Nikko STA-5010

This is a Nikko STA-5010 from goodwill.

This is a tricky unit to get sound out of on the goodwill test bench. I tried getting it working in store but no luck. However I took a chance for the low price and bought it. Instead of having to just get the speakers selected right, you have to do the following to get sound out of it:
hook up your speakers
Select your speakers
set the Tape selector to Source
and then! on the back of the unit change the switch that reads "Pre & Main" to "Connect".
This is very likely the reason it was still there when I got to the store, since I saw at least 2 flippers prowling the aisles.

All Lights work.
This stereo sounds great and I am not sure why it was donated. It is clean, a little dusty inside, I used deoxit on the volume control before turning it on so I am not sure if was scratchy. Oh well mine now! I will not be doing any replacing of parts on this unless it develops a problem.

Heathkit GR-11

From Shopgoodwill.com. Needed a recap, and the 17c9 tube replaced. While cleaning it with denatured alcohol I accidentally removed the Heathkit silk screening from the front.

 Picture taken before the recap.

The unit needs an antenna but gets really good reception. Speaker is a little small. I may put it in a new cabinet later and give it a better speaker. All the plastic standoffs were broken, but I found them inside the radio and epoxied them back on.

That's some mighty fine police work, Lou

Got a call this morning at 6:15am. Unknown number. I answer and a man asks to speak with ****. I'm like "there's no **** here". He says "This number does not belong to an older woman with a walker?"

Wait what?

So somehow when the police report was made they put my number for the number that was on the note. So I gave the "detective" the correct number and we will see what happens.

Old Woman is a Thief

What is this world coming to when strange old women come to your house, fish around in your mailbox and thieve your wife's rolling crate!

Oh and before she does that she leaves a note at the base of your security door with her phone number.

 

Yesterday my wife comes home and discovers the rolling crate she had recently purchased is gone.

I searched the events on the surveillance system and found the following:

If you aren't interested in watching the whole thing:
she comes up our drive way. Looks at our stuff, rings the doorbell and snoops in the mailbox.

she then snoops some more and goes around to the side of the house.

she returns and writes a note that she places in our security door in a location we would have NEVER found.

She empties the crate folds it up and puts it in a plastic bag and takes off.

Today I got home about 6:30pm Called the police non emergency line. Burned a CD of the video. The officer showed up about 7:45 he was here about 30 minutes. He asked what I wanted to do? I wanted to press charges. He watched the video and wrote up a report and said that he did not think anything would come of it. I said "that's fine, since she may be doing this to other people I wanted something on file". I gave him the note and the cd. will they call the number in the note and pursue this? probably not.

So once again... as long as it is not particularly an expensive item that gets thieved, and you do not get personally caught, crime does pay.

Zenith Z374 AM/FM Clock Radio

Picked this up at goodwill. It was sitting on the test table plugged in. I did not even test.

I just bought it. I took it home and initially could not find anything wrong with it.

I did notice one major issue. FM would quit working and you would have to switch from AM to FM to get it back. Then it would drop out again.

I tested all the tubes and found that the 17ew8, and 12be6 were week. The 35c5 was intermittent and probably the reason FM would drop out. replacing all fixed the problem. The only issue remaining is that the alarm function of the switch does not work. I will have to troubleshoot that later.

Eico 377 Signal Generator

Snagged this at a goodwill for an exorbitant price. It did not work, but that was to be expected.

 It will need all new capacitors, of which I have already started working on. This thing has more electrolytic caps than anything I have worked on before.

 I counted 4 discrete caps and 2 dual section capacitors for a total of 8 electrolytic caps and 3 paper caps.

I ran out of 20uf capacitors and had to order more. I also replaced 3 out of spec resistors.

Bradford WTG 61507 AM/FM Radio

Picked this up in Prescott at an antique store. It needed all non ceramic/mylar capacitors replaced. I installed a fuse and an MP3 audio in. Still needs an alignment.

It is a Japanese made radio.

I was not able to find a schematic for it.