I was in the USAF and also worked jointly for the NSA in Ft. Meade Md back in the 70’s and 80’s and we monitored quite a few numbers stations although most were in Morse code. They are all basically all the same, morse or voice. They all use a five character group and usually don’t ever repeat. It you ever did get one to repeat, at least back then, that was a pretty big deal. My understanding was they all were pretty much based on plaintext combined with a one-time pad cypher (just a book of random numbers) that both sides had to have a copy of the book to decrypt. Because most all the stations were static, it was simple to find out exactly where they were broadcasting from but you never knew who was receiving them. (Some, not all, were found using direction finding to be coming from military headquarters in some countries) Now at the time I was working with these signals, our understanding was that it was a fairly secure way to send broadcasts to agents in other countries but they were also thought to be used by traffickers in just about anything. Some of the pretty famous ones were in the asia side of the world but cuba was also pretty big on their use also.
It's annoying when you have to not only repair the radio but also repair someone else's attempts. Hopefully new and existing videos like this will guide newcomers in their repair attempts. Cheers,
It's nice to see someone else be critical about tubes and properly installed/replaced caps! Also good to hear you mention about some folks being panzy-assed about using safety caps too lol I use what I have available as long as the voltage can handle the circuit. There are times I do use them but it's honestly doesn't matter as far as them being safety caps, it more pertains to the voltage handling. You do real nice work, and thanks for the videos!
I agree. Even the cheapest caps now days far supersede the quality of caps originally used in these sets by the manufacturer. As long as you use basic common sense, they'll be fine.
What a great radio, and rare to have the original grill cloth in such great condition. I restored that same model several years ago and not only is the radio an excellent performer, it's got incredibly powerful bass response for it's size. Nice work!
That's a cool old radio. Love the circular dial. I am planning on repairing my 1940 rogers majestic am/sw radio. Your videos are giving me good knowledge and a bit more confidence to attempt it.
Band conditions have been pretty bad the last couple months for sure, But that Philco radio sounds great for being as old as it is. Thanks for sharing.
I feel your pain.....I actually have a 37-630 on my bench right now it is a console model. I found several differences in the radio vs. the schematic. I disassembled the RF section to changed those two paper caps. I wish I had know about the "trick" that you demonstrated. I also changed several broken wires. The 11 tab terminal strip on the side of the chassis had two broken tabs so I replaced it. I have so little experience on radio repair as I never had any one teach me this stuff. Just a mid life crises I started a few years back. So I hope I can get all those wires back to the correct position and tabs. Wish me lots of luck. and God bless.
Take pictures with your phone before you take anything apart. Also label each wire with a number from left to right so you remember where it goes . Good luck bud.
As someone has said, the 'old guy' is 'Brother Stair' - he roams the electronic wilderness of the short wave bands. I don't know if he is still doing his thing, or whether these are just endless repeats - he is pretty strange to be sure. There is a Numbers station referred to as the 'no-nines' lady - something is wrong with the voice encoder being used, and if you listen you never hear her use the number nine (nueve). I think the one-time codes are basically un-bustable, even today.
Thumbs Up, Keep up the longer Band Scans, I love it, one of the major reasons I watch your videos, if some people snivel about it they can go pound Sand. You have my vote on this. Anyway a Boss Job indeed with this radio, You Rock, Lets Go Brandon.....
In 1937 shortwave was interesting because it's just before WWII. Then during WWII shortwave propaganda was interesting lessening and you could also pickup WWII pilot conversations.
Picking up world war 2 pilots ,must of Been fun to listen to,I just. Sent for a radio that pick up air port pilots ,I live less then a mile from a small airport.
Back when these were new,they were MUCH more interesting SW was one of the only long distance communications. Police used around 160m (2 megahertz range) and SW broadcast lined the bands. Now you're lucky to hear a few SW stations and a few commercial aircraft on sideband.
I have a 1937 Philco just like the on that you pointed to on the shelf. There are 3 beige wires that go to the speaker. My German Shepherd chewed it when she was a puppy, about 18 months ago. This radio had no back on it, but it has been restored. They all look the same but I'm sure they may have different functions, not just for the speaker.
They were probably different colors 80 years ago. Since the electromagnetic on the speaker is part of the power supply circuit, those wires carry the high voltage for the whole radio. You definitely wouldn't want to have them short or connect them incorrectly. Good thing the radio wasn't on when puppy chewed them!
