I started my life in electronics in 1972 when I was 15 years old, using this Philips Electronic Engineer Kit. At the end of 1975 I won a job competition and started working at a Broadcast TV Station. Today I have almost 50 years of experience in the area of electronics and telecommunications with several products that I developed and approved for this purpose. I arrived here on your channel and was amazed at the state of conservation of your Kit. I'm trying to rescue one of these. Congratulations!
I build all circuits and to this day it was my most appreciated childhood toy The radio I used for many times It is however an amplified crystal set and needs an external antenna and earth to make it pick up stations . Used it to pickup mw stations that were 50 ks away and even some short way. The variable resister you refer to is a variable capacitor but it could tune the full mw band also pulling the iron core partially out of the core tuned frequencies as well. I remember having the intercom setup between my tree house and our house. Really had lots of fun and I too went into the electronics industries and still a contractor for NBN here in Australia.
I had that kit bought for Mr in the 1960s complete with the add on kit which lead me to a career in electronics and I loved it so much. I think the problems with your radio is it does need an external antenna in order to perform due the the fact the sensitivity of the radio is very low indeed. Brought memories flooding back just seeing that .
@@newtownnaughtyboy8742 I don't know if you still check this thread, but the antenna suggestion and a good ground are an absolute must with this kit. I commented on your first video that I built this in the fourth grade and it worked great. I seem to remember also that the variable capacitor that you keep calling a variable resister, tuned in the 900 to 1600 mhz range depending on the coil you are using. If the coil is original, then it should work. However, I'm not sure if there are any stations still broadcasting in that range wherever you are located.
Hi, the hiss is a sign that tr2 and tr3 are conducting. Tr1 is the radio frequency transistor and it's job is to amplify the radio signals picked up by the anntena coil, but it also is used to amplify the audio signal detected by Diode D1 and the choke coil thus Tr1 is doing two jobs for the price of one, a very neat trick and that is why Phillips used this radio circuit design its called a reflex radio circuit. Now to test if your Tr1 is working assuming all your connects are good, try the following. Remove the anntena wire that is connected to the base of Tr1 marked b on your project card. Now with your volume set on full touch the Tr1 base terminal with your finger. You should be hearing a loud hum coming through the earphone, which indicates that all 3 transistors are working and amplification of the audio signals is good. Now replace the anntena coil connection back on to the base of Tr1. Now the next test is to see if your Anntena coil is picking up radio frequency signals and amplified through Tr1. Again with your volume set on full, place your cell phone very close or on top of your Anntena coil, your should hear a very loud buzzing generated by the cell phones internal clock frequencies. Your could also try this test with placing a TV type IR remote control and pressing any of the buttons, or just by placing your radio with the antenna vey near or against and electrical output plug to pick up mains wiring hum. If any of the above tests prove successful, then your radio is recieving, detecting and amplifying correctly. If you are not tuning in any radio stations check that your anntena coil wires are all orientated correctly to the circuit board and that there are no broken solder connections on the coil itself, use a multimeter to check all these and other connections if possible. Remember this is 60yer old kit, and many of those spring and clip connections are tarnished. Buff and clean with switch cleaning fluid as requred. Most AM broadcast stations are stronger at night and the use of the outdoor anntena is advised. The tuning capacitor is about 150pf and may have a short between the moving plates check to see that the plates are moving without any shorts accross its entire tuning range. Also remember that the AM transmissions recieved by your coil are directional so its always best to rotate your radio to pick up the strongest signal. Good luck with getting your radio up and running.
Just to let you know Newtown Naughtyboy, in my kit the AF116 was B-E short circuit and the collecter was shorted to the screen connection. I used a nos OC169 , (from ebay) other transistors I tried didn't work. I'm pretty certain an OC169 or OC170 should work for you.
