Tag Archives: capacitor

Next Project: 1936 Grunow 566 Radio Repair [Part 1]

Posted on March 6, 2012 by retrovoltage

I’m off to a good start for my March projects, fixing up the Grunow 588. Next up is my Grunow 566 from the year before, from 1936. I picked this one up from eBay in shockingly good original condition – … Continue reading →

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Huge and Powerful: The 1937 GE F-135 Repair Complete

Posted on January 27, 2012 by retrovoltage

I’ve finally had the time to finish one of my long-running projects repairing GE’s most powerful radio offering from 1937, the GE F-135. I picked it up from Craigslist back in November but other responsibilities kept me from getting much … Continue reading →

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More Strange Coiled Wires [Mailbag]

Posted on January 24, 2012 by retrovoltage

I had an interesting call the other day with a gentleman about a radio he’s working on, among other topics: That’s a Philco 46-420. They’re nice little bakelite radios with 6 tubes designed to receive the AM broadcast band. He’d come … Continue reading →

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What’s that piece of wire, some kind of gimmick? [Mailbag]

Posted on January 17, 2012 by retrovoltage

I was talking with a fellow antique radio hobbyist on the phone the other day about a repair he was working on. A TrueTone battery radio, he’d taken care of all the important steps – checking out the tubes, replacing … Continue reading →

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1942 GE LF-116 Radio Repair Part 4 – Capacitors and Discriminator/Phase Inverter Socket

Posted on October 15, 2011 by retrovoltage

(June 2026 – Noting that this was one of my early repairs, several years before I started taking commercial work and this was truly a hobby. A few things you’ll see here don’t reflect how I’d do that work today!) … Continue reading →

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1942 GE LF-116 Radio Repair Part 3 – Capacitor Can Rebuilding

Posted on October 12, 2011 by retrovoltage

(June 2026 – Noting that this was one of my early repairs, several years before I started taking commercial work and this was truly a hobby. A few things you’ll see here don’t reflect how I’d do that work today!) … Continue reading →

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Refurbishing Vintage Sansui SP2500 Speakers (Crossover Repair)

Posted on April 5, 2011 by retrovoltage

A look at refurbishing the crossovers in a pair of Sansui SP2500 speakers to improve their muddy sound weak highs from early in Retrovoltage’s history with audio repair. Includes links to buy the required parts from Parts Express. Continue reading →

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Old Radio Detective Work

Posted on March 25, 2011 by retrovoltage

I’m still working on my 1941 Stromberg-Carlson 520-PG and am running into a few new problems I’ve never come across before. Back in the era of tube radios, everything was serviceable on a component level and most people had enough aptitude and … Continue reading →

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Antique Capacitor Color Code Chart

Posted on February 16, 2011 by retrovoltage

I’m working on restoring another radio, and it has antique capacitors with color code markings that are different from the commonly used 3-digit codes found today. It took a bit of searching to find a good chart with these, so … Continue reading →

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Refurbishing a Capacitance Tester

Posted on January 20, 2011 by retrovoltage

Parts Express sent me an advertisement for a $45 capacitance meter today. This actually a pretty good deal, and it’s a useful thing to have around if you’re doing electronics work. I’d probably have bought one myself, if I didn’t … Continue reading →

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