Vintage Audio Activities...

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CitroJim
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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by CitroJim »

myglaren wrote: 03 Feb 2021, 18:11
CitroJim wrote: 03 Feb 2021, 17:23

As usual, glue and I don't get on well and I made a mess of it initially but I managed to resolve the situation fairly well... It's never a good idea to let me loose with a tube of glue!
You should have seen the results of me using Gorilla glue on my specs :(

Took many hours to get it off the lenses.

I used it to glue the glass back in my oven door. That went better but there is evidence on the lower oven and the floor still. That was six months ago.
I know exactly what you mean :twisted: I still have a bit of stray glue to get off the dial glass and fingers crossed, now it's cured it'll be OK...

You and I must share the 'keep away from glue' set of genes Steve! :lol:
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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by myglaren »

I used isopropanol and Percywhatsit, lots of Percywhatsit.
Acetone was recommended but was useless.
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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by Peter.N. »

Excellent stuff Jim. I have a couple of Avo's here but rarely use them, generally only on the car for the amps range. I bought a very expensive Fluke meter for work about 40 years or more ago, having destroyed several cheap digital meters, which weren't cheap when they came out and its still going strong in spite of having tried to measure the resistance of the mains on a number of occasions, they seem to be pretty well bomb proof. The LCD screen is degrading, the coating is coming off at the edges but it hasn't intruded on the display yet.

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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by white exec »

An effective solvent for polyurethane adhesive, Bostik, obstinate sticky labels, etc is petrol.
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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by CitroJim »

Peter.N. wrote: 04 Feb 2021, 11:47I bought a very expensive Fluke meter for work about 40 years or more ago, having destroyed several cheap digital meters, which weren't cheap when they came out and its still going strong in spite of having tried to measure the resistance of the mains on a number of occasions, they seem to be pretty well bomb proof. The LCD screen is degrading, the coating is coming off at the edges but it hasn't intruded on the display yet.
I'll agree that Flukes are both good and bomb-proof Peter :) I have two, one is a very old one in the radio workshop, identical to yours I expect :)
oldfluke.jpg
Keeping my vintage Telequipment 'scope and analogue multimeter company :)

And in my car workshop I have this more modern Fluke... Cost me a lot of money at the time but been worth every penny :)
newfluke.jpg
white exec wrote: 04 Feb 2021, 12:22 An effective solvent for polyurethane adhesive, Bostik, obstinate sticky labels, etc is petrol.
Good to know Chris... I succeeded with a bit of brake cleaner... My go-to solvent that seems to work well for me in for all sorts of tasks... And the beauty is, I'm not allergic to it...
myglaren wrote: 04 Feb 2021, 10:51 lots of Percywhatsit.
And a lot of that too :)
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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by Peter.N. »

I think mine is a Fluke 11 Jim.

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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by CitroJim »

This is not very vintage - well, most of it is not ;)

yesterday afternoon I was doing a bit on Daffodil, noting special, just a bit of interior work... I had the DAB radio adaptor on and it slowly started to do odd things and then it failed :evil: :( It became very insensitive ad would barely pull in a signal... very annoying when listening to the rugby :(

I removed it from Daffodil and move it to the radio workshop with the intention of returning it under warranty...

Just before packing it up I tried it again...

Remarkably it performed perfectly on test on the bench powered from a mobile phone booster battery pack...
dabontest.jpg
The DAB receiver is working with this little magmount aerial with my Leak workshop amp. case acting as a ground-plane!
magmount.jpg
The receiver is now on long test and seems OK... I can only assume it's not happy when it's very cold.... It certainly was very, very chilly in the garage with all the doors open yesterday afternoon 🥶

Note my AVO in the background still waiting patiently for reassembly!

I will report back after it's been tested for a longer period but if it is that it fails in the cold then that's poor although it's not unique these days... My old Tom Tom satnav used to refuse to boot when it was cold in the car and the flatscreen TV I use in the conservatory for my Zwift virtual cycling plays up when the weather is cold too, often taking several attempts to get it to boot...
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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by Peter.N. »

When that happened with TV's it was very often the caps in the power supply dried up, probably not so likely to happen on 12 volts though. I used to run round everything with a hairdryer, when I thought I had found it a squirt of freezer would confirm it - or otherwise. :( :?

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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by mickthemaverick »

CitroJim wrote: 07 Feb 2021, 07:36
yesterday afternoon I was doing a bit on Daffodil, nothing special, just a bit of interior work... I had the DAB radio adaptor on and it slowly started to do odd things and then it failed ...........................

