I have a few old radios similar to that one.It is true about some of the
electronic parts in radios degrading in performance over the years.I
wonder why? Moisture in the air gradually getting into the parts and
degrading them? I have been collecting old radios since I was a kid,most
of them aren't anything special though.Whenever I would see a radio at
junk shops,fleamarkets,thrift stores and wherever,if it's a radio I
liked and the price was right I would buy it whether it worked or not.I
own a lot of old tube type radios and transistor radios.Some of them do
not work at all,some of them sort of work and some of them work ok.
cuhulin

Vacuum tubes generate heat -- components abhor heat and die
Capacitors have wet gooey stuff in em and dry out.
My solid state TV (less CRT) has been on every day for 15+ years
no heat no die

Then there may be fungus amongst us (;-)
Rodents love paper parts.
And my damn dawg will eat anything including chewy cables.

--
KeyBoard In The Wilderness



wrote in message
...
I have a few old radios similar to that one.It is true about some of the
electronic parts in radios degrading in performance over the years.I
wonder why? Moisture in the air gradually getting into the parts and
degrading them? I have been collecting old radios since I was a kid,most
of them aren't anything special though.Whenever I would see a radio at
junk shops,fleamarkets,thrift stores and wherever,if it's a radio I
liked and the price was right I would buy it whether it worked or not.I
own a lot of old tube type radios and transistor radios.Some of them do
not work at all,some of them sort of work and some of them work ok.
cuhulin

In April of 2003 I bought a 1948 Willys Jeep from a guy who lives in
Edwards,Mississippi about 13 miles due West of me.The Jeep has an old
Jack & Heintz electric winch mounted on the front of the Jeep.The guys
big dog had chewed completly through both of those big cables on the
winch.
cuhulin

My wife and son are both E.E.'s and their explanation is that IC's
begin to degrade slowly as a result of impurituies in the wafer.
Simple components like capacitors dry out and resistors begin to open
up. Wish I knew more, but I can hear what they tell me in the radios
I've owned. I owned one of the comparison radios, the Panasonic
RF5000b. Big beast of a 24 pound radio with four antennas. It was
pretty insensitive by any measure. Sure it would catch the big
nighttime SW's but that was about it. Other radios, such as a Radio
Shack DX150b were still pretty sensitive (and still raspy sounding)
after 25 years, so the rate of degradation isn't a constant.


wrote:
I have a few old radios similar to that one.It is true about some of
the
electronic parts in radios degrading in performance over the years.I
wonder why? Moisture in the air gradually getting into the parts and
degrading them? I have been collecting old radios since I was a
kid,most
of them aren't anything special though.Whenever I would see a radio
at
junk shops,fleamarkets,thrift stores and wherever,if it's a radio I
liked and the price was right I would buy it whether it worked or
not.I
own a lot of old tube type radios and transistor radios.Some of them
do
not work at all,some of them sort of work and some of them work ok.
cuhulin

wrote:
My wife and son are both E.E.'s and their explanation is that IC's
begin to degrade slowly as a result of impurituies in the wafer.
Simple components like capacitors dry out and resistors begin to open
up. Wish I knew more, but I can hear what they tell me in the radios
I've owned. I owned one of the comparison radios, the Panasonic
RF5000b. Big beast of a 24 pound radio with four antennas. It was
pretty insensitive by any measure. Sure it would catch the big
nighttime SW's but that was about it. Other radios, such as a Radio
Shack DX150b were still pretty sensitive (and still raspy sounding)
after 25 years, so the rate of degradation isn't a constant.

Do a net search on "eletro-migration".
Over time the electrons carry some of the ions that make
junctions either P or N. Electro-migration increases with heat,
I think it doubles for every 3C degree increase. This is why
overclocking CPUs cn lead to unexpected failures.
Terry

wrote:
wrote:
My wife and son are both E.E.'s and their explanation is that IC's
begin to degrade slowly as a result of impurituies in the wafer.
Simple components like capacitors dry out and resistors begin to
open
up. Wish I knew more, but I can hear what they tell me in the
radios
I've owned. I owned one of the comparison radios, the Panasonic
RF5000b. Big beast of a 24 pound radio with four antennas. It was
pretty insensitive by any measure. Sure it would catch the big
nighttime SW's but that was about it. Other radios, such as a
Radio
Shack DX150b were still pretty sensitive (and still raspy sounding)
after 25 years, so the rate of degradation isn't a constant.

Do a net search on "eletro-migration".
Over time the electrons carry some of the ions that make
junctions either P or N. Electro-migration increases with heat,
I think it doubles for every 3C degree increase. This is why
overclocking CPUs cn lead to unexpected failures.
Terry


JS That's good information. And it's not too surprising that IC's
are temperature sensitive since we use heat sinks and fans to dissipate
heat. Could also be why some of the Radio Shack Pro scanners tended to
die early deaths when a faster crystal was added.

wrote in message
ups.com...

wrote:
My wife and son are both E.E.'s and their explanation is that IC's
begin to degrade slowly as a result of impurituies in the wafer.
Simple components like capacitors dry out and resistors begin to
open
up. Wish I knew more, but I can hear what they tell me in the
radios
I've owned. I owned one of the comparison radios, the Panasonic
RF5000b. Big beast of a 24 pound radio with four antennas. It
was
pretty insensitive by any measure. Sure it would catch the big
nighttime SW's but that was about it. Other radios, such as a
Radio
Shack DX150b were still pretty sensitive (and still raspy
sounding)
after 25 years, so the rate of degradation isn't a constant.

