To learn electronics in a very different and effective way, and gain access to Mr Carlson's personal designs and inventions, visit the Mr Carlson's Lab Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/MrCarlsonsLab

Mr Carlson, it is incredible that you alone, said something that I learned almost 70 yrs ago. And it has to do with the outside foil of a capacitor being connected to the lower voltage (often to "ground"). It is amazing how you know so many things that MOST of the electronic technicians simply do NOT know. I am overwhelmed over it. I have no idea where you came from; nor where you got your expertise; but I want to tell you that YOU are a "cut above" for sure. Some Trivia: I have aligned 1,000's of radios and TV sets over 45 years, when I was a technician and/or electronic instructor. Thus I am envious of your shop. It is awesome. Keep it up kind Sir!

I have a degree in electronics and graduated with honors. I feel like I've learned more about repairing electronics by watching several of his videos than I did my entire time at school. This guy is brilliant. I'm so thankful I stumbled across this channel. I joined his Patreon platform. It's very inexpensive and has a ton of great stuff in there. You should consider joining it too if you're a fan like me. Tell them the Doctor sent you. P.S. I have not been compensated or coerced in any way to make this comment. This guy is simply brilliant and I want everyone who has an interest in electronics to know this. Thank You Mr. Carlson! Sincerely, Rich G. Oh yeah, F*** Cancer and F*** Covid-19!

When you work on devices, they aren't restored, they're "Carlsonized" -- not just rendered working, but made better than new!

This is the most relaxing channel on KZfaq. Thanks for what you do Mr Carlson!

I cannot believe anybody would give Mr Carlson a thumbs down He's by far the best electronics guy on KZfaq! Not just his knowledge but the way he presents it and helps everybody to learn, always a pleasure thank you Paul!

Tesla would be impressed by this guys knowledge. I've noticed that some technicians like to belittle others with their knowledge but you try to enlighten others. One of the very few gifts to KZfaq.

Easily the most satisfying KZfaq channel i have ever found. Thanks Mr. Carlson! p.s. Long live analog.

That Radio works so well for being as old as it is the engineer that designed it should be proud of the job they did.

Me, I enjoy that moment they first come back to life and talk to you. Especially when it can be said it was dead....but now it lives again....especially if it had been decades after they went dark! Great job sir...as always.

I'm just starting my life's promise to myself, grandma and family some 52 years ago (at the age of 11) of restoring our family's 8S463 Zenith. It was heard that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor on this set, and as late as the 1960's it was condemned by a local radio shoppe as being "not worth the expense". Now after three generations it's on my bench and when finished in my sons living room. Thanks to Mr. Carlson's lab and others like Chango66, Thattubesound, Tvradiophononut, Bandersentv, radiorepair and several others ....this now retired IC Electronic Instrumentation Major is going forward. Thank God and thank you Mr. Carlson.

I love how your enthusiasm comes across in all of your videos.

Rebuilding and aligning a device like that takes talent. Making it work as good if not better than the day it was built is a gift. Mr Carlson’s comprehension of these old devices is a joy to watch. His videos are a good mine of information.

Watching these videos where you bring new life to old radios is very pleasurable. It also brings back great memories of my first shortwave radio when many more countries broadcasted in shortwave.

Man that old clock case takes me back. In 1961 we moved off the farm to a rooming house in town so my sisters could attend high school. The old man, who was nearly deaf and chain smoked cigars collected old clocks. One of his collection was in that case, at the time I was amazed to see a sort of digital display of the time as it only appeared on sci-fi movies and comic books that I read constantly. Oh he saw that I was really into an old clock that was in the shape of a ranch house with the clock on one side, and the other had a mechanical cowboy riding a bronco, the clock drove the bronco to buck constantly, there was a light and an old west scene on the background. He gave me that clock and I still have it. While the horse doesn't buck quite as smoothly as he did 60 years ago, it does still work. Sadly when I was young, I thought the white paint on the house was getting bad, and it was, so I got a can of gold spray paint and sprayed it. I did a fine job of painting but i guess it detracts a bit from the value.

