The Reorg

Nothing new in the log since Monday.

During my lunch hour on Thursday, I spent about 15 minutes listening on the AM radio in my Subaru and conditions were excellent. Nothing new for the log, but most of the stations were stronger than usual on probably the coldest day of the winter, so far. Go figure.

I took some photos of the radio shack after its reorganization over the holidays. The photo below provides a good view of the current layout. The second photo is the same as the first with the addition of the annotations.

During the reorg, I found a sock buried among the wires and cables under the desk. Squeaky, our kleptomaniac cat, is probably responsible for the sock's relocation.

Surfin’: Whacking Radios

This week, Surfin’ discovers a new way of fixing radios.

Fixing My Realistic Astronaut 8

About 10 years ago, I obtained a Radio Shack Realistic Astronaut 8 circa 1972 multiband receiver at an auction for $1. It had minor cosmetic wear and tear, but functioned like new after I cleaned all the switches and pots.

It had been my working-in-the-garage radio ever since and sits on top of the refrigerator in the back of my workshop.

It is still a mystery to me how it happened, but one day this past spring, the radio fell off the top of the refrigerator and onto the concrete floor.

After the fall, the radio had two problems.

1.   Its handle came apart, but I was able to put it back together easily.

2.   The bottom of the red pointer that moves across the dial became dislodged. Instead of moving freely in its groove, the bottom of the pointer now dragged along the clear plastic window of the radio dial. As a result, whenever I changed frequency, the top of the pointer moved along as it should, while the rest of the pointer followed along at a 15-degree angle. In addition, the drag caused the dial mechanism to move slowly and roughly, so I figured that eventually the dial mechanisim would fail.

I sought out instructions on how to disassemble the radio, so I could get the pointer back in its groove.

I searched the Internet for instructions, but found none, so I decided to fly solo and take the radio apart without help. There were no screws at the front of the radio where the damage had been done, so I had to start at the back of the radio and work my way toward the front from the inside.

The back of the radio came off easily, but when I saw the guts of the radio, the prospect of disassembling it all and reassembling it correctly looked very daunting. I studied the problem for awhile, loosened a few screws to see what that would do, but concluded that this was a mission impossible.

I reassembled what I had disassembled and powered up the radio to make sure it still worked. It still worked and I resigned myself to living with the out-of-groove pointer until the dial mechanism gave up the ghost.

Then I thought if the force of hitting the floor caused the pointer to slip out of the groove, maybe I could use force to get it back in the groove (assuming there was no other damage to the dial mechanism that I did not detect).

So I gave the front of the radio a good whack with my open hand and lo and behold, the pointer jumped back in its groove and the dial mechanism now works as Radio Shack had intended.  

RadioShack Seeking Suggestions for DIY Parts

(This story appeared on ARRL News earlier this week.)

“RadioShack is now looking for input from us, as members of the larger DIY community, on parts we’d like to see them carry. There’s a video explaining what they’re looking for, and a place to add comments.”

Read the rest of the story here.

Surfin’: Buyin’ Parts

This week, Surfin’ waxes nostalgic about buying radio parts at the local electronics emporium.