Hello All,

Another $5 radio... An unwanted "orphan" on its way to a good home... A Panasonic R-109 from 1963-64.

Wouldn't have even given this radio a second look if it hadn't been for the "phrase" printed above the tuning dial---and the fact I haven't been able to find an earlier Panasonic AM set with that feature... Take a look at Ebay pic below... And stay tuned for "project" details when it arrives...

And as always, would like to hear from anyone with experience with this set...

Thanks... John

Nice!
And has a dial light too!

Thanks RepairTech...

John.... that looks like a fun project.
Should clean up nicely. Wonder what the schematic looks like... hmmmmm.

~ Mitch ~

I wonder the same thing Mitch---and am looking forward to seeing its "guts"...

Wonder what the best polish is for that large plastic dial cover ?

John

This is in TSM-35

I have TSM-35. Schematic sent to John. Hope this helps.
Have no idea which polish would be best, tho.

~ Mitch ~

Hey Mitch---thanks much for scans ! Sure appreciate you help. Am taking thumb-drive to work tomorrow to download the large files since I have dial-up here...

Have read that several here have used Novus plastic polish, but wonder if it is suitable for clear plastic ? Will have to see how it cleans up once it arrives---might not need it...

John

Np there John. I prolly scanned them at too high dpi.

Novus works just fine for see-thru items. We used it at my old job for clear acrylic.

~ Mitch ~

its a CD player. doesnt look that old

Hey Mitch---got scans downloaded today & they're great ! Thanks again !
Looks like there's a bunch of 'lytics in this one, including some unusual low values...

tubeAMP---someone said the same thing about my old Westinghouse a long while back...
Since the Photofact date is 1964, radio was probably made in 1963...

John

Radio arrived today---with issues that couldn't be seen in seller's pics... Front panel bent in slightly just right of speaker center & bug infestation ( eggs & dry "remains" ) which I took pics of and vacuumed... Looked something like large roach "parts"...

Electronically, radio completely dead though dialight does work---probably caps...

Tried to remove chassis per instructions on inner cover, but tuning dial won't come out & no info in Sams about disassembly... No time right now to investigate further, but want to know if there is insect damage to speaker...

Radio is much smaller than I thought---same size as Sony TR-84, but about a 1/2" deeper.
Suprisingly, knobs are solid metal...

John

Worked on set a little tonight---tried to move PCB just enough to gain access to caps, but can't because of tight wiring... Have to remove chassis 1st, but can't find simple way to do so since part of tuning mechanism attached to front panel ! Looks like there are two small phillips screws to remove this, but have to put a lot of strain on dial cord and hold chassis in different, specific positions to gain access to them, then somehow manipulate this & tuning pointer through slot at an angle ! Am concerned about dial cord and very thin plastic wheel on tuning cap as well as tuning pointer... VERY poor design...

Anyone worked on one of these before ??? Just don't want to risk damage...

John

...some of those early transistor radios with slide-rule dials used a clamping arrangement to attach the tuning pointer to the dial cord. I'm not sure if this is one of them or not. Usually you would have to set the tuning dial to a specific location (such as the low end), then use a thin flat-blade screwdriver to loosen the screw that was used to clamp the pointer. Complicating this is the fact that the whole thing would usually be covered with paint, which would have to be removed first...
...at any rate, if this is one of those radios, you'll need to unclamp the pointer and free the dial cord before trying to remove the innards...

Thanks, FM Refugee, for the great suggestion---hadn't thought of that, so inspected the dial cord to pointer "connection"... Unfortunately, it simply had small metal tabs which were crimped on cord & glued---don't think it could be undone without damage... Since the pointer "track" is screwed onto front panel, will have to very carefully attempt to remove it when I have time---hopefully this weekend...

Doesn't the plastic dial plate tabs release from inside?

Hello RepairTech---the tabs appear to be melted and/or glued to plastic front panel, which I may also try to "undo" to clean bug debris & web residue which is inside... Sure wonder what Panasonic engineers intended techs to do to service this set ! It does seem to be too well built to be a "throwaway"... The dialamp is easy to access & replace !

John

Got the chassis removed tonight---found that the dial pointer assembly would slide off of the guide when chassis tilted & pulled away slightly from front panel... But there was a mishap as pointer caught edge and most of "flourescent" red paint chipped off---was angry, but the brass pointer doesn't look too bad after removing rest of paint...

Will probably recap tomorrow... Can see one already that the end has "popped" out of casing...

And the neat miniature 3-gang open-air variable cap is smallest of its type I've seen so far...

John

Hello All,

Got this radio finished today---a little frustrating, but worthwhile project...

10 electrolytics---including some low values ( .3 uF, .5 uF, 1uf ), which I replaced with non-polarized polyester caps which I had in an old Siemens engineering sample kit...

Antenna loopstick was "flopping" around loose in cabinet due to crumbled rubber support bushings---the brackets themselves were aluminum and had bendable tangs which clamped on these bushings to hold it securely in place... Had a small piece of scrap hi-temp rubber gasket material which was the same thickness---so cut narrow strips which fit into openings, seated ferrite, and carefully bent tangs. All secure !

Reattached wire which had pulled off of loopstick & repaired wire on battery holder which was "hanging" on by a few strands... Also, cleaned chassis & electronics...

Powered up & tuned many stations all across band ( hot little set ! ), but very low audio...
Re-checked caps & sampled levels from detector output to finals with signal tracer---appeared that driver stage bad, so measured voltages & found that transistor had severe EB leakage... Found direct sub in parts bin, replaced, and WOW ! Impressive sound & volume for such a small set ! But what a headache reinstalling dialcord on pointer tabs !

As far as cosmetics---found that I could maneuver part of a Q-tip with small needlenose into space between dial plastic & background panel to remove more insect debris & spiderwebs. Reattached knob backing plate with Permatex Ultra-Black sensor safe RTV ( which has worked well on other radio adhesive needs )... Leather case cleaned up well with damp cotton sock... And after trying Isopropyl alcohol on small area, found it cleaned outside surface of dial plastic well... All considered, radio cleaned up much better than I thought...

Pics below... Note how small this set is when compared with the familiar Zenith Royal 500 & Sony TR-84 !

Those older Panasonics always had rich sound.

Want a terrific AM/FM version with BIG sound?

Look for an RF-700!
Excellent tone quality!