Mark Zenier wrote:


Older radios will have mica capacitors in place of ceramics, which
became popular in, judging from the stuff I've scrapped over the
years, in the 1950s. They look like little black or dark brown dominos.

Mark Zenier Washington State resident



You are right of course, but the OP's radio is relatively
young in this context. From looking at Groer's website I
assumed this model comes from around 1960.

starman wrote:



Those micas are surprisely reliable for their age. I seldom have to
replace one but it's a good idea to check them.



There were also some paper capacitors camouflaged as micas -
stuck into little domino-shaped plastic cases. I ran across
one that had burst open in some radio whose identity and age
escape me at this point.

Oz

"Howard Bingham" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 00:37:37 GMT, Larry Ozarow
wrote:



Forgot to mention, the tubulars can be
replaced with modern mylar, polyester or
polypropylene tubulars or
(overkill) orange-drops. AES or radiodaze
or any number of on-line vendors have
them. The yellow poly tubulars are cheap
and reliable and easy to work with.
The capacitance values will not likely be
exactly the same as the originals,
but within 10% or so is fine. Err on the high
side for electolytics.

Another fine source for caps is Dave & Babylyn Cantelon
at www.justradios.com. They also have schematics for
some US, Canadian and European radios, you might ask them
if they have one for your radio.
--

A contact in Germany has the complete service manual & schematic that
he is xeroxing for me which should help considerably..

There remains only one tube to be found & I have 4 vendors looking for
the US equivilent if not the exact replacement tube. ( ECC85 )

Howard Bingham

--

"Howard Bingham" wrote in message
...

A contact in Germany has the complete service manual & schematic that
he is xeroxing for me which should help considerably..

There remains only one tube to be found & I have 4 vendors looking for
the US equivilent if not the exact replacement tube. ( ECC85 )

Howard Bingham

--

ECC85? Ouch. $15 at AES, and they're out of stock. As far as I know, the
ECC85 was never used in any American product, but there's plenty of tubes
with similiar bases.

http://hereford.ampr.org/cgi-bin/tube?tube=ECC85

If you can get a chance to rummage through a box of tube pulls, you will
almost certainly find a few 6BQ7s and 6BZ7s. One r the other of these was
used in almost every TV tuner of the late 50s to early 60s. The only worry
is the plate voltage rating on the 6BQ7 and 6BZ7 is lower than the ECC85..
I know I'd try it, but I've got alot of old pulls just sitting in boxes.

I wouldn't buy a new tube that wasn't an exact replacement, but maybe one of
your vendors has a reasonable used sub for about fifty cents or a buck and
can put it in with the order.

Frank Dresser

Frank Dresser wrote:




I'll bet it was a line bypass capacitor! And I'll bet it said "Micamold" on
the side of the case!!

Frank Dresser


Entirely possible Frank. At this point I remember
the component itself but none of the context.
It was bigger of course than a real mica cap.
I've also seen one or two paper tubulars that
exploded when used as line bypass caps.

Now that you mention the name, I seem to
recall a discussion of same a ways back on
the antiques group.

Oz

Frank Dresser wrote:


ECC85? Ouch. $15 at AES, and they're out of stock. As far as I know, the
ECC85 was never used in any American product, but there's plenty of tubes
with similiar bases.

http://hereford.ampr.org/cgi-bin/tube?tube=ECC85

If you can get a chance to rummage through a box of tube pulls, you will
almost certainly find a few 6BQ7s and 6BZ7s. One r the other of these was
used in almost every TV tuner of the late 50s to early 60s. The only worry
is the plate voltage rating on the 6BQ7 and 6BZ7 is lower than the ECC85..
I know I'd try it, but I've got alot of old pulls just sitting in boxes.

I wouldn't buy a new tube that wasn't an exact replacement, but maybe one of
your vendors has a reasonable used sub for about fifty cents or a buck and
can put it in with the order.

Frank Dresser



Most of the vendors list a 6AQ8 as an equivalent and have it for between
$10-20. You think that's bad - I've got a totally mediocre Grundig 4570u
that's waiting until I can find an ELL80 that at least costs less
than the radio did.

"Larry Ozarow" wrote in message
news:8VGrd.8883$_E3.5531@trndny06...



Most of the vendors list a 6AQ8 as an equivalent and have it for between
$10-20. You think that's bad - I've got a totally mediocre Grundig 4570u
that's waiting until I can find an ELL80 that at least costs less
than the radio did.

What I don't like about tubes such as the ECC85/6AQ8 is they're so similar
to existing high volume/low cost tubes such as the 12AT7 or about half a
dozen TV tuner tubes. I can make some guesses as to why there are so many
sort-of tubes out there, but it does get to be a pain for the radio hobbyist
40 years after the manufacturers were playing these games.

I looked up the ELL80. A double audio pentode. I don't think I'd knock
myself out looking for one. I'd be too afraid the replacement tube would
get gassy or something a few months after installation. Maybe there's room
for a couple of 7 pin sockets, and you can wire in a couple of 6AQ5s or
something like that.

Frank Dresser