Thank you for posting this video. I was able to align a 1955 Geloso 1510-C radio by following your instructions and the original Geloso circuit diagram. You made this tricky process really easy to understand. These videos are worth their weight in gold. Keep up the good work!

I don't really work with electronics or radios but I enjoy watching your videos because your explanations are so concise and easy to understand. You are obviously very knowledgeable on this stuff and your passion is intoxicating and contagious. It's really enjoyable watching someone who is really passionate about the work they do and that's what makes your videos so enjoyable for me to watch. Plus you don't really speak down to your audience -- you clearly explain things in a way where I feel we would be work buddies having a casual conversation about shop. You're just an awesome person and I really love and respect your passion. Keep it up man!

Carlton's Lab videos are of the highest quality both visual and audio, technical prowess is microvolts above the noise floor emanating from other similar channels. A few radio restoration blogs should be redefined as diddle-stickers or Why change that way-cap.

Watching Mr Carlson's videos is therapy for me.

You know, I watch your videos most because I like see the old radios work again. But happen few days ago I had this game controller and it was not work right, it had what feel a short. And I open it and I find the cord it was not inside the s-curve for the stop. I remember how you talk about you need a cord stop inside the case and it need sit certain way or it will push on the case or other parts or not keep the cord from pull out. The way the cord set inside it was push on where it attach to the circuit board. So happen I change the direction for the s-curve, and close it, and now it work perfectly. It was really simple but I never fix any electric thing before. Thank you!

Hello Paul !! That radio is a BIG BEAUTY of a table radio !! I am working on a Zenith Table set here in the U.S. that is a BIG table set as well. Take the radio you just worked on here and lay it on its side and you get the picture of its bulk!!! My set was made for EXPORT to Europe it covers 8 bands and has 8 tubes !! This radio covers from 550 KC to 22.9 MC bands are selected by a series of 8 push buttons on the front panel, set uses an 8 inch electrodynamic speaker with 2 6K6 tubes in push pull !! My set was made shortly after WW2 some time, maybe 1948 or so.

Fascinating videos. Thank you. I grew up during the period where everyone had radios and few had TVs. As you were tuning through stations, I could hear my dad's voice say, "Stop there! I like that."

Dude I have repaired communication electronics for years and thought I was smart but you sir are on whole different level.. I have testing, repair and basic understanding down good, but to redesign and create new circuits and testers has my jaw dropped amazing...

I doubt the instructors at the old Zenith, Grundig, Philco, or RCA factories ever did half as good a job of explaining the alignment process as you did in this video. You should feel pretty good about this one.

I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the extra time you take to do these videos. Not just a professional tech guy...you are great and patient teacher. Thanks Mr Carlson 😊

Sir, every time i am amazed about your skills in electronics and clearly speaking about electronics. As a noob, if i'd live in your country i would work for you for nothing just to teach me everything you know, it is a very pleasant experience to follow your channel. Have a great life!

Hi Mr Carlson, another great set of 2 videos on the one radio. I like your channel and I've subscribed. I love fixing old valve radios but I find that it's a hell of a lot of work and the trouble is that no one would ever pay me to do all that to restore a valve radio. My last restoration took about 2 weeks after work every night and even then I never completed the FM tuner in the radio which needed a new dial cord and it had intermittent faults. MW, LW, SW1, SW2 & SW3 were all fixed and aligned. It needed more than a dozen caps, 10 resistors & 5 valves. The speaker was poling so I had to undo & reposition the magnet! Some of the valves were working but the voltages were wrong. The old cathodes get poisoned and the valve won't conduct properly leading to high voltage on the anodes. It's always good to check all the anode voltages and their series resistors. Bad caps and resistors can also cause valves to go faulty and you'll find them for sure, in any old valve radio. Another thing to check again as per my comment yesterday is the AGC. If the radio is still crackly on a loud station then it needs to be checked out so I always check that part of the radio thoroughly. You need to listen for at least 30 seconds to a few loud stations to know. Also - you tuned correctly to peak all the IFs. I know that the station spacing on medium wave AM used to be wide - about 9 KHz back in the 1930s but now it's only 5 KHz so no stagger tuning of IFs required but there is of course less fidelity. I'll add that I saw your Marconi comm analyzer on another video. If it's easy to measure signal to noise ratio as SINAD then it would be great if you could measure your valve radios to see what they get after alignment? cheers Bobby

