Who says the owner is actually gonna plug in the darned thing and listen to
it!

That four-figure radio is a trophy....not a radio!

Personal story: I just took delivery of an almost mint vintage 1967 ham
transceiver. It was out of the box for about three hours, playing on the
test bench when.....kapow!... up went a "point-one" bypass cap in smoke.
Well, my "mint" radio lasted about that long. Get out the soldering iron.

Only a fool pays $3,000-plus for an old Hallicrafter radio....a Bigger fool
will turn on the power switch!

Pat, WPE9JRL
"starman" wrote in message
...
As you may know, there's an SX-88 on Ebay. The pictures show it still
has the original paper capacitors like the 'Tiny Chiefs' and 'Black
Beauties', which are known to become leaky. Should a valuable radio like
the '88' be run with these caps' and possibly damage an irreplacable
componant, such as an I.F. transformer? Would it lessen the value if it
was recapped?


-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

starman wrote:

As you may know, there's an SX-88 on Ebay....
Would it lessen the value if it was recapped?..

Yes, it will.

You might want to consider something I've written about before-
lowered B+, which may allow you to use the radio safely with leaky caps.
I've successfully run collectable radios with 24 volts on the plates
and an external, amplified speaker. They work fine with no componant
damage and have done so for years.
Pull out the rectifier and apply 20-50 volts to the B+ buss
to see "how low you can go." You can use series caps in the
HV transformer leads to drop the voltage, which is better than
trying to use a dropping resistor.
Unless you have a cap that is a dead short, I'd bet the radio
will play for you. Before anyone writes back about "cathode poisoning,"
that debate went on a couple of years ago and the outcome was that
it was pretty much a mythical problem.

If you don't want to run low B+, you can do another trick-
unsolder one lead from the old component, tuck it out of the
way and "tack" solder in a modern replacement. The radio can
be put back to 100% original if a collector cares to do so.
I've recapped and re-resistored some WWII radios this way.

GL OM ES 73 DE Dave AB5S

"starman" wrote in message
...
As you may know, there's an SX-88 on Ebay. The pictures show it still
has the original paper capacitors like the 'Tiny Chiefs' and 'Black
Beauties', which are known to become leaky. Should a valuable radio like
the '88' be run with these caps' and possibly damage an irreplacable
componant, such as an I.F. transformer? Would it lessen the value if it
was recapped?


-----=

I'd be more worried about the quality of the workmanship. I've
seen some pretty shoddy "restorations" by "profesunals" that
left a lot to be desired.

Pete k1zjh

The only set I left bad caps in is my SX-28 because I was too chickensh*t to
go in that RF section!

--
Brian Denley
http://home.comcast.net/~b.denley/index.html

"- - Bill - -" exray@coquidotnet wrote in message
...


The only set I have knowingly left bad caps in was a Volkempfanger DKE
38 that looks like it just rolled off the assembly line. Clearly its
not going to be a daily "listener" and all the new caps in the world
ain't gonna help it much. It does work, however.

PLEASE EXCUSE CAPS, SHORT REPLIES, STROKE

Bill Turner, WA0ABI, 1117 Pike St., Saint Charles,MO 63301. Phone
636-949-2210

Plastic Dial covers, any size, any shape. $14.00
Glass Dial covers, 2" to 8 7/8" x 1/16" incr, $14.00

ELECTROLYTIC CAPACITORS, new, 7/8"DIA. X 3" OR 3 1/4" long, shiney red
or blue cover, brown end seal, printed inscription down the length,
metal mounting strap with a hole for mounting.
33uF-47uF 160 volts, $2.50
33 uF-33uF-33uF 160 volts $3.00
47 uF-47uF-47uF 160 volts $3.50
33uF -47uF 160 volts 47uF/100 $4.00 with bias cap.
33uF-47uF 94 uF/100 volts $4.00 (AC/DCbattery sets) 22uF-22uF 450 volts
$4.00 (for AC sets) 22uF-22uF-22uF 450 volts $4.50 (for AC sets
10 uF 900 volts $6.00
HALLICRAFTERS S-38, A, B, C, D, E, $10.00
ZENITH T/O (can type) all except 7G605 $15.00 .
ALL POSTAGE PAID,cashr, check, money order

For a business SASE a copy of the Pocket Resouce Guide and my personal
four page catalog of pieces, parts, and manuals.

