10-10-2025, 03:55 PM
Hi everyone,
It's been a while for me. I thought you folks might be interested in my Sky Rover radio made by Belmont 777 Series C. The cabinet is in pretty decent shape for its age. Unfortunately, I did not take a picture prior to removing the chassis. I replaced all the electrolytics and paper capacitors. I also replaced some of the dog bone resistors, some I left in place because they were well within tolerance, most within 5%. Not sure how they will fair out when they get warm, but so far, the radio is working just fine. It was designed for a long wire antenna, but the 12" or so that is exiting the chassis allows me to get 12-15 AM stations. We do have a 50,000 watt station only 5 miles away so it comes in rather strong. I still have to check the alignment, but the dial seems to be pretty accurate. This radio has the weirdest tuning mechanism I've run across. The original plastic disk was warped, deteriorated and cracked so it was useless. I cut a new disk out of a more rigid plastic and had to taper the rim so it fit into a very narrow 'pulley' (see close up picture). As you can see from the chassis front view, I still need to do some more fiddling to get the dial exactly horizontal.
I did have to replace 3 tubes. Other than that, the electrical restoration was fairly straightforward. As you can see, I'm not trying to restore the chassis exactly like it used to look. The 2 can electrolytics have not been replaced. One of the cans is insulated from the chassis and the rubber insulation was so deteriorated I didn't trust it. So, there is now a hole when the can used to be. I did add a line fuse for some peace of mind. A 3AG 1A slow blow fuse has been adequate.
Now it's on to some cabinet restoration work.
Rich
It's been a while for me. I thought you folks might be interested in my Sky Rover radio made by Belmont 777 Series C. The cabinet is in pretty decent shape for its age. Unfortunately, I did not take a picture prior to removing the chassis. I replaced all the electrolytics and paper capacitors. I also replaced some of the dog bone resistors, some I left in place because they were well within tolerance, most within 5%. Not sure how they will fair out when they get warm, but so far, the radio is working just fine. It was designed for a long wire antenna, but the 12" or so that is exiting the chassis allows me to get 12-15 AM stations. We do have a 50,000 watt station only 5 miles away so it comes in rather strong. I still have to check the alignment, but the dial seems to be pretty accurate. This radio has the weirdest tuning mechanism I've run across. The original plastic disk was warped, deteriorated and cracked so it was useless. I cut a new disk out of a more rigid plastic and had to taper the rim so it fit into a very narrow 'pulley' (see close up picture). As you can see from the chassis front view, I still need to do some more fiddling to get the dial exactly horizontal.
I did have to replace 3 tubes. Other than that, the electrical restoration was fairly straightforward. As you can see, I'm not trying to restore the chassis exactly like it used to look. The 2 can electrolytics have not been replaced. One of the cans is insulated from the chassis and the rubber insulation was so deteriorated I didn't trust it. So, there is now a hole when the can used to be. I did add a line fuse for some peace of mind. A 3AG 1A slow blow fuse has been adequate.
Now it's on to some cabinet restoration work.
Rich
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