the changes in technology are amazing really, When one sees how much smaller a cap is for the same rating as the leaky wax cap it replaced.

Awesome radio and an awesome alignment!!

Hi Paul, great video and amazing restoration, that piece of electronic art and amazing technology for the time. Great "show how to" align the radio. Thanks for sharing, take care Paul, you and Marie.

Just watched you give this Old Girl back her voice. Awesome lessons

That is a Unbelievably Beautiful Radio, Totally Awesome!

Easily one of the most valuable places on the internet

I learn something new with each video Mr Carlson puts on KZfaq. I signed up for Patreon with him as I can't wait to learn more. He provides great background as to why he's doing a procedure, unlike a lot of other "electronics" videos where it's mainly snip and solder components. His trouble shooting steps and explanations are superb.

spent hundreds of hours from the mid 80's onward aligning/repairing VHF/UHF two way radios handheld, vehicle and base stations....then the first cell phones.....all very similar despite being all transistor none of the valve stuff.....what a great channel :D

That is a very efficient way of aligning that radio and it shows what you can really do when you have the proper equipment to do it with. And you think that radio is fun, try a Philco 116X radio sometime and that set has five bands and also a RME 69 radio and that set has six bands. That set is not easy to find and it also has a preselector set which makes the radio really sensitive. The six band sets really make short wave listening a lot more fun once you get the set working. This guy is very bright and I wish the best for him.

Enjoy watching tube projects that I grew up with. Great presentation that makes you feel that you are talking directly to me! Thanks!

You have so many radio stations there, that it reminds med of the medium wave back in the 60s and 70s here in Europe - when we had a small radio under the blanket and listened to the famous Radio Luxemburg after we had gone to bed.....and should sleep :) 73 LB5JG Asle

Heat, and cold causing expansion, and contraction! Brings up a story we’re I was in the process of repairing a John deer riding mower for my neighbor. The head gasket had blown and was causing some blow by, and a little bit of oil burning. I told my neighbor that I wanted new head bolts, and that the shop might try, say to re use the old head bolts, and then explained this exact thing heat causes expansion, and cold causes contraction, thus the head bolts for many years as the mower wasn’t low hour, had been threw many cycles of hot, and cold weakening the head bolts i don’t re use head bolts unless they are specifically okay for it, and since the whole idea was to save cash, I specifically requested new head bolts I didn’t have the equipment to remove a snapped bolt, I was completely ignored, as the used to be mechanic stated to reuse them, once he arrived and stated the guy said to re use them, i informed him that we can do it, but the risk would put him over budget if one snapped, we’re he’d then have to buy all new head bolts, plus the tools to drill a hole for a step out plus the tool it’s self. He got quite irate, and after threatening me several times with taking it to another mechanic simply because he says fix it, and doesn’t hear anything about it till it’s done, versus someone there at your home with no parts on hand, or should I say in-stock needing parts to complete it. The next after that he came to pick me up to finish it, but came an hour early. And threaten it once again. I Just looked at him, and said I’m done with it take it to him! With all that said, pretty much no one here will understand the relationship we had, it took me some time to understand a bit, but he’s an older gentleman, that I’ve known for a very long time even before that specific date he knew me well, and my knowledge too. I’m not to sure how I still feel about this today. I have a strong passion for doing people right, kinda why I left a mower shop I was working at, as the boss would take in absolutely everything that came through the door,( stuff that’s well over 15-20+ years old and would cost more to repair than replace, literally no one had anything repaired if it was over $100). That wasn’t the only issue I left when I found out people were getting charged way more than than what should’ve been, charging people two hours of labor for one hour of actual work($65hr) parts markups way way above 20%. There was one gentleman that did lawn care for a business, came in because a idler pulley on the deck went bad, twisted , and cut his belt. New pulley on, he really needed a new belt, and he really didn’t want to buy a new one, but that belt wouldn’t have lasted, he went up stairs got a new one came back down, I asked why he didn’t want a new belt, we’re he showed me the receipt $125.00 he stated that. that same belt he can drive just literally down the road like 5 mins and get the same exact belt exmark brand for $60 plus the tax. I was disgusted at that point! Not only that she still charged him for an hours work too, took me less than 30 mins to put the new pulley, and belt. Could’ve been faster if I were given the right pulley the first time instead of a guess, and yes that belt was $60 I was really unhappy about it! sorry for the rant here, there’s is a lot more to the shop more than I’d want to type!

