Can anyone help identify this radio? The is no number on chassis.
It says it is a reliance skyraider on the dial
I have got it up and running for a friend,
I replaced the missing tuner thread with 80lb fishing leader thread.

Welcome to the forums, Bignumbas.

You may wish to send a front and rear photo to the Admin (me) for publication, as this will help a lot with ID. Just click on my username to access the e-mail address. Photos need to be clear and sharp for maximum effect.

If the leader cord doesn't work, there's members here who sell the correct dial cord and it's not expensive. It is also available at times on Ebay.

Thanks I have already done that.
I do find it odd that you cannot upload directly though, must make a lot of work for you.
I have been in IT for the last 35+ years.
Sorry, off topic

Can you send me a picture . my email is unhidden

Photos uploaded.

I do find it odd that you cannot upload directly though, must make a lot of work for you.

The system is an old one and the original file upload system hasn't been turned on for years now. I am supposed to be replacing the whole forum system with a new one but things keep getting in the road and I sometimes wonder if it'll ever get done. You may bump into server timeouts occasionally. Don't worry about it too much. It's just a part of the 'getting old' issue with old software that's had a lot bolted on to it over the last fifteen years or so.

If I win Lotto, the job will get done because I won't need to work in an industry that means on-call, weekend work, etc.

That looks older then the one you had Brad.

I may be wrong but it looks a bit smaller too. I never did get the model number but another member may know. I remember mine having an all-states dial.

Let us know its valve line-up. That can be a useful aid to zeroing in on the model or the chassis used.

I've seen a quite a few Reliance radios over the years, but never have I seen one with a model number anywhere on the radio. Mingay's index does list many model numbers, but this is pointless if there was nothing on the radio itself.

Looking up the list however, indicates only one radio matching the description of your set; model 60A, chassis type 60. It there a date on the speaker?

Cheers, Stuart

One can often muddle through without a circuit, the only worry as a commercial refurbisher; I do not consider that as a reliable repair if that's a s far as it has gone?

All of those Wax paper caps & old Electrolytics have to go, as far as I am concerned. Never in decades have I seen Wax Paper caps that don't leak (normally badly). If One of those electrolytic caps let go it can fry the transformer. Use the surge voltage on them as a guide for replacement. You check resistors as you go: Grid resistors on 6V6 are rarely good.

I am totally not a fan of the mains connection: Apart from being touchable (& many are) that can twist off. I prefer clamps or predominantly glands. Its too close to parts it can render alive.

That does not change the fact, that the majority of sets being mains powered & having high voltages, are intrinsically unsafe, once you expose the wiring. "Caveat Actor" then applies.

Is that radio really using spare contacts on the rectifier socket for mains tie points? Seems to be!

Aarrghhh!

I guess life was cheap in those days!

You're right! But it's a new 3-wire cord.... surely whoever did that could have done something better.

Seeing as we still don't know what valves are in it, my guess would be 6A8G, 6G8G, 6V6GT, 5Y3GT.

While I agree with Marcc about paper caps, there are some circuit locations where a leaky cap has little impact on the performance. If you know what you are doing you can sometimes get away with leaving them in circuit.

Similarly with electros. That generation of Ducon electros, if regularly used or gently reformed and if if they haven't leaked or dried out, are often still OK. Not perfect but still good enough. Never have I seen one go S/C unless abused.

Other brands of the same vintage, not so. UCC and Technico for example.

The previous "restorer" might well have known this.

But I can't forgive the power cord!!

Replacing all those electrolytics would free up a lot of space which could then be used for a decent mains cord connection and anchor point. Personally I just can't leave any paper caps in anything.

What I note from a certain electronics magazine, but not so much from the US, it that there seems to be a general failure in the understanding of the way the wax paper & some oil filled types (which can be paper) fail & the consequences.

The paper caps paper even with good paper will be affected by the ingress of moisture & the hardening of the wax. There are two tests that need to be done. One is that to establish its actual capacity. The more critical that can also have an effect on capacity, is leakage. This being caused by the deterioration of the wax & adsorption causing conduction.

Whilst that may not seem like a problem it actually is as it becomes a resistor & voltage source: In the case of a plate to control grid coupling via it. This means that as the leakage increases, the more it is able to form a voltage divider and drive the grid positive. In most of the radios that is unhealthy & can cause the valve to draw excessive current, as it gets closer to a diode, not perform as it should, or be wrecked. As used in most radio's the grid must be negative.

We must appreciate that the control grid voltage, as used as above, is more of a charge & the current insignificant. That is actually why such small leakage can so significantly impinge on the valve. Excessive capacitor leakage can also drag down signal as well as contribute to an increase in current draw. The figures in the handbook of one of my testers (Lafayette ) considers anything below 200Meg a fail as a coupling cap and 50Meg for a screen bypass.

I normally test these NP caps at their rated value of as close as. It is a rare event to find one anywhere near 50Meg; Most commonly its Kilo ohms. Electrolytic caps have to draw current to retain polarity (form). If left for long periods this "form" is lost as the oxide coating that is the insulator is lost: The cap then presents as a short circuit: Sometimes exploding.

So close to 50years experience says, "time wasting is testing Wax Paper caps". The set will be more reliable, run a lot better & the time is better spent replacing them.