Videokarma.org

Go Back   Videokarma.org TV - Video - Vintage Television & Radio Forums > Transistor Radio

We appreciate your help

in keeping this site going.
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 06-21-2015, 10:13 PM
Adam's Avatar
Adam Adam is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 2,344
1980 Realistic clock radio

While perhaps not as interesting as my 1973 GE digital clock radio I posted about a few years ago with the old style plug in vfd tubes, I picked this up as I was hoping to use the GE as a desk radio, and get another one for the bedroom. But this still uses a blue vfd display which I think is better looking than the red led ones. It also has stereo FM and displays the date as well as the time.

This initially had very little sound out of the left speaker. The problem turned out to be 2 bad electrolytic coupling capacitors. Having the schematic glued to the bottom so I didn't have to go looking for one was nice, but it was in such small print I needed to get out a magnifying glass in order to read the part numbers on it. The radio dial light was also out. It was an unusually shaped light, but I had one I believe was part of a kit to replace all the bulbs in a Marantz receiver that I had only used part of, that was nearly a perfect fit.

The hard part of repairing this was those two aluminum pieces on the sides. They just glue over the plastic case, but were pretty banged up on both sides. One side I managed to get back into shape easily, but I wound up needing to use a little bondo on the other. Then I still needed to paint both pieces silver, so they would look the same.

Last edited by Adam; 05-14-2016 at 02:33 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 06-21-2015, 10:49 PM
dishdude's Avatar
dishdude dishdude is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 821
Looks like it turned out nice! I like it.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 06-22-2015, 10:14 AM
centralradio centralradio is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 1,097
Wow what a classic.Looks great .Radio Shack was always great in supplying the schematic on the unit or in the owners manual back then.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 06-22-2015, 11:35 AM
Jon A.'s Avatar
Jon A. Jon A. is offline
Don't mess with Esther.
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Canada
Posts: 4,267
I like those displays. I assume all units like that use a blue diffuser, not sure if the display itself is blue. That was the case with my malfunctioning model 229, which I still have the VFD from.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 06-22-2015, 12:45 PM
Adam's Avatar
Adam Adam is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 2,344
I've had it plugged in since last night, it's still keeping good time. I never tried to repair the clock part of one of these clock radios, so I don't really know too much about how these electronic clocks and displays work. I got interested in these electronic digital clock radios because the mechanical clocks always seem to make too much noise and keep me awake.

Here's a pic of my 73 GE which shows the vfd tubes. This is the only model clock radio I've seen that uses the actual tubes in the clock display. I'm surprised they never made a nixie clock radio, but I've never seen one.

Last edited by Adam; 05-14-2016 at 02:33 AM.
Reply With Quote
Audiokarma
  #6  
Old 06-22-2015, 06:55 PM
Jon A.'s Avatar
Jon A. Jon A. is offline
Don't mess with Esther.
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Canada
Posts: 4,267
Well, that's interesting. I wonder if nixies would swap in.

What's the model number of that one?
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 06-23-2015, 04:14 PM
jr_tech's Avatar
jr_tech jr_tech is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 4,510
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon A. View Post
I like those displays. I assume all units like that use a blue diffuser, not sure if the display itself is blue. That was the case with my malfunctioning model 229, which I still have the VFD from.
The display phosphor itself is a pale blue-green... some applications used a blue filter and some used a green filter to display the desired color. Here is a pix of the bare tube lit up.

http://bedzine.com/blog/wp-content/u...m-Clocks-1.jpg

jr
Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:43 AM.



Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
©Copyright 2012 VideoKarma.org, All rights reserved.