Mr Carlson's voice should be on those soothing audio cd's.

The performance of this Westinghouse radio does not surprise me one bit... I owned to RBM five receivers built by Westinghouse. I had the high frequency, and the medium frequency receivers. They were outstanding receivers by any measure, I could zero beat either one of them onto WWV leave for 5 or 6 hours and come back to find them still tuned perfectly. And the sensitivity of them were second to none. Hats off to the engineers at Westinghouse.

You are such a great teacher and explain issues well. Love your videos . Love the old tube radios! Appreciate the alignment steps and tips . Value the old test equipment .

great job on a beautiful old radio. Definitely not 90 day junk sold told today.

This guy invented Electronics he a master Awesome thanks for your time sir.

Hi Paul. Two weeks ago I told you that, troublesoot and test without alignment was sounded like being without a leg. Now that you have continued, found and solved other problems and performed the complete alignment I can say thank you Paul, now I feel I have all three legs again ;) . As for your signal generator, you centered my thoughts on when you connected that splendid frequency meter you made, the finetune is missing ..... please, if it is possible to do,do it, but do it to the old manner, do it mechanically. Let me express my thoughts, I LOVE to follow your work on all the instruments (radios and so on) step by step from the moment you open them until the moment you close them once they are restored to their former glory and, if this means being able to see only one of your videos per month, i'll wait more than willingly. Thanks.

It's always a pleasure and benefit to watch any of your videos. You are a Blessing to all of us! Thank you so much!

Mr. C. Thank you for doing the "Alignment" video. Alignments fascinate me for some reason. 👍 🎼 🇨🇦

Amazing radio. Super sensitive, beautiful cabinet. Notice the decagon surrounding the dial? Fantastic work, as always, Mr C!

Thank you Paul for showing us this alignment, beautiful job on a beautiful radio. It was so much fun and relaxing to watch, makes me want to dig out my Allied Knight Kit Star Roamer I built back in 1966 and go thru it just to tweak it up. This video made me remember when I toyed around with a shortwave radio chassis when I was about 12 and didn't really know what I was doing although I know I at least tuned up the IF strip.

This old Westinghouse really came to life, amazed on BC band. I’ve got an old Victrola that I need to go through for theses results. Always loved tube gear.

Amazing they accounted for the Fletcher-Munson curve so long ago. Thanks for sharing. Great stuff as usual.

