05-29-2026, 09:58 PM
Mike;
The antenna coils on the S-42A and J-82 were vertically mounted, in the S-42 I had to remove it as one of the windings had a wire broken off, and the assembly was held in by a sheet metal screw into the chassis, so once desoldered from the set it lifted right out. The J-82 has a big block condenser much like your set has, but they stupidly included some dry electrolytics inside, so those had to be replaced, the rest were bypass caps, underneath I had to remove the tuning condenser and oscillator coil to access some parts of the set. One thing these sets all have in common is that they mounted the IF transformers against the rear, underside portion of the chassis, just to make it even more crowded, unless the intent was to somehow make alignment easier.
I don't know what was expected of the repairman in replacing those block condensers, the G.E parts list on the J-82 shows it being sold as an assembly. Unlike a Philco they didn't even have a terminal board in the base, just a bundle of wires coming out, and I guess you were supposed to pry up those tabs to get the old block out, and bend them over on the new block to hold it in. Needless to say the serviceman clipped off the leads to the filter caps in the can, and just mounted replacements under the chassis. The S-42 used Mershon caps like a Philco 90, so it's just bypass caps in it's can.
Regards
Arran
The antenna coils on the S-42A and J-82 were vertically mounted, in the S-42 I had to remove it as one of the windings had a wire broken off, and the assembly was held in by a sheet metal screw into the chassis, so once desoldered from the set it lifted right out. The J-82 has a big block condenser much like your set has, but they stupidly included some dry electrolytics inside, so those had to be replaced, the rest were bypass caps, underneath I had to remove the tuning condenser and oscillator coil to access some parts of the set. One thing these sets all have in common is that they mounted the IF transformers against the rear, underside portion of the chassis, just to make it even more crowded, unless the intent was to somehow make alignment easier.
I don't know what was expected of the repairman in replacing those block condensers, the G.E parts list on the J-82 shows it being sold as an assembly. Unlike a Philco they didn't even have a terminal board in the base, just a bundle of wires coming out, and I guess you were supposed to pry up those tabs to get the old block out, and bend them over on the new block to hold it in. Needless to say the serviceman clipped off the leads to the filter caps in the can, and just mounted replacements under the chassis. The S-42 used Mershon caps like a Philco 90, so it's just bypass caps in it's can.
Regards
Arran
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