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Don't throw it away!

Radio Retro 2024 Popular Posts

Pie chart shows top 10 posts for 2024 with nearly half looking at Instant Brands air fryer faults

Radio Retro Popular Posts 2024 has become the year of the air fryer judging from Radio Retro’s analytics. I wrote a post about the Instant Pot Vortex Plus Close Basket Fault back in April 2023 and it’s now the most… Continue Reading →

13/01/2025 0

Repair Cafe popular faults and fixes from 2024

Shows the red and black Triang Puff-Puff locomotive. So called as it makes a puff-puff sound from bellows inside the drivers cabin as it's pulled along

Along with the routine work here at Radio Retro, I started volunteering at the local Repair Cafe earlier this year. So I thought it may be interesting to review the various items brought for repair along with their faults and… Continue Reading →

13/01/2025 0

Homebrew 1970s FM Tuner Faults and Fixes

FM Tuner above R2525 amplifier

This follow up to my post Homebrew 1970s Hifi Stereo 25w Amplifier and FM Tuner and details the thinking behind its design, construction and restoration of my home-brew FM Tuner. I cover several faults discovered when powered up after it… Continue Reading →

21/11/2024 2

JVC R-S5 Stereo Receiver Faults and Fixes

Front panel with tuning dial and controls

Do you have a JVC R-S5 or JVC R-S7 receiver fault that is too quiet on FM radio or the sound level generally is poor? This post runs through some possible repairs to fix and restore your receiver to its… Continue Reading →

21/10/2024 0

Homebrew 1970s Hifi Stereo 25w Amplifier and FM Tuner

Teak cased gold panelled FM tuner with touch controls for 6 preset stations and manual tuning. A Nixie tube indicates the selected channel and a red led indicates a stereo programme. Below a matching gold panelled hifi amplifier has an upper row of controls for speaker headphone selection along with volume, treble, bass, balance and input functions. Lower row provides power indication, headphone socket, high / low volume level, 2 stage low pass and high pass filters along with a tape monitor. Perspex overlay protects the Letraset Eurostyle lettering used on tuner and amplifier. Both use contrasting silver spun aluminium control knobs.

Reading Simon Reynolds Retromania – Pop culture’s addiction to its own past – nearly stopped me from writing this post. However, well into Retromania Part 1 I realised nostalgia can inspire as well as expire. So I hope others are… Continue Reading →

29/08/2024 0

Sony Earth-Orbiter CRF-5090

Front side view showing top handle, telescopic aerial and channel selection switch on the right side.

Back in the 1970s I remember a school friend boasting how his father had the best radio ever. The family had been living in the US and brought the radio with them on return to the UK. At the time… Continue Reading →

13/08/2024 0

Pioneer SX-850 Common Faults and Fixes

Front panel with dial and illuminated

Pioneer produced arguably some of the best stereo hifi receivers during the 1970s and you can still find useful examples today. After fifty plus years many need some attention to restore their former glory. This post runs through several ways… Continue Reading →

05/08/2024 0

Uher 4000 Report S Portable Tape Recorder

Uher 4000 Report S tape recorder showing the rotary controls to adjust recording and playback levels along with piano keys for tape operation.

Rescued from the scrap heap this Uher 4000 Report – S portable reel to reel tape recorder was manufactured between 1963 and 1965, superseding the original Uher Report 4000 introduced in 1961. The 4000 S uses a 12 transistor design… Continue Reading →

18/05/2024 0

Pye Piccadilly 6000 transistor radio

Shows the front of a Pye 6000 transistor radio with SW, MW and LW tuning dials. FM is on the top and can't be seen.

No collection of Pye transistor radios would be complete without a Piccadilly 6000. Its sheer size commands attention! Produced in 1966, Pye’s version of the Philips L6X38T is a rare model that I managed to buy at a local boot… Continue Reading →

02/01/2024 2

Sony CVM90UB 9-90UB portable television TV

Shows size comparison with ginger cat

Here’s an nice example of a small portable black and white TV made in Japan by the Sony Corporation in the 1960s. I picked up this one at Ardingly Antiques and Collectables fair a couple of years ago for £5… Continue Reading →

30/12/2023 4
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