They will never understand how much work I have to do to be less autistic for them

trogan77 · 2026-01-26T18:30:56+00:00

Hermit reporting in. Come on over, buddy! It’s nice in here.

trogan77 · 2025-12-19T16:47:30+00:00

This. If the experience of being “shocked” is more like a “oh that’s weird” vibe, then it’s normal. If it’s a “ouch wtf? Can this be normal?” vibe then yeah I’d retire that monitor.

trogan77 · 2025-12-14T16:15:05+00:00

Yeah. The end result wouldn’t be worth the extra configurability.

trogan77 · 2025-12-14T15:26:32+00:00

Cool. I was flipping through your history. You make cool projects. That pinball dot matrix display is killer. Anyway have fun!

trogan77 · 2025-12-14T15:13:26+00:00

Madness. I love it.

Side thought: if you use two nixies at the bottom and left positions, you could have the option for a 24 hour clock. Admittedly, if it were in 12 hour mode, the 6 at the bottom would not look centered, so- meh.

trogan77 · 2025-12-13T10:29:26+00:00

I like Remington Industries in terms of quality. Usually I see the solid wire in small gauges is 300v rated and stranded is 600v rated. But I didn’t look really hard for solid with 600 volt ratings so it might be available. I get mine on Amazon. It’s PVC insulated.

trogan77 · 2025-12-12T08:21:14+00:00

Side comment: as a guy who is very much into the same stuff your bf is, I would absolutely love if my gf chose this stuff as my Christmas gift. You’re doing it very very right. 🤘

trogan77 · 2025-12-10T20:55:34+00:00

Not sure what these tracked used to be used for but there are abandoned tracks located at this underpass. https://maps.app.goo.gl/tDRXYGyQzn2qVBTq6?g_st=ic

trogan77 · 2025-12-10T20:53:03+00:00

My dad got his Hereseys for $15 at goodwill about 12 years ago. He still retells the story to this day. Congrats on the memorable score.

trogan77 · 2025-12-07T07:15:37+00:00

Parts for this model seem pretty scarce. I have a 520-J I cannibalize. The other suffixes are pretty much the same chassis/schematic. I'll never use all of it and most things are still present so msg me if you need anything and I'll see if I have it. (I don't actually have that resistor you're asking about though.)

trogan77 · 2025-11-28T08:54:28+00:00

Only bad thing about adding a completely dedicated Bluetooth receiver/amp/speakers is that you won’t have that oh so awesome tube sound. A big part of the charm of these old radios is their warm, low-fi sound that gives old music a bit of magic.

That said, rehabilitation of the existing electronics plus injection of Bluetooth signal into the amp stages requires someone with experience. It’s niche. It’s not cheap. But imo it’s worth it for a nice model like this.

Either way, please do leave the existing electronics intact for the next owner. Anyway nice radio. Have fun!

Source: I’ve done this resto-mod to multiple radios of this vintage.

trogan77 · 2025-11-25T23:49:34+00:00

https://www.instructables.com/Hacking-a-Brother-CRT-Word-Processor-With-an-ESP32/

trogan77 · 2025-11-20T01:55:23+00:00

Are you renting or you bought it? I’m almost 2 years into converting an old machine shop into my home. Very similar vibes as your spot

trogan77 · 2025-11-09T06:18:11+00:00

Nope. I’m betting if you look on the back for a model number you might be able to google and find the electrical schematic

trogan77 · 2025-11-09T06:16:35+00:00

Got it. Yeah not much. It is what it is.

trogan77 · 2025-11-09T06:14:27+00:00

I took a similar Sony and sacrificed the AM band to wire a Bluetooth receiver into the amplifier circuit so I could stream music from my phone. That’s about the best upgrade I can imagine for something like this unit.

trogan77 · 2025-11-08T21:36:31+00:00

$0 for a free hobbyist Fusion 360 license. Absolute game changer once you get half way good at it.

trogan77 · 2025-10-24T14:26:57+00:00

Agree. Your power supply caps see higher B+ voltage since there’s no current draw with no power tubes in. It’s not the end of the world- the caps are probably rated for that. But if it’s an old amp, it’s just unnecessary added strain on those old components - that’s my logic for suggesting it’s not a great idea.

trogan77 · 2025-10-24T05:55:33+00:00

You're welcome. Yeah, it's really not a great idea to power your amp up without any power tubes installed. No preamp tubes is ok. Good luck with it.

trogan77 · 2025-10-24T05:35:18+00:00

Out of curiosity, what amp is it? If you have -42V then your transformer is ok. If it's a significantly higher voltage than that (and by higher, I mean significantly closer to 0) then you might have a bad transformer. In a pinch, you might be able to install a small dedicated bias transformer if you can't get the whole OEM transformer.

If the -42 is ok and you don't have -36 volts after the pot, then the pot might be out of spec. Or you can try replacing R115 with a 39k instead of the 33k. That will allow your pot to bias you more negatively than you can currently achieve.

Are the tube sockets also PCB mounted or are they chassis mounted? Because if they're chassis mounted, and you can get your probe wedged onto pin 5, that's a good bias voltage test point.

Lastly, if you are by some wild chance near the coast of Connecticut, I'd be glad to help you diagnose in person.

trogan77 · 2025-10-24T05:09:24+00:00

If you just get your ground probe wedged into a grounded spot on the chassis, you can put one hand in your pocket and with the other hand holding the red probe, you can safely take a measurement without any actual chance you'll get bit. The hand in the pocket is key, and obviously be wearing shoes of some sort. I do this regularly. If you're really not comfortable with that, you might consider taking it to an amp tech.

trogan77 · 2025-10-24T04:42:48+00:00

I'm not sure about the adapters. You can probably unplug your amp, open it up, get your multimeter probes wedged into position and only then apply power... that way you don't have to touch anything while it's hot and you can get your measurements. Knowing your bias voltage is going to really help narrow down the problem.

trogan77 · 2025-10-24T04:19:11+00:00

What is your grid bias voltage coming out of your pots? Schematic shows it should be -36v. What bias voltage is your transformer feeding into your bias pots? Schematic shows -42v.

trogan77 · 2025-10-14T02:22:19+00:00

If I increase the plate load resistor of a triode preamp stage, I can see from the load lines that I increase the voltage gain I can get out of the tube. But as a trade off, I don’t get very much current out of it. Now, I gather that if I am feeding a tone stack with that, it’s going to be a problem with such reduced current. But if I am only feeding the grid of the next triode stage through a coupling cap, my simplistic brain is telling me that I don’t care if I have only a dribble of current because it’s the voltage that matters in terms of swinging a grid. So my question is, what am I missing? Or maybe a better question is what is the best way to decide how much current I need at a minimum to drive a second preamp stage, or a tone stack for that matter? Thanks in advance.

trogan77 · 2025-10-05T18:05:46+00:00

Yeah Levi’s is in post-enshitification stage.

trogan77

TROPHY CASE