1942 Ducati Radiogram Repair (Part 1)

WOW something older than me! I just turned 70 December of 2022 so this Ducati is a decade older than I am! And I'm sure it works better than me too lol

Hello Mark, Those little twisted wires as you surmised are under 10pf and were used extensively in early radio and early TV chassis to peak IF tank circuits. The twisties were called gimmicks. Cheers

Also, I was taught during my apprenticeship in the '60s not to solder the wire straight onto the valve lug, but to loop it around after pushing it through and squeezing it with pliers. This gave it mechanical strength and helped avoid dry solder joints. It also looked way better.

Great to see you working on something twice your age.

You owe me a new keyboard. I spit my coffee at first glance. It's beautiful!

Fascinating to see the electronics and Mr. Blobby would've been proud of that soldering.

Loved this! I recently re-capped a 1950s Grundig reel to reel using polypropylene caps and it sounded and worked great afterwards. Kinda fun working on old equipment that don’t have PCBs. I also had to map out which caps went where since they were not labelled either.

I believe the old-timers called those wound capacitors 'gimmicks'.

What a mess... Good job... Makes me think about old TV repair days.

Very interesting Mark.Looking forward to the next one.👍

You would be an excellent teacher Mark. I have no skill in your area but you make it look so easy and furthermore...interesting! You should think about doing online workshops for future electronics repairers. People would sign up in droves I'm sure!

top work Mark,looking forward to part 2.

when people say 3w of power output.. People automatically giggle, and think its not much.... I once heard a 5w DIY valve amplifier, and it absolutely rattled the walls... i was like :O So now, I know there is more to audio systems, than just the output wattage :)

The twisted wires are there to tune or tweak the circuit. You find them in Telequipment scopes amongst others. It's a genuine technique, not a bodge. I'd have replaced the wire going to the top cap, the insulation was damaged, still, we all do things different.

Very impressive craftmanship, knowledge, patience and attention to detail. Thumbs up!

A great part 1 Mark. Looking forward to part 2.

A sticky knob can be a real problem. But you fixed it again . Good job

Wow that was very impressive and so detailed. Well done.

What a lovely old piece of kit. I remember an old Ferguson Radiogram from the fifties that my parents bought new that had a similar style. But it had FM as well, and played 33 and 45 records. Used to listen to 'Journey into Space' on it. Wonderful! BTW. The reason the old caps you tested were reading 'high', is because they have gone electrically leaky. It effectively puts a resistance in parallel with the capacitor. It means that when the tester charges up the capacitor, it takes longer than it should, so it reads a higher capacitance than the true value. It is just as well you replaced them. If you had left them in, it could have damaged some critical and difficult to replace bits and pieces.

brings back memories at my grand dads workshop on my School holidays helping him repair tbs and radios got me to use the mallard valve tester he used to buy components and give me a project out of practical wireless good times