Hi all, I've found this site very useful in restoring a Pye APJ so I decided to join. Most of the internet is concentrated into a few sites that are mostly bots and AI-generated content, so it's good to see a proper discussion forum still active with living humans.

My grandfather left me his notebooks from his training as a radio/radar mechanic during WW2, so this hobby is a nice connection to him, especially since finding an old WW2 communications receiver converted for amateur radio. When I've had a bit more experience I'll attempt to bring this back into working order.

My first radio was a crystal radio that I built as a kid, and my first experiences with point-to-point wiring and valves was as a guitar-obsessed teen. Haven't done much in between then and now, other than a bit of tinkering and repairs (amplifiers, power tools, 12V stuff for camping and boating), and there are large gaps in my knowledge.

I work as a biostatistician so it's also nice to refresh some of those maths skills I spent so many hours developing, but now rely mostly on computers for.

The good news is, no robots here and 99.9% of them get rejected when the site detects an automated sign-up. Such sign-ups are just treated like the robot never came in the first place.

Welcome to the forums. We've had a bit of recent downtime but all should be well as of now.

Hi Aidan B, yes no robots here!
Maybe cranky old guys like me tho!

I tarted up a communications receiver going back to the 1940's an 'RME 69'.
You might find some of that interesting.
Look in 'special projects' on this site and go back to 2018.
It also wound up in 'Silicon Chip' in the vintage radio section June 2021.
That was a set that probably would have gone to the tip so I'm glad I was offered it.

Cheers, Fred.

Thanks for the welcome Brad and Fred.

Interesting project, I had a good look at your survey. I think my first step should be to identify what my receiver was modified from, I know that it has some ruggedised valves made for the RAAF, but I'll see what matches the valve complement and layout. The interchangeable coil pack has been removed, and amateur band coils installed permanently inside the case.

The Pye APJ had broken IF transformers, and a replacement turned out to have silver mica disease, so I'm going to experiment with retrofitting the original cans with simple windings and trimmer caps. I'll document this in case anyone is interested.

The Pye APJ had broken IF transformers, and a replacement turned out to have silver mica disease, so I'm going to experiment with retrofitting the original cans with simple windings and trimmer caps.

Seemingly a more common problem in a select few radios, due to the passage of time. Marc has had some things to say about this in various postings.

I'll document this in case anyone is interested.

Good idea. You can start a thread in Special Projects for this.