Congratulations on the video, I have a national sw54 and I was able to capture this station that is transmitting number, you know where this station is? I'm a fan of your channel, a big hug here from BRAZIL🇧🇷
Nice job on that Philco. I've got the same radio, but it needs to be serviced. I can only hope it'll perform as nice as yours once it's up and running again. Where did you get the replacement rubber parts kit and how much did it cost? That dial seems to be in great shape for its age. I wouldn't think it needs to be replaced, but I guess it's not perfect, is it? Regards, Tom
It is amazing that you can repair these. I have a 1947 Plaskon that was refurbished like brand new. I have a 1954 philco plastic red model 170B5. It comes on but the volume is loud and it doesn’t pick up any stations. I can control the volume. Any thoughts on what might cause that? What state do you live in?
How about the most stinky,selium rectifyers,or the worst caps bumble bombs .everyone I have seen either blown up or a crack running down the side,I can't believe people resell those pieces of crap,I throw those out,I sure wouldnt resell them,he'll I have 1950 ,s tube portable zenith, It has the worst access to replace the power cord,I have ever seen ,it had a bunch of bumble bomb capciators, ,it has a selium rectifyer,I offer to give this radio away,to anyone who wants to pick it up.
Why does Philco put some of there caps in the most ockward places? I have a tombstone Philco that I have to finish and I know I'm gonna have to use the ice pick tip on the soldering iron to get to a couple of the caps on it.
If it is available, I would be interested in it. I am going to be in the Charlotte area around Christmas time. I am planning on starting my own channel in February and it would be something I would like to do a video on. Just aquirred a Sony AV-8650 to go with it. I am not sure how to send you a private message on here.
That religious guy is brother Stair....and he is all over the place........I thought he got involved with someone in his church and they took his ability to transmit away..I thought............
I was in the USAF and also worked jointly for the NSA in Ft. Meade Md back in the 70’s and 80’s and we monitored quite a few numbers stations although most were in Morse code. They are all basically all the same, morse or voice. They all use a five character group and usually don’t ever repeat. It you ever did get one to repeat, at least back then, that was a pretty big deal. My understanding was they all were pretty much based on plaintext combined with a one-time pad cypher (just a book of random numbers) that both sides had to have a copy of the book to decrypt. Because most all the stations were static, it was simple to find out exactly where they were broadcasting from but you never knew who was receiving them. (Some, not all, were found using direction finding to be coming from military headquarters in some countries) Now at the time I was working with these signals, our understanding was that it was a fairly secure way to send broadcasts to agents in other countries but they were also thought to be used by traffickers in just about anything. Some of the pretty famous ones were in the asia side of the world but cuba was also pretty big on their use also.
Buddy Martin wow thanks for that amazing info
It's annoying when you have to not only repair the radio but also repair someone else's attempts. Hopefully new and existing videos like this will guide newcomers in their repair attempts.
Cheers,
Amen, some are painful to watch.
It's nice to see someone else be critical about tubes and properly installed/replaced caps! Also good to hear you mention about some folks being panzy-assed about using safety caps too lol I use what I have available as long as the voltage can handle the circuit. There are times I do use them but it's honestly doesn't matter as far as them being safety caps, it more pertains to the voltage handling. You do real nice work, and thanks for the videos!
I agree. Even the cheapest caps now days far supersede the quality of caps originally used in these sets by the manufacturer. As long as you use basic common sense, they'll be fine.
Nice job getting those old repairs cleaned up and correcting the new ones you identified. A great player for sure. All the best. Don
Thanks for dropping by Don. We really enjoy your videos as well.Take care buddy!
Those safety caps are a lot bigger then the others orange drops .your work is amazing concidering some of the access was very hard to get to .
What a great radio, and rare to have the original grill cloth in such great condition. I restored that same model several years ago and not only is the radio an excellent performer, it's got incredibly powerful bass response for it's size. Nice work!
That's a cool old radio. Love the circular dial. I am planning on repairing my 1940 rogers majestic am/sw radio. Your videos are giving me good knowledge and a bit more confidence to attempt it.
Band conditions have been pretty bad the last couple months for sure, But that Philco radio sounds great for being as old as it is. Thanks for sharing.
Brother Stair is everywhere! I've received old Philcos where some caps were not replaced. Some were the "bakelite block" types.
I feel your pain.....I actually have a 37-630 on my bench right now it is a console model. I found several differences in the radio vs. the schematic. I disassembled the RF section to changed those two paper caps. I wish I had know about the "trick" that you demonstrated. I also changed several broken wires. The 11 tab terminal strip on the side of the chassis had two broken tabs so I replaced it. I have so little experience on radio repair as I never had any one teach me this stuff. Just a mid life crises I started a few years back. So I hope I can get all those wires back to the correct position and tabs. Wish me lots of luck. and God bless.
Take pictures with your phone before you take anything apart. Also label each wire with a number from left to right so you remember where it goes . Good luck bud.
