Well it's the end of May already and a glorious day outside.
Little has happened over the past few weeks with me doing customer repairs of entry level turntables and cassette decks - both involving belts and little else.
I have managed to get two reel to reel tape recorders going. A Sony TC-352D that is being used for the long process of going through the tapes from the deceased estate. (Some interesting stuff, but a lot of common uninteresting songs from the radio.) There's a lot of Ampex tape and that goes very sticky and unplayable. My food dehumidifier is broken, so I'll buy another cheapie today.
The other tape recorder fixed is the TC-230. Although this only a two head machine, it does sound good. The one problem with it is the small pressure pad on the record/playback head won't sit correctly. One channel sounds great, the other sounds muffled.
Another thing fixed is the Sony STR-230 receiver. Nothing special at 15 watts RMS, but it gets me out of trouble!
I started working on a Philips 132 radio yesterday. Quick job. Replaced the capacitors, but the oscillator coil was open. Changed that, reception. Connected the earth of the signal generator. Big flash and it tripped the RCD. Turned on the power again and measured the earth, 14 volts DC. No obvious shorts, so I'll ask an expert in the club... Moral of the story, have everything checked before turning it on!