I love this little unit, it has a great radio reception probably better than a number of Sony Walkmans I have worked on to be honest. It has arrived in good cosmetic condition with only a few dinks and scratches commensurate with its 30 year plus age.
Radio works well
On opening up the unit it’s patently obvious that this is another drive belt issue, it’s saggy and breaks on removal. Luckily I have a replacement belt that I purchased earlier.
It’s another saggy worn belt issue
And that is basically it. No major dramas it’s as simple as replacing the belt.
Speed adjuster circled
A bit of light grease on the gears, a tweak of the speed adjustment and all sounds as it should.
I’ve used a calibration tape with a 3Khz sine wave, it’s tuned in pretty close to the tone and I’ve used a downloaded oscillator software package to check the matching. It’s not a professional setup but it’s fine for my requirements.
All working with a new belt
Sorry there is nothing else much to write but I have a good working unit that plays tapes well and all I can say is I’ve saved yet another easily repairable unit from landfill. I already have someone who wants to take this one off my hands so I hope it will have many more years of trouble free operation.
The initial report of the purchase stated the issue was solely with the tape playback and that every else works fine. Cosmetically it looks fine apart from a bit of cleaning that is needed in the battery compartment, touch wood there isn’t any battery corrosion.
New belt kit
I’ve kind of jumped the gun a bit here in ordering a set of new drive belts for the unit, the fact it is 33 years old now probably means it would be money well spent. ( I may order a stock of belts for any future projects that I partake in) The belts alone were £6.95GBP so that now takes the total for this project to around £26.00GBP in total, but I’m going to use this personally so I’m not too concerned. In good condition and in full working order I could still make a small profit on this so at this stage I’m not too concerned.
The unit arrived on the 29th April. It is in a very good cosmetic state and all the lettering on the buttons is intact, a few small scratches and battle scars as expected but overall very good.
Radio and all button functions work fine, when you push any of the cassette buttons you can hear the motor run so no issues there. Let’s get this package dismantled.
Once inside the most obvious issue is that the belts have turned to mush.
Broken rotted beltsWhat’s left of the old belts
I remove what’s left of the old belts, give a good clean to the cams and reinstall new belts that I have purchased earlier. A little bit of grease to the moving parts and cogs and all moving smoothly. As I’m doing this I notice a problem that I was not expecting, there seems to be a damaged cog, see the video below:
Damaged cog
Well, that’s a bummer as I’m going to have to obtain a donor for a new cog on the fast forwarding capstan, I’m hoping they are all pretty much standard so I will keep an eye out for a cheap option to repair. Whilst checking the system out it becomes apparent that this cog is specific to the fast forward operation so as long as I don’t use this then it should all be ok…shouldn’t it?
New belts installed
In theory yes, however every now and then when in play mode there is a slight dip in quality so I’m not going to chance damage to a tape.
Conclusion: it’s fixed, sort of. I’m looking for a donor cog that will fully fix the issue, the radio is fine, tapes can be played it’s just that I don’t really want to damage any until this issue is sorted. It’s a shame as it really was just those rotten belts that needed replacing. I’m pleased with what has been accomplished, yet again another 30+ year old electronic item has been saved from landfill. That’s a result.
The last live performance I saw was the Ukrainian national ballet and opera version of Puccinis “La Boheme” at the Demontfort hall in Leicester city centre.
La Boheme
Now you are probably thinking I’m a high brow poncey stuck up operatic lovey, you couldn’t be further from the truth. My music choice ranges from operatic, to big band sound, through disco and hip hop all the way through to seriously heavy metal and anything in between. If I like the sound I’ll go see the group that made it.
It’s good to have a variety of music to admire. My love of operatic and chamber music goes down to my total admiration of musicians who can play these beautiful instruments and make such wonderful sounds with them. And that’s why I appreciate live music and will attend a concert whenever I get the chance.
My favourite group is another question though, and that group is REM. As they are no longer around I’m off to see a tribute band to them called “Stipe” that will be in my area next month. I’m looking forward to that.
The radio was received earlier today. Cosmetically it is a bit tatty, batteries were placed into it and apart from a quick flash from the power light when it was switched on there was no sign of life. So the original description was false as it stated that it powered up with a very low volume. Oh well, not to worry, it now gives us something else to look at.
Tatty appearance
Looking in the battery compartment there looks to be corrosion, this seems to be a common problem with items I’m buying at the moment. The screws have all been tampered with so I suspect others have been inside this radio prior to my purchase, this could be interesting to see what’s already been tampered with or attempted.
Tatty appearance, non workingCorrosion….again
I’ve had the unit open and the first thing that comes to light is the utter filth inside. The speaker is thick with god knows what and the board and switches are also covered in the same filth. Before I do anything I’m going to get this cleaned up.
Filthy circuit boardDirt from speakerCorrosion
I’ve used IPA on the board and cover and on the (thankfully small) corrosion on the positive battery pole and this has cleaned up nice. I’ve used contact cleaner on all the switches and dials and these have also come up ok.
Speaker before cleanSpeaker after clean
The speaker grill, I have tidied up and used permanent marker to get rid of the marks on this item. This has tidied it up really nicely.
Tatty appearance Grill after polish and touch up
On the speaker I just used a dry cotton bud to wipe it over but I have my suspicions with this speaker, it looks quite worn and earlier reports on the lack and consistency of sound points to this being a potential issue with this unit. There are no clicks and pops when turning the unit on, there is a power and tuning light. Just no sound.
