What do you guys suggest for replacement of capacitors? I'm just getting started and am not worried about parts looking original.

Plain old yellow caps from any number of vendors.. There is no 'best'.

Thanks.

The green Mylar caps that are available from "www.justradios.com" are excellent .... and they are also the best bang for your buck.
They are available in both 400v and 630v type.
http://www.justradios.com/MYLARcapacitors.html

A quick glance thru common values at Mouser shows them to be the better deal.

Carl

What makes the green Mylar a better deal? Price, performance, reliability?
Vin

They come in bulk. I've used them in test equipment, so far, and had good results. I contacted Dave at JR before I bought them. He told me they weren't as good as the yellow caps but were much better than the original paper caps that were used in the old radios.

I like the price... they measure right at or darn close to stated value and I haven't ever had any of them fail..
So what's not to like?

I like to use radial instead of axial too so they really are small and make it all look neater underneath.
In most cases one end of caps go to ground. So in the old days the axial caps were big and long so they had to find a ground wherever they could at the end of the big ole cap.
But it's best to always seek the nearest ground point so.. ground points are usually everywhere nearby or right on the same tube socket.. so why stretch the new cap to the old distant ground point?
Radial's fit from the active point to the nearest ground so beautifully.

Which isnt saying very much. I use the Panasonic version when I want to get 1% or better tolerance.



Thats fine since all you work on is AA-5's, but in much older sets and those with SW the ground location and component dressing is often critical.

Carl

That's not correct... the shortest path to ground with any capacitor in SW and older sets is always the better design.
...In fact in SW sets and especially at higher frequencies the shorter the leads the better.... right?

lead dress might be critical where audio signals pass by other noisy points and such... but a cap to ground is almost never better than connecting it via the shortest path.

If you don't agree Carl.. please show me a circuit where a cap connects to ground and it is BETTER to not make that path short.

Which isnt saying very much. I use the Panasonic version when I want to get 1% or better tolerance.
Carl[/quote]


Why would you need 1% tolerance caps in an old radio? All 1% means is that the cap will be within 1% of the value stated on the cap. Not necessary for most circuits in old radios.

If a circuit was designed to use an "inferior" distant ground, it may be unstable with a "better" one.

C'mon Alan ... take a breath.. get real:
No engineer worth his degree purposely designs a circuit with an inferior connection to any part of a circuit.
.. c'mon guys stop trying to stretch a weak screwy point.
We are dealing with AM radio here after all... so let's cut the silly ridiculous hair-splitting...lol

For all intents and purposes.. the best ground... is the closest ground....

Tubenut:
What? ...You don't agree?

RF is an art as well as a science. Ground points do matter especially as we go up infrequency. Otherwise why did Ford, Crown, Sherwood, and others call in a particular RF engineer to design certain products?

Seems like nobody agrees with you Peter.

The ONLY way you will understand is to get some large pin 30's radios and see for yourself. Trying to show your ignorance by flaming others is a poor defense.
Carl[/quote]




Where did I say I always use 1%? Its stricty on an as wanted basis.

There are several communications sets that use very low frequency IF's and switichable selectivity using LC circuits. Going to even higher tolerance caps than new can make an amazing difference.

Another uses a CT transformer product detector with 1000pf either side and 10K resistors. Going to 1% helps clean up a long known distortion problem.

Tube type test equipment also can benefit from 1% tolerance if you care about accuracy and actually want to use and believe them.

I also use that level of tolerance in other areas such as building audio filters. With some of todays components it only takes a very small sample of 5% to achieve 1%.

Carl

OMG.. Carl... c'mon!
Flaming?? ...lol
What flaming?

I invited you to simply show me the circuit that is designed for a more distant ground to work properly.
Or that longer capacitor paths to ground are "better" for older radios.
That's a simple technical request discussion statement... no "flaming" there.

And what makes you think I only work with AA5 radios? Where did you get that from?

I have many upon many dozens of restored "large pin 30's radios" ... and I've restored them ALL by choosing a shorter ground in every place a cap goes to ground..
And I assure you they play flawlessly.

Put your technical-supporting facts-money on where your claims are!
You should be able to demonstrate your point by simply producing a schematic that indicates more distant ground connects... and then shorten that ground and show how it failed... ok?
That's just a plain and very simple technical request to demonstrate your claim.
.. certainly no "flaming?" to that ..right?

Or do you define "flaming" as any things you are questioned about?

I mean no ill will... pure technical stuff here Carl.
Simply show some schematic support.. ok?

Don't get "huffy" .. just get technical... show the facts.. just the pure technical facts...
No.. suppositions or loose claims or bench-talk -old tales...
.. Just please explain the pure technical reasoning and show a schematic to make the demonstration valid....ok?

Youre far from technical Peter, you repeat the word too much, and I seldom see a component layout in Riders. I do remember GE Fishmouths being particularly fussy and those are octals. I guess you never read old handbooks, QST, etc that stressed grounding for receiver stages.

How come you waited so long to claim youve done more than AA5's, I certainly cant remember you showing any? Just repainted plastic, etc AA5's. How about some chassis photos Peter?

I dont need any silly colors in your diatribes either, black is fine.

Carl