0:00 Intro 0:56 First look inside & power up on power supply 2:21 Checking the simple things first 4:09 Doing some signal tracing of the audio section 6:35 Finding the fault at the preamp transistor 16:55 Making the repair 24:15 Testing the repair 25:42 Radio is back together - Another problem!! Back to the drawing board.... 27:49 Troubleshooting the second fault 44:08 Second fault is found - making the repair 49:07 Testing the second repair 50:19 Final test - end of part 1
As kids in the 60's we grabbed our sleeping bags and tuned all night for long distance AM radio stations. It was a Norelco AM radio, and the sensitivity and selectivity was better than anything I'd seen before. We also saw three satellites pass over that night. Not as much pollution back then. Course we slept all the next day! ha.
I love this radio, it's easy and fun to use and you will enjoy it, it is very sensitive on all bands. Mine is the Japanese version (Cougar 2200, FM band is Japanese), the band switches can cause trouble but soaking them with contact cleaner solves this, I had to spray all the switches (band switches, BFO, markers). The BFO tends to drift the first 5 minutes (it is noted in the user manual), after that it will get stable. I had C182 (2200uf/10V) very leaky which started draining the battery, checking the capacitors is in order but I would not shotgun it if not needed. Your radio had the lower light out and you will need to align the upper dial because it looked very much out in the end of the video. How did the corrosion got to the switch block? vapors, not only the batteries leak their acid inside the radio, but vapors from the acid can reach very deep inside. Best Wishes, Moshe.
Small chime in, Tony. My 2200 as I mentioned on part 2 of this series had a marginal working AM Section as far as sensitivity went. Believe it or not it was being caused by the FM AFC/BW on off switch making poor contact! Thought it might help other viewers. These radios are good keepers..........
Hi Tony, Great Video ! Almost the exact same problem on mine. I had FM but no AM. Your video helped me trace it down to the BFO switch. Its working now !!! Just have to figure out why the lights are not getting voltage and put it back together. Many thanks Sir......
Great troubleshooting there Tony! These kind of repairs can be needed on just about any older vintage radios where ever you find them. Nice to have the schematics on this radio! From the looks of the rust covered switches this radio was either left out in the rain , was a seaside home radio, or taken on a fishing trip once too often. I doubt any battery corrosion would have gotten there as the part is too far away from acidic corrosion and there was none found between it and the battery compartment . As a general rule however batteries left inside for years will eventually just about ruin some parts of any portable radio. Good thing you had a spare parts chassis! Looking forward to part 2!
I really enjoyed this video because your troubleshooting skills are excellent and you were able to track down a corroded trace and corroded switches. Bringing this radio back to life was really awesome to see. (Lucky you had spare parts!) You are so correct in saying that people really should remove their batteries from these portable radios (or whatever) when they are not in use. Well done, keep up the good work!
Nice job troubleshooting. I have a 2200 that just had the problem with the switches. They didn't have the degradation of yours but still needed to be cleaned
Interesting vid Tony. My guess is that someone cleaned the switches with something they thought was contact cleaner (WD40?) - I mean, since the switches are at the top the batteries would not have leaked upwards (or maybe I missed something :/)
I would have thought that battery leakage would have been all over the place to have gotten into those switches as bad are you sure that wasn't salt water or something else ? the immediate area on the PCB was untouched, great video....cheers.
Battery corrosion ate the PC board up and there is no doubt there, but the switches are too close to the outside front and too high up for battery induced corrosion. This radio was probably left out in the rain ( even one day ) and that would have destroyed the switches.
Interesting that it has an unusual analog meter ~ the signal strength scale is inverted (10>0) and is an upright bottom pivot style - the needle [traditionally] resets to the left, so it pegs to the right with no tuned signal, and if a staton is tuned into, it resets at 10. It is also a multi-meter and indicates battery level so is it simultaneously indicating both battery & tuning, without the need for a changeover switch?
The battery corrosion is potassium hydroxide - alkali , not acid. The vinegar is an organic acid which turns the alkali to salt - carbonate which ca easily be removed. Good logical fault finding nevertheless :-)
you could probably repair that old switch using something like a record/play slide switch from a scrap cassette or similar. Those slide switches use contacts that look very similar to your switch
Hi Tony I hope you do not mind me asking, but do you or anyone in the subscribers know where I could find a schematic for a Panasonic RF-D1 radio? All I have found is a manual which doesn’t include one. If anyone knows of any sites I would be very grateful. Dave from the UK many thanks in advance I love the channel by the way.
It doesn’t make any sense that the switches were damaged by the batteries. Nothing else around them has any corrosion. I think it is more likely that someone sprayed something into the switches that was corrosive.
0:00 Intro
0:56 First look inside & power up on power supply
2:21 Checking the simple things first
4:09 Doing some signal tracing of the audio section
6:35 Finding the fault at the preamp transistor
16:55 Making the repair
24:15 Testing the repair
25:42 Radio is back together - Another problem!! Back to the drawing board....
27:49 Troubleshooting the second fault
44:08 Second fault is found - making the repair
49:07 Testing the second repair
50:19 Final test - end of part 1
As kids in the 60's we grabbed our sleeping bags and tuned all night for long distance AM radio stations. It was a Norelco AM radio, and the sensitivity and selectivity was better than anything I'd seen before. We also saw three satellites pass over that night. Not as much pollution back then. Course we slept all the next day! ha.
Morning coffee and XRayTonyB….can’t think of any better way to start the day 😊 Thanks for all the fun 😃
I love this radio, it's easy and fun to use and you will enjoy it, it is very sensitive on all bands.