The fact is in the UK at the moment a nice vintage WORKING radio
is worth much more than an untouched non working one..
This may change over the next few years of course
Take the famous R1155 receiver, the mod to remove the defunct DF
componants in the 50's has reduced the value on Ebay to about £60
a complete but none working one goes for about £100 BUT a complete
and working one even if a few caps have been replaced I've seen go
for over £200 so who is to say?
Also I must agree with the low voltage option!! I have found this
myself, take an old radio with leaky caps and dodgy smoothing and
leave it running warm at about 30% power for a couple of weeks 24hrs
a day and it comes back to life remarkably well!! at least it gives
you a working perfect example, if I am forced to do any mods like
changing caps plugs or leads I shrink wrap all the removed bits and
attach them with a description of what was done to the case inside.
as after all we are only temporary owners )
These days I prefer to buy old sets that have been modified or are
badly beaten up for a silly price, I have more fun getting back close
to original working spec and don't feel guilty replacing parts hi!!!
from Ron.....


On Thu, 04 Dec 2003 02:55:36 -0500, starman wrote:

As you may know, there's an SX-88 on Ebay. The pictures show it still
has the original paper capacitors like the 'Tiny Chiefs' and 'Black
Beauties', which are known to become leaky. Should a valuable radio like
the '88' be run with these caps' and possibly damage an irreplacable
componant, such as an I.F. transformer? Would it lessen the value if it
was recapped?


-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

"starman" wrote in message
...
As you may know, there's an SX-88 on Ebay. The pictures show it still
has the original paper capacitors like the 'Tiny Chiefs' and 'Black
Beauties', which are known to become leaky. Should a valuable radio like
the '88' be run with these caps' and possibly damage an irreplacable
componant, such as an I.F. transformer? Would it lessen the value if it
was recapped?

I own an SX-88 and I had no hesitation in recapping it. I use it regularly.

If you're not going to replace the old capacitors, then DON'T turn it on.

I collect radios for the purpose of restoring and using them, so the concept
of owning an unplayable "shelf queen" holds little allure. I doubt that
recapping would seriously affect the value of this particular set, but then
I don't operate a museum full of shelf queens. You can always save the old
caps in a sack in case some future owner wants to restuff them. Keep in mind
that it's basically impossible to restuff a plastic cap such as a Black
Beauty.

Regards,

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

"Phil Nelson" wrote in message I
collect radios for the purpose of restoring and using them, so the concept
of owning an unplayable "shelf queen" holds little allure. I doubt that
recapping would seriously affect the value of this particular set, but
then
I don't operate a museum full of shelf queens. You can always save the old
caps in a sack in case some future owner wants to restuff them. Keep in
mind
that it's basically impossible to restuff a plastic cap such as a Black
Beauty.

Regards,

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html


I'll bet Syl comes up with replicas pretty soon, if he hasn't already.

Should be very easy to make molds of the originals, and then
recast mylars with an expoxy shell... Add some paint, lettering,
viola!

Pete

" Uncle Peter" wrote in message
news:6egOb.10630$ct4.4087@lakeread05...
I don't operate a museum full of shelf queens. You can always save the
old
caps in a sack in case some future owner wants to restuff them. Keep in
mind
that it's basically impossible to restuff a plastic cap such as a Black
Beauty.

I'll bet Syl comes up with replicas pretty soon, if he hasn't already.

Sure, why not. And rather than waste good new mylars inside those repros, he
can have a few hundred bad old paper caps from my saving-sacks. Then he can
peddle the repackaged "bumblebees" to guitar guys on Ebay for $$$. No point
wasting time trying to match up correct values -- those guys want
distortion, and I have bushels to offer!

:-)

Phil

"Mike Knudsen" wrote in message
...
I was surprised when I
traced it to a very leaky steel bathtub cap -- I thought those mil-spec
babies
never went bad. I left the cap in place a wired a replacement on top of
it
(not beautiful, but easily "restored" to "original").

I had the same experience when restoring my 2nd Scott 800B6. Someone alerted
me during that project that some bathtubs are in fact paper caps, not
oil-filled, and you can't really tell the difference by staring at them. I
tested them and sure enough, they were leaky as heck. I wired replacements
around the original bathtubs, as Mike describes. One of these days, I should
go back through my 1st 800B6 and check the bathtubs that I left untouched,
on the assumption that they were "just fine."

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html