Lol when Carlson says "this thing has crazy sensitivity when I hook an antenna up to this thing I should be able to hear the bugs in my wall"

Nice job, Mr. C! Yeah, sometimes receivers can be waay, way off. Sure helps to make sure that the caps and other components are in good condition so that the alignment will take and stay close to where it should. A lot of that same era of radios had beautifully crafted cabinets and used nice woods and finishes. One would think that because technology has become better, that these old radios are somehow obsolete. Nothing could be further than the truth when it comes to those old but well-built radios. They had a lot of class and performance. Besides the availability of tubes, the only real weak point they may have is their speakers. If they require a B+ supply and the speaker must be replaced or needing re-coning, it may be a bit difficult restore. But there are still some ways around that - too.

Great video with lots of information that helps us newbies learn how to do this stuff. Thanks!

Very cool project and that cabinet is just beautiful.

Brings back memories of doing this back in trade school back in the late 90s.

Simply beautiful work Mr. Carlson. Gorgeous job!

Mr Carlsson your westinghouse shortwave receiver is cool

I had been looking forward to the alignment on this radio ... thanks and nice work as usual !!!

Carlson, you really are the Stradivari of (radio) repair technicians.

I am convinced that the radios you work on sound better than they did 80 years ago. They were designed around fairly lousy components by today's standards. With modern components hewing much closer to the mathematical equations the engineers used to design the radios, signals are bound to sound very good. I think that you're also applying the collective know how of 80 years of working on these devices, erasing mistakes that now seem obvious, if only for safety.

I like your video's you are very thorough and clear with you explanations, I wish you were one off my electronic teachers. you have a new fan ,take care stay safe.

Very nice restoration. One of the things I haven't seen allot of discussion about, is the best type of antenna(s) to use for a given design, frequency range and receiver power, for equipment built between 1920 and 1965. I look forward to your thoughts on the subject. In fact I hope you made an entire video on the subject. For example, I often wonder how well a ferrite loopback antenna would receive compared to a traditional monopole model on older equipment. Really enjoy all of your videos. Thank you and Stay safe!

I have a 1934 Patterson 185AW I'd enjoy watching you align. Great Westinghouse alignment video.

That is so sensitive, Well done Mr Carlson. I also love the old equipment you use to align these radios with.

I was imagining the process of building these radios back in the day.

Wonderful master class. Thank you.

I would love to know more about your background? I'm a hack, at electronics, and have stumbled across your channel because I am looking for info on the most simplest of circuits. Then I watch you take systems designed before you were born and bring them back to life with our current components. I guess I wonder how you learned what you know? Did you have a mentor similar to what you are doing for all of us following your channel? GREAT, GREAT JOB....Thank you.

Nice! These are almost as complicated as the 40’s Grundigs that use dial cord controlled inductors :)

thanks for the calming video. just what i needed after an upsetting day. too bad you weren't making this vid during one of FDRs fireside chats. haha. you mentioned the "funny" way of marking the shortwave dial without numbers. back in the day the band was allocated to AIR control, AMateurs, and POLice. it was easier for casual listeners to read AIR AM and POL rather than remembering which activities were allocated which frequencies. when FCC started futzing with the band plan every time you turn around, manufacturers finally saw the wisdom of using numbers so their dial faces wouldn't become obsolete.

Wow you really had to be a enthusiast receiver to enjoy Radio back in the day. Now I understand all the strange body positions one would do in order to receive a strong signal.

COOL!! we learn somethin new every day!! now i know how to align my 1936 remler. I was able to recieve chu time repeater canada from central cali !!!! LONG LIVE SW!!!

Oh yes, the old Braun PSM/6 multi-meter. I do remember using them decades ago repairing "black boxes" for the military. I actually have one but it needs the unique battery which are no long made. And I haven't built a replacement power setup for it yet. I also have a couple Simpson 260's. Another great analog multi-meter...

Once again another fascinating video. Thank you Mr. Carlson.