Mine is the Japanese version (Cougar 2200, FM band is Japanese), the band switches can cause trouble but soaking them with contact cleaner solves this, I had to spray all the switches (band switches, BFO, markers).
The BFO tends to drift the first 5 minutes (it is noted in the user manual), after that it will get stable.
I had C182 (2200uf/10V) very leaky which started draining the battery, checking the capacitors is in order but I would not shotgun it if not needed.
Your radio had the lower light out and you will need to align the upper dial because it looked very much out in the end of the video.
How did the corrosion got to the switch block? vapors, not only the batteries leak their acid inside the radio, but vapors from the acid can reach very deep inside.
Best Wishes,
Moshe.
Small chime in, Tony. My 2200 as I mentioned on part 2 of this series had a marginal working AM Section as far as sensitivity went. Believe it or not it was being caused by the FM AFC/BW on off switch making poor contact! Thought it might help other viewers. These radios are good keepers..........
Hi Tony,
Great Video ! Almost the exact same problem on mine. I had FM but no AM. Your video helped me trace it down to the BFO switch. Its working now !!! Just have to figure out why the lights are not getting voltage and put it back together. Many thanks Sir......
Great troubleshooting there Tony! These kind of repairs can be needed on just about any older vintage radios where ever
you find them. Nice to have the schematics on this radio! From the looks of the rust covered switches this radio was either
left out in the rain , was a seaside home radio, or taken on a fishing trip once too often. I doubt any battery corrosion would have gotten there as the part is too far away from acidic corrosion and there was none found between it and the battery compartment . As a general rule however batteries left inside for years will eventually just about ruin some parts of any portable radio. Good thing you had a spare parts chassis! Looking forward to part 2!
What a neat radio. Super interesting when you go through the schematics.
I really enjoyed this video because your troubleshooting skills are excellent and you were able to track down a corroded trace and corroded switches. Bringing this radio back to life was really awesome to see. (Lucky you had spare parts!) You are so correct in saying that people really should remove their batteries from these portable radios (or whatever) when they are not in use. Well done, keep up the good work!
That’s a really nice radio. Haven’t come across it before, but it made me miss my grundig satellit series restorations.
Nice job troubleshooting. I have a 2200 that just had the problem with the switches. They didn't have the degradation of yours but still needed to be cleaned
Watching this at 2-00am uk time tony,great video,
Wow a Fantastic Pangalactic Panasonic.. Great work so far Tony.
Something different, thanks Tony.👍
Tony it's nice to see you doing something for yourself for a change :-D
Interesting vid Tony. My guess is that someone cleaned the switches with something they thought was contact cleaner (WD40?) - I mean, since the switches are at the top the batteries would not have leaked upwards (or maybe I missed something :/)
I would have thought that battery leakage would have been all over the place to have gotten into those switches as bad are you sure that wasn't salt water or something else ? the immediate area on the PCB was untouched, great video....cheers.
Battery corrosion ate the PC board up and there is no doubt there, but the switches are too close to the outside
front and too high up for battery induced corrosion. This radio was probably left out in the rain ( even one day )
and that would have destroyed the switches.
Interesting that it has an unusual analog meter ~ the signal strength scale is inverted (10>0) and is an upright bottom pivot style - the needle [traditionally] resets to the left, so it pegs to the right with no tuned signal, and if a staton is tuned into, it resets at 10. It is also a multi-meter and indicates battery level so is it simultaneously indicating both battery & tuning, without the need for a changeover switch?
Nice work Tony, looking forward to part two. Thanks.
LOL of course the AM station that you found was the Maranatha guru guy!!!
Those three switches on my recently bought ebay RF2200 have the same problem. Achilles heel seems correct.
I had to cut this short and go listen to "Leave it" from Yes such a good song
The battery corrosion is potassium hydroxide - alkali , not acid. The vinegar is an organic acid which turns the alkali to salt - carbonate which ca easily be removed. Good logical fault finding nevertheless :-)
Those are nice clean schematics Tony. Did you print those yourself or buy them online? Thanks
I printed them myself.
I would have tried repairing the trace. Running a wire is a much better idea.
LOL your radio sounds like R2D2 met the Klingons
Looks similar to one of those Reader's Digest radios.
you could probably repair that old switch using something like a record/play slide switch from a scrap cassette or similar. Those slide switches use contacts that look very similar to your switch
Hi Tony I hope you do not mind me asking, but do you or anyone in the subscribers know where I could find a schematic for a Panasonic RF-D1 radio? All I have found is a manual which doesn’t include one. If anyone knows of any sites I would be very grateful. Dave from the UK many thanks in advance I love the channel by the way.
I've got one of these in excellent cosmetic condition, but no power at all with either the AC or the batteries 😕
Super!
"Downtown they're giving away
But she never came back"
FYI: 419C-55ML is obsolete. I am guessing from what I read that 419D-55ML is the replacement?
Another Opening, Another Show -- Kiss Me, Kate.
People never learn to remove batteries when not using the radio for a long time or if it's stored away for years.
Yes!
Yes
Leave It- Yes
It doesn’t make any sense that the switches were damaged by the batteries. Nothing else around them has any corrosion. I think it is more likely that someone sprayed something into the switches that was corrosive.
It would be nice if you told us actual time for repairs,I do some repairs and some little repairs can take hours.I
The Song is Yes- Leave it.
Leave It. Yes
Great session! Enjoyed watching and learning.Thanks!