RE: Youngest restorer yet - exray - 03-02-2014

Bravo!

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RE: Youngest restorer yet - jerryhawthorne - 03-02-2014

Wish I could get my grandsons interested. They just look and wonder why. Mostly interested in computers and social networks. Sad. Seems to be a couple of generation gaps here.
I love the smile on his face. Great work.
Jerry

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RE: Youngest restorer yet - Ron Ramirez - 03-02-2014

That's great!

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RE: Youngest restorer yet - morzh - 03-02-2014

It is an AA5 too, the dangerous kind.

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RE: Youngest restorer yet - TA Forbes - 03-02-2014

That is outstanding, Will! BZ !!!!!

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RE: Youngest restorer yet - skyscraper - 03-02-2014

Thanks everyone! It's really a blessing to have such a willing student. I'll have to get him a working transmitter before he loses interest, though. We have four (!) bloody sports stations in Columbia.. Beyond that, two gospel stations and one questionable and one half solid talk.

There are some interesting stations after dark, but something in our house is generating terrible interference. It switches on for 50 or so seconds, off for 30, then back on. Nearly wipes out the dial from 600-1100kc. It's driving me crazy trying to find it. It isn't the obvious sources like the TV, appliances, device chargers, or the wireless fence. Mystery for another day.

Morzh - Yes it is an aa5, but the chassis isn't (very) hot, there's a low value coupling capacitor to it. That was the first thing I made sure of, and double checked with a dvm plugged in either way. I think it's safe enough to play out of the cabinet, but we avoided touching metal anyway.

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RE: Youngest restorer yet - morzh - 03-02-2014

If the interference is only after dark, should be easy - think of all you turn on after dark.

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RE: Youngest restorer yet - Eliot Ness - 03-02-2014

Good job! We need more young folks getting interested in old radios.

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RE: Youngest restorer yet - Ron Ramirez - 03-03-2014

We certainly do!

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RE: Youngest restorer yet - PhilcoJohn - 03-03-2014

Thats great to hear! Someone young and special interested in our hoby and forum! Thats what I like to hear..WELCOME!

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RE: Youngest restorer yet - Conelrad - 03-04-2014

Hi Will,

It is really great to see & hear of your 'electronic exploits'.

I started getting into the insides of radios in grade school, and got my first pay from a radio station doing engineering at 11.

Your care package here has grown considerably, will prolly morph into two boxes.

Stay tuned.

Dennis

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RE: Youngest restorer yet - palegreenthumb - 03-04-2014

Awesome! Wish I had a photo of my 13y.o. daughter's smile when together we reassembled a GE clock radio after a 'simple' cleaning (we had the tuning condensor off the chassis). We turned it on, and it sounded noticeably better than before. She was psyched, and her smile... it looked very similar to your brother's!

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RE: Youngest restorer yet - Alan Douglas - 03-04-2014

Quote:Wish I could get my grandsons interested.

You're born that way, or not. I was taking stuff apart and building things before I was 5. Raiding trash cans on the way from school too. Seemed normal to me, but not to anyone else.

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