Do a net search on "eletro-migration".
Over time the electrons carry some of the ions that make
junctions either P or N. Electro-migration increases with heat,
I think it doubles for every 3C degree increase. This is why
overclocking CPUs cn lead to unexpected failures.

So, does that mean it might not be a bad idea to
do some restoration work (or have it done) on
the newer radios when they reach 20 years or so,
sort of like the older tube radios?? I imagine that
the caps last longer than the old paper caps or black
beauties, but fixing up an R-70 or an FRG-7700 (if
in otherwise decent shape) hadn't occured to me before.

--Mike L.

I guess it all depends on the age of the radio(s) and how much they need
restoring and how much one wants to spend.We have some Very stormy
weather here right now (Jackson,Mississippi) with straight line winds
and at 3:55 PM this afternoon,I thought that gust of wind was going to
blow my house over. www.wapt.com is the best tv station here for
constant stormy weather reports.There isn't anything that scares me
worst than tornados.Emergency vehicles have been going along Highway 80
since not long after daybreak this morning and they are still going
right now.
cuhulin

Michael Lawson wrote:


wrote in message
ups.com...

wrote:
My wife and son are both E.E.'s and their explanation is that IC's
begin to degrade slowly as a result of impurituies in the wafer.
Simple components like capacitors dry out and resistors begin to
open
up. Wish I knew more, but I can hear what they tell me in the
radios
I've owned. I owned one of the comparison radios, the Panasonic
RF5000b. Big beast of a 24 pound radio with four antennas. It
was
pretty insensitive by any measure. Sure it would catch the big
nighttime SW's but that was about it. Other radios, such as a
Radio
Shack DX150b were still pretty sensitive (and still raspy
sounding)
after 25 years, so the rate of degradation isn't a constant.

Do a net search on "eletro-migration".
Over time the electrons carry some of the ions that make
junctions either P or N. Electro-migration increases with heat,
I think it doubles for every 3C degree increase. This is why
overclocking CPUs cn lead to unexpected failures.

So, does that mean it might not be a bad idea to
do some restoration work (or have it done) on
the newer radios when they reach 20 years or so,
sort of like the older tube radios?? I imagine that
the caps last longer than the old paper caps or black
beauties, but fixing up an R-70 or an FRG-7700 (if
in otherwise decent shape) hadn't occured to me before.

You can't restore ICs, of course, but you can replace auxilary
transistors, capacitors, resistors, etc. I know that some of the older
transistorized clock radios (the ones made in Japan prior to the
microchip age) tended to have the radio die gradually over time. This
happened prior to the motor which flipped the numbers dying. I know that
happened to an old 1971 Juliette which was my first radio. The radio
gradually got weaker and weaker and finally went silent, then the
numbers stopped turning. Those clock radios were pretty cheaply made and
were not worth restoring, but a tabletop SW radio like a 7700 would
definitely be worth restoring if it was otherwise pretty good.


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Yes, for many electronic appliances it ultimately comes down to a
cost-to-repair vs cost-to-replace comparison. And since the relative
price of most new electronic goods continues to drop many older
electronic appliances become disposable.

I remember my parents taking household appliances like a tube-powered
clock radio or a mixer in for repair. Today if the appliance dies it
is just replaced. I'm trying to think of where a TV, Radio or small
appliance repair shop might be in my area, but I'm drawing a complete
blank. Times have changed.


running dogg wrote:
Michael Lawson wrote:


wrote in message
ups.com...

wrote:
My wife and son are both E.E.'s and their explanation is that
IC's
begin to degrade slowly as a result of impurituies in the
wafer.
Simple components like capacitors dry out and resistors begin
to
open
up. Wish I knew more, but I can hear what they tell me in the
radios
I've owned. I owned one of the comparison radios, the
Panasonic
RF5000b. Big beast of a 24 pound radio with four antennas. It
was
pretty insensitive by any measure. Sure it would catch the big
nighttime SW's but that was about it. Other radios, such as a
Radio
Shack DX150b were still pretty sensitive (and still raspy
sounding)
after 25 years, so the rate of degradation isn't a constant.

Do a net search on "eletro-migration".
Over time the electrons carry some of the ions that make
junctions either P or N. Electro-migration increases with heat,
I think it doubles for every 3C degree increase. This is why
overclocking CPUs cn lead to unexpected failures.

So, does that mean it might not be a bad idea to
do some restoration work (or have it done) on
the newer radios when they reach 20 years or so,
sort of like the older tube radios?? I imagine that
the caps last longer than the old paper caps or black
beauties, but fixing up an R-70 or an FRG-7700 (if
in otherwise decent shape) hadn't occured to me before.

You can't restore ICs, of course, but you can replace auxilary
transistors, capacitors, resistors, etc. I know that some of the
older
transistorized clock radios (the ones made in Japan prior to the
microchip age) tended to have the radio die gradually over time. This
happened prior to the motor which flipped the numbers dying. I know
that
happened to an old 1971 Juliette which was my first radio. The radio
gradually got weaker and weaker and finally went silent, then the
numbers stopped turning. Those clock radios were pretty cheaply made
and
were not worth restoring, but a tabletop SW radio like a 7700 would
definitely be worth restoring if it was otherwise pretty good.


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News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
120,000+ Newsgroups
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