BBC Radio 5 live is stil broadcast on MW as a are some local raido stations. At night however, foreign stations should become evident. An external aeriel would help. Have you tried doing some voltage tests? There should be about 0.2 volts between the base and emitter of each transistor if they're biased correctly. Two things to watch out for: transistors and electrolytic capacitors age even when not used. The AF11x series transistors are notorious for developing internal shorts between the main connections and the can which is connected to the screen lead. Try disconnecting the screen from the circuit and trying again. Electrolytic capacitors can dry out and loose most of their capactance. They can also develop an internal short. My brother used to have one of these but I also spent some time with it. I've worked in electronics all my working life including for the BBC.
thx for that very comprehensive reply. i will use this infor to good use. probably change the transistors and electrolytic, Interesting we had a crystal set back then and my dad managed to get a pair of head phones from the BBC as they were one of his customers. I should have hung on to them,
@@newtownnaughtyboy8742 I've realised that as you were getting some noise (hiss) from the earpiece then the second (RH) transistor and surrounding circuitry is probably ok. Does the hiss change volume with the volume control? If so, then the problem is probably quite early on in radio i.e. something well over to the left hand side. Do you have a meter? If so, it will make life very much easier. I can tell you what sort of voltages to expect. It's often possible to locate component faults without needlessly swapping good components. By 'electrolytic capacitors', I was referring to the ones in metal 'cans' that have a defined polarity of which there are about 3 on your circuit. The other capacitors are likely to be in good order. Another thing to check are the coils on the ferrite rod. Their wire is very thin and can corrode though over time. Or, it can break away from the connections if under strain. I'd stongly advise you try and fix the rod in place as it's loose. It's interersting your dad used to sell to the BBC. What sort of product or service did he provide?
Not that it matters to your problems with getting this going, but the rotary component in the bottom left corner is a variable capacitor. I had this kit when I was about 8 to 10 years old and most of the projects worked as described. There was very little learning though, as it was mostly just copying the component placements. My strongest memory was how much the terminals hurt my small fingers when pushing the barrel springs over the post pins, and again taking them of in preparation for a new project.
I build all circuits and to this day it was my most appreciated childhood toy The radio I used for many times It is however an amplified crystal set and needs an external antenna and earth to make it pick up stations . Used it to pickup mw stations that were 50 ks away and even some short way. The variable resister you refer to is a variable capacitor but it could tune the full mw band also pulling the iron core partially out of the core tuned frequencies as well. I remember having the intercom setup between my tree house and our house. Really had lots of fun and I too went into the electronics industries and still a contractor for NBN here in Australia.
I started my life in electronics in 1972 when I was 15 years old, using this Philips Electronic Engineer Kit. At the end of 1975 I won a job competition and started working at a Broadcast TV Station. Today I have almost 50 years of experience in the area of electronics and telecommunications with several products that I developed and approved for this purpose. I arrived here on your channel and was amazed at the state of conservation of your Kit. I'm trying to rescue one of these. Congratulations!
I build all circuits and to this day it was my most appreciated childhood toy
The radio I used for many times
It is however an amplified crystal set and needs an external antenna and earth to make it pick up stations . Used it to pickup mw stations that were 50 ks away and even some short way. The variable resister you refer to is a variable capacitor but it could tune the full mw band also pulling the iron core partially out of the core tuned frequencies as well. I remember having the intercom setup between my tree house and our house. Really had lots of fun and I too went into the electronics industries and still a contractor for NBN here in Australia.
I had that kit bought for Mr in the 1960s complete with the add on kit which lead me to a career in electronics and I loved it so much. I think the problems with your radio is it does need an external antenna in order to perform due the the fact the sensitivity of the radio is very low indeed. Brought memories flooding back just seeing that .
Yes you could be right, however i think certain components need replacing.
@@newtownnaughtyboy8742 I don't know if you still check this thread, but the antenna suggestion and a good ground are an absolute must with this kit. I commented on your first video that I built this in the fourth grade and it worked great. I seem to remember also that the variable capacitor that you keep calling a variable resister, tuned in the 900 to 1600 mhz range depending on the coil you are using. If the coil is original, then it should work. However, I'm not sure if there are any stations still broadcasting in that range wherever you are located.