Speaker defective Multimeter to check speaker
The speaker is a 4 ohm 1w speaker, I’ve used a multimeter to check its operation and it’s showing as dead, not registering at all, it should be looking at indicating something within its 4 ohm range. I’ve double checked it by putting a battery across the terminals and there are no pops or clicks so this confirms things. I now need to source a new speaker.
Trying to source this speaker in the uk is a tad problematic. There are items available but I’m not paying out two to three times the value of the whole unit. I’m going to try some thrift shops to see if there are any suitable donor units available if not I’ll have to purchase a few of them from China, and that will still be cheaper than purchasing here in the UK, crazy isn’t it? But it’s a long wait….
I did manage to get one from the Uk. Paid about £5.18GBP and it should be here in a couple of days. The annoying thing is that the postage is almost the same cost as the actual speaker and that only cost £2.69GBP. Annoying though that is, it has to be done if we want to get this fixed.
New speaker Speaker placed
I couldn’t get a 1w 4 ohm speaker only a 1w 8 ohm speaker, this will be fine as at this level of use it will not affect output at all.
A small bit of desoldering, removal of the speaker clamp and the speaker comes away after a little persuasion. I take the opportunity to clean the board and all the battery contacts with some cleaner, and all corrosion marks and debris are now a thing of the past.
Corrosion cleaned
I put some contact adhesive on the speaker grill and put the new speaker in place, clamp is attached and I now solder the speaker wires back in place.
All screws back in place, new batteries in the rear and battery hat hatch closed, the unit looks good.
But does it work?
Radio works – have a listen
You betcha! Have a listen to the short video above to hear it as it should be.
I’m very pleased with this little project. Simple repair in the end but in my eyes it’s another item that isn’t going to landfill. And that’s a win for me, as it’s a nice little radio and I’m going to get some good use out of this.
I could answer this question easily and say “Nothing”. Next question please.
I’m not active in anything currently but I have done the litter picking thing just like many people have stated, I’ve gardened for the elderly I’ve done shopping for them, I’ve recycled old cameras and passed them on to community groups, but to be honest, as I’ve stated in previous posts in my community there needs to be some community spirit and to be totally clear there is none of that around here.
There are so many isolated groups of people unwilling to interact with each other in this city, as in other sizeable cities and this makes developing a community spirit nigh on impossible.
The person who can break that cycle and develop community spirit will get my vote for office.
What’s a job you would like to do for just one day?
To be honest there is no job I would like to do for a day, however if I’m pushed I’d probably like to do the job of my boss, because:
I’ve done his job before and I’d just like to prove to him just how totally incompetent, useless, untrustworthy and disorganised he is. No malice intended here, he just is all four of the above. He has the man management skills of a Gibbon on heat, and you can’t talk to him about anything personal without someone else finding out about it. If things don’t go his way he just throws his toys out of the pram, a total incompetent being paid by a similarly incompetent and disorganised company.
Most mornings I discuss these questions with my wife as I use this blog like a journal that I used to keep beside my bed. In that journal I used to write my feelings and fears and left it there for her to read so she never had to worry about me hiding anything from her, being a blokey bloke sometimes you just can’t talk, this was my way of dealing with it.
Anyway I’m drifting here. The reason I discuss these things with the wife is that she sometimes knows me better than I know myself. She jokingly said to me that “I give you directions” however I corrected her and said yes, that’s right for directions, but this is direction in the singular sense.
Targets
What gives me Direction?
For me I have to have goals or targets in everything I do. I give myself a timescale on all my projects, I set myself small targets in pretty much everything. Even holidays are booked to have that something to aim for and the next holiday is usually already booked before we depart on the first one, ensuring continuity in timescales.
It all sounds very anal I know, but it keeps me in line and I’m happy if I’ve got something to aim for.
That’s direction for me. Look forward and don’t spend too much time dwelling in the past.
Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?
The respect quote is big for me and this picture below says it all:
Respect
The reason I put my dog up as the main picture for this post, is that he being a simple small canine he has this as his goal in life both to me and my wife and he delivers this daily without question.
Now let’s talk about humans….. nah I can’t be bothered to waste my time we’ll end it there.
Just purchased this item, here is what the listing said:
Radio works fine but the cassette is poor at playing tapes as the sound quality is really slow.
EBay
Aiwa HS-TX406
Yet another Cassette player circa 1990. Again possibly another one that needs its drive belt renewing, so in that case I’ll order one in. This one cost the grand total of £9.95GBP.
This link takes you to Radio museum.org where you see the technical detail of this unit : Aiwa HS-TX406
Good question, I’m sure the majority of people would link this question to work, however the company I work for has so burnt me out that I just don’t feel productive in the paid work sense. I’m just tired, tired of the politics and tired of the individuals now in place as managers who to be honest would struggle to arrange a P*** up in a brewery, I am physically tired.
Old drayman cart
I would say I’m more productive in the home environment. The wife has recently given some deadlines for jobs to be done in and around the house and that’s where I find myself most productive. See here for an example: The best laid plans and all that…Pt2. I work good to timelines and can manage my productivity really well in these instances.
I just don’t get that at work anymore, however i will always be 100% professional in my role.
I’m probably more use at work as an old secure pair of hands, so I’m taking a step back from the productivity and letting the youngsters make the decisions and to take the lead in these cases and just helping out when needed… is that being productive? I don’t think so, but they say age related discrimination dosen’t exist. I beg to differ.
Foxes Den 
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