Beautiful radio, nice work on getting things back on track
As someone has said, the 'old guy' is 'Brother Stair' - he roams the electronic wilderness of the short wave bands. I don't know if he is still doing his thing, or whether these are just endless repeats - he is pretty strange to be sure. There is a Numbers station referred to as the 'no-nines' lady - something is wrong with the voice encoder being used, and if you listen you never hear her use the number nine (nueve). I think the one-time codes are basically un-bustable, even today.
Just found your channel, love it. I love long band scans.
I need a life it's Saturday night and I'm watching an old radio getting repaired.
The new grommets look like silicone ,which means they are probaly heat resistant and will stay soft .
Ive heard that old guy that does the religon on the shortwave for about 20 years now,He always sounds the same,Sounds like hes 90 years old!
Brother Stair, lol. He's everywhere, he's everywhere!
90? more like 190 years old.
@@RoughJustice2k18 LOL! And a weird cult leader on top of that. Look him up sometime.
Thumbs Up, Keep up the longer Band Scans, I love it, one of the major reasons I watch your videos, if some people snivel about it they can
go pound Sand. You have my vote on this. Anyway a Boss Job indeed with this radio, You Rock, Lets Go Brandon.....
One time I got that numbers station on the bottom of the FM band.
In 1937 shortwave was interesting because it's just before WWII. Then during WWII shortwave propaganda was interesting lessening and you could also pickup WWII pilot conversations.
Picking up world war 2 pilots ,must of Been fun to listen to,I just. Sent for a radio that pick up air port pilots ,I live less then a mile from a small airport.
Back when these were new,they were MUCH more interesting SW was one of the only long distance communications. Police used around 160m (2 megahertz range) and SW broadcast lined the bands. Now you're lucky to hear a few SW stations and a few commercial aircraft on sideband.
I have a 1937 Philco just like the on that you pointed to on the shelf. There are 3 beige wires that go to the speaker. My German Shepherd chewed it when she was a puppy, about 18 months ago. This radio had no back on it, but it has been restored. They all look the same but I'm sure they may have different functions, not just for the speaker.
often they would use a backwards-wound coil on the speaker as part of the power supply, and a "hum-bucker"
They were probably different colors 80 years ago. Since the electromagnetic on the speaker is part of the power supply circuit, those wires carry the high voltage for the whole radio. You definitely wouldn't want to have them short or connect them incorrectly. Good thing the radio wasn't on when puppy chewed them!
Congratulations on the video, I have a national sw54 and I was able to capture this station that is transmitting number, you know where this station is? I'm a fan of your channel, a big hug here from BRAZIL🇧🇷
Nice job on that Philco. I've got the same radio, but it needs to be serviced. I can only hope it'll perform as nice as yours once it's up and running again. Where did you get the replacement rubber parts kit and how much did it cost?
That dial seems to be in great shape for its age. I wouldn't think it needs to be replaced, but I guess it's not perfect, is it?
Regards, Tom
It is amazing that you can repair these. I have a 1947 Plaskon that was refurbished like brand new. I have a 1954 philco plastic red model 170B5. It comes on but the volume is loud and it doesn’t pick up any stations. I can control the volume. Any thoughts on what might cause that? What state do you live in?
The most destructive explosive capacitors I have ever had blow-up have all been 'Safety Capicaptors'.
How about the most stinky,selium rectifyers,or the worst caps bumble bombs .everyone I have seen either blown up or a crack running down the side,I can't believe people resell those pieces of crap,I throw those out,I sure wouldnt resell them,he'll I have 1950 ,s tube portable zenith, It has the worst access to replace the power cord,I have ever seen ,it had a bunch of bumble bomb capciators, ,it has a selium rectifyer,I offer to give this radio away,to anyone who wants to pick it up.
shango066 has mentioned in his videos the white tubular Elmenco caps which are garbage and known to explode.
@@nor4277 - You might interest me in it. Where are you & would you ship it?
... that is beautiful
Very nice classic Art Deco styling
I have one of these. What a bear to work on.
Bad amplifier tube? Or high value resistor in the amplifier circuit?
Looking good though brother! I hope you are doing well.
Hi good vare good
Im. Abdul
Iraq bagdhad
Why does Philco put some of there caps in the most ockward places? I have a tombstone Philco that I have to finish and I know I'm gonna have to use the ice pick tip on the soldering iron to get to a couple of the caps on it.
11:10 So the tuning dial knob mechanism is not planetary gears?
I would really like that old Trinitron! What part of SC are you in?
Midlands.
If it is available, I would be interested in it. I am going to be in the Charlotte area around Christmas time. I am planning on starting my own channel in February and it would be something I would like to do a video on. Just aquirred a Sony AV-8650 to go with it. I am not sure how to send you a private message on here.
That religious guy is brother Stair....and he is all over the place........I thought he got involved with someone in his church and they took his ability to transmit away..I thought............