Hi, the hiss is a sign that tr2 and tr3 are conducting. Tr1 is the radio frequency transistor and it's job is to amplify the radio signals picked up by the anntena coil, but it also is used to amplify the audio signal detected by Diode D1 and the choke coil thus Tr1 is doing two jobs for the price of one, a very neat trick and that is why Phillips used this radio circuit design its called a reflex radio circuit. Now to test if your Tr1 is working assuming all your connects are good, try the following. Remove the anntena wire that is connected to the base of Tr1 marked b on your project card. Now with your volume set on full touch the Tr1 base terminal with your finger. You should be hearing a loud hum coming through the earphone, which indicates that all 3 transistors are working and amplification of the audio signals is good. Now replace the anntena coil connection back on to the base of Tr1. Now the next test is to see if your Anntena coil is picking up radio frequency signals and amplified through Tr1. Again with your volume set on full, place your cell phone very close or on top of your Anntena coil, your should hear a very loud buzzing generated by the cell phones internal clock frequencies. Your could also try this test with placing a TV type IR remote control and pressing any of the buttons, or just by placing your radio with the antenna vey near or against and electrical output plug to pick up mains wiring hum. If any of the above tests prove successful, then your radio is recieving, detecting and amplifying correctly. If you are not tuning in any radio stations check that your anntena coil wires are all orientated correctly to the circuit board and that there are no broken solder connections on the coil itself, use a multimeter to check all these and other connections if possible. Remember this is 60yer old kit, and many of those spring and clip connections are tarnished. Buff and clean with switch cleaning fluid as requred. Most AM broadcast stations are stronger at night and the use of the outdoor anntena is advised. The tuning capacitor is about 150pf and may have a short between the moving plates check to see that the plates are moving without any shorts accross its entire tuning range. Also remember that the AM transmissions recieved by your coil are directional so its always best to rotate your radio to pick up the strongest signal. Good luck with getting your radio up and running.
I finally bought this kit too, as i would have liked to as a kid.
But as things are going right now, i probably can't try it until next summer.
Just to let you know Newtown Naughtyboy, in my kit the AF116 was B-E short circuit and the collecter was shorted to the screen connection. I used a nos OC169 , (from ebay) other transistors I tried didn't work. I'm pretty certain an OC169 or OC170 should work for you.
Please be aware that when i say variable resistor i probably mean variable capacitor
BBC Radio 5 live is stil broadcast on MW as a are some local raido stations. At night however, foreign stations should become evident. An external aeriel would help. Have you tried doing some voltage tests? There should be about 0.2 volts between the base and emitter of each transistor if they're biased correctly. Two things to watch out for: transistors and electrolytic capacitors age even when not used. The AF11x series transistors are notorious for developing internal shorts between the main connections and the can which is connected to the screen lead. Try disconnecting the screen from the circuit and trying again. Electrolytic capacitors can dry out and loose most of their capactance. They can also develop an internal short. My brother used to have one of these but I also spent some time with it. I've worked in electronics all my working life including for the BBC.
thx for that very comprehensive reply. i will use this infor to good use. probably change the transistors and electrolytic, Interesting we had a crystal set back then and my dad managed to get a pair of head phones from the BBC as they were one of his customers. I should have hung on to them,
@@newtownnaughtyboy8742 I've realised that as you were getting some noise (hiss) from the earpiece then the second (RH) transistor and surrounding circuitry is probably ok. Does the hiss change volume with the volume control? If so, then the problem is probably quite early on in radio i.e. something well over to the left hand side. Do you have a meter? If so, it will make life very much easier. I can tell you what sort of voltages to expect. It's often possible to locate component faults without needlessly swapping good components. By 'electrolytic capacitors', I was referring to the ones in metal 'cans' that have a defined polarity of which there are about 3 on your circuit. The other capacitors are likely to be in good order. Another thing to check are the coils on the ferrite rod. Their wire is very thin and can corrode though over time. Or, it can break away from the connections if under strain. I'd stongly advise you try and fix the rod in place as it's loose. It's interersting your dad used to sell to the BBC. What sort of product or service did he provide?
A circuit diagram would help.
I could add in here a close up of the circuit board, would that help?
Hello I too had an Electronics engineer kit
Not that it matters to your problems with getting this going, but the rotary component in the bottom left corner is a variable capacitor. I had this kit when I was about 8 to 10 years old and most of the projects worked as described. There was very little learning though, as it was mostly just copying the component placements. My strongest memory was how much the terminals hurt my small fingers when pushing the barrel springs over the post pins, and again taking them of in preparation for a new project.
I had this as a kid and to be fair I think it never worked.
I build all circuits and to this day it was my most appreciated childhood toy
The radio I used for many times
It is however an amplified crystal set and needs an external antenna and earth to make it pick up stations . Used it to pickup mw stations that were 50 ks away and even some short way. The variable resister you refer to is a variable capacitor but it could tune the full mw band also pulling the iron core partially out of the core tuned frequencies as well. I remember having the intercom setup between my tree house and our house. Really had lots of fun and I too went into the electronics industries and still a contractor for NBN here in Australia.