The receiver is now on long test and seems OK... I can only assume it's not happy when it's very cold....
Or Daffodil didn't mean it when she agreed for you to update the radio :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :-D
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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by CitroJim »

Peter.N. wrote: 07 Feb 2021, 09:08 When that happened with TV's it was very often the caps in the power supply dried up, probably not so likely to happen on 12 volts though. I used to run round everything with a hairdryer, when I thought I had found it a squirt of freezer would confirm it - or otherwise. :( :?
I can't help feeling things were a lot simpler in those days Peter :roll: I harbour great memories of fault-fining with a can of freezer spray :D

Give me stuff from the 60s and 70s and I feel I stand a very good chance of fixing it... Stuff like the DAB adaptor I rely on pure luck :twisted:
mickthemaverick wrote: 07 Feb 2021, 11:17 Or Daffodil didn't mean it when she agreed for you to update the radio :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :-D
:lol: :lol: You know, I think you may be right Mick ;)

The device has been on test all day and it's been fine on the bench...

The joys of modern technology :roll:
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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by Peter.N. »

I am not proficient in repairing anything that isn't analogue and uses valves Jim. :wink:

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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by CitroJim »

Peter.N. wrote: 07 Feb 2021, 22:59 I am not proficient in repairing anything that isn't analogue and uses valves Jim. :wink:
I'm the same when faced with a device using Surface Mount Devices Peter...

Speaking of which, the Pure DAB car radio adaptor died today... It went totally 'deaf', would not resolve any stations except very briefly and did not recover any sensitivity after a factory reset and an attempted firmware update...

It's now on it's way back to Amazon pending a full refund... I was pleasantly surprised to see just how straightforward it is to return a faulty item to Amazon :)

The most difficult bit was to remove the aerial installation from Daffodil... I made too good a job of it :)

Before I fully condemned the unit I checked our nearest DAB Transmitter was on the air by checking with another DAB radio and looking around 225MHz on my Spectrum Analyser... Three ensembles (DAB Multiplexes) are clearly visible and coming in at good strength on a short length of wire...
DAB Ensembles
DAB Ensembles
The three ensembles visible from left to right are Sound Digital, Digital One and BBC National.

The Spectrum Analyser was duff when I acquired it... A display fault that wrote it off... The display is in essence a little CRT monitor and totally separate to the analyser proper... All it needed was a few electrolytics but being very compact and tightly packed it was quite a mission to dismantle and carry out the repairs...

The unit has seen a lot of past use as the CRT screen has the graticule and some static text well burned into it...
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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by mickthemaverick »

CitroJim wrote: 08 Feb 2021, 16:59
Speaking of which, the Pure DAB car radio adaptor died today... It went totally 'deaf', would not resolve any stations except very briefly and did not recover any sensitivity after a factory reset and an attempted firmware update...

It's now on it's way back to Amazon pending a full refund... I was pleasantly surprised to see just how straightforward it is to return a faulty item to Amazon :)

The most difficult bit was to remove the aerial installation from Daffodil... I made too good a job of it :)

Posting on behalf of Daffodil:

:rofl2: :rofl2: :rofl2: :bd: :bd: :bd: :bd: :bd: :bd: :bd: :lolsign: :lolsign: :lolsign: :lolhit: :lolhit: :lolhit:
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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by CitroJim »

mickthemaverick wrote: 08 Feb 2021, 17:04
Posting on behalf of Daffodil:

:rofl2: :rofl2: :rofl2: :bd: :bd: :bd: :bd: :bd: :bd: :bd: :lolsign: :lolsign: :lolsign: :lolhit: :lolhit: :lolhit:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Love it Mick :-D
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Re: Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

Post by CitroJim »

Amazon have already reimbursed me for the duff DAB car adaptor... Top service from them...

I got a replacement DAB adaptor but went for a different one... I'd lost any confidence in Pure products...

So I chose this Chinese one..
newdab.jpg
This one works brilliantly :) It has a great display, is simple and intuitive to use and even has Bluetooth 'phone/aux. input capability... It will work as a hands-free 'phone adaptor as well as having a MicroSD slot for playing MP3 tracks from a memory card 😮

RF-wise it is incredibly sensitive and picks up rock-solid signals on its active aerial when just dangled from the steel case of my workshop amp!

It squirts out a very strong and clear FM rebroadcast signal for reception on the car radio proper...
dabactiveaerial.jpg
This one comes highly recommended and is incredibly good value at well under £40 :)

I'll install it in Daffodil once the weather warms up a bit... Garage is currently like a deep-freeze 🥶
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