Great video Paul... And wow, I got my Sentinel ME-26 D/U multimeter around two years ago off of Ebay and I paid around $65 for a working one in ok condition, as most of them listed at the time were between $40 and $80. Look at those prices on Ebay now, $400 - $1k(!) and most are in rough condition. That's what I call the Carlson effect. :)

My dad still raves about the sound of old AM radios back in the day with long-wire antennae and no REA electrical to interfere with reception. Stations like KVOO, WSM, and WWL came in loud and clear and 'hifi' with the broadband filters on the old radio.

Mr Carlson you have instresing information on shortwave receivers 👍👍👍👍👍👍😎😎👍👍😎👍

Brilliant video, thank you. Very useful reference for understanding how to complete broadcast receiver alignment.

Thank you for sharing you knowledge.

Wow, what a nice radio. Thanks for the project. It is much appreciated.

Great, clean, precise and full-of-care-and-love job!. Nice! And thanks for sharing your art and decication, specially now, Paul.

Reading peaks and nulls while turning a tool or a knob is one reason that analog instrumentation will never be obsolete. Of course, an equivalent could be produced with a digital device and the appropriate software, but at what price? One must also consider what happens if one were to "eff up" when connecting the ADC leads. It would, almost always, be more expensive to fix than buying another analog meter. Furthermore, there is always some latency to consider when doing the job with digital equipment. Yeah, I "do" digital (about a dozen spectrum analyzers, several frequency counters, lots of other "things"); but I really like using analog test equipment, especially when working on older gear. It's a zen thing...

This is going to be very helpful.

Good afternoon, mr. Carlson

Another great video from Mr. C. I don't understand the 10 thumbs down ratings. I guess you can't please everyone. I always learn something when I watch your videos, keep up the great work.

That wood cabinet has a very rich sound.

1930’s technology was so sophisticated. Those pioneering engineers were amazing considering they only had slide rulers, log tables, drafting tables and a whole lot of brain power. Radio must have seemed so miraculous as an invention. It is still so cool. How could anyone figure this out to make such beautiful, practical devices to listen to the spoken word and music! Humbling....

Nice to watch. It has been a long time I've seen a complete alignment. Nice work !

The reason the Bass is increased at lower volumes is to compensate for the loss of low frequency response in human hearing. This is the same reason that amplifiers used to have loudness buttons that tapered the bass and highs as the volume increased.

I've watched several of your AM radio alignments with interest. As the owner of several vintage FM tube tuners by H.H. Scott, Sherwood, and Lafayette (Trio), I'd love to see a video on the FM and FM stereo alignment procedures on a vintage HiFi tuner since I gather there are some differences.

Your videos are a blast to watch. Thank you :)

Another great video. But the real fun starts when you run out of adjustment and the circuit still hasn't peaked!

Great instructional video Paul. Would love to see a similar video on FM alignment.

Thanks Mr. C.

Thank you for this fantastic video of this lovely, sensitive radio. Greetings from Sweden, stay well!

Mr. Carlson, way back in the days I was taught that on the upper end you supposed to adjust with the cap (if necessary with the bendable pieces of the vari cap) - but on the lower end you supposed to adjust the inductor as a general rule. This radio seems to have a design where you only adjust caps? Great video, brings me back to my better years ...

Great format, I am enjoying your channel, my wife not so much. I learn so much from you narration. I thought I knew electronics until I saw your reasoning on the why of everything you work on and if that wasn't enough you modify/improve the circuits. Simply Wow! Too bad radio and TV programs are not good, best thing today is the weather broadcasts. Curious if you lab has that, what i think was, formaldehyde-Bakelite smell from those old devices?

This might seem like a dumb question, but how do the screws physically interact with the tuning capacitor, etc? In other words, what are screws twisting or pressing inside to adjust the alignment? Might need a chalkboard to explain this. Maybe not.

nixie tubes look amazing)

Thank you mr carlson for helping me with the tip to connect the signal gen through a capacitor, i got no results on my volt meter because of weird coupling effects, the cap solved the problem, my receiver is now aligned 😊👍🏻 Thank you 👍🏻