Hacking a Radio

Posted by Matte Resist on January 29, 2012 at 12:20am

So I'm working on hacking this radio I picked up at the thrift store.  This is my first time trying this.  I think I won't have any trouble hacking the input, but the first thing I have to do is fix the volume pot because it's kind of crapping out.  So here's my question.  What are the two wires on top? I've soldered up a volume pot before but this doesn't look like anything I've done.  The three tabs should be the same from one pot to another, but those top ones have me stumped. You can see that purple one goes over to the board (to a spot marked AC).  The red one goes into the power supply on the left.  Are they both just grounded to the pot or is something else going on?


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Replies

  • Rob Schumacher January 30, 2012 at 11:03pm

    You might try spraying some electrical contact cleaner into the pot, if it's case is open anywhere, and rotate it back and forth a bunch of times.  Sometimes they are just dirty contacts inside Make sure its off and unplugged be for you try it.

    • Matte Resist > Rob Schumacher January 31, 2012 at 11:42pm

      Thanks Rob.  I'll give that a try.  I've already got pots on order, but if I don't need to replace it i sure won't mind.  I'm sure I'll use those pots somewhere else.

      Charlie.  I couldn't even find a 50K audio pot at radio shack, let alone one with a switch.  I couldn't find one with a switch anywhere.  Perhaps I was using the wrong terminology in my search, but I finally just gave up and ordered some off FleaBay that didn't have a switch.  Adding a toggle will be easy enough.

    • Charlie Fricke > Matte Resist February 1, 2012 at 1:30am

      You weren't shopping at a mall Radio Shack were you?  Those guys only know how to sell you cell phones & toys :)

      One of the better places I've found for small-timers like us to get parts is http://www.mouser.com/.  They have reasonable prices and you don't have to buy 50 of one thing.

  • Charlie Fricke January 29, 2012 at 7:07am

    You should be able to find a pot with a switch like that at Radio Shack or any little electronics shop.

  • smojo January 29, 2012 at 3:43am

    Yes those are the power on/off switch wires - don't connect anything else to them! They shouldn't be grounded or you'll short the supply and blow fuses.

  • Matte Resist January 29, 2012 at 1:32am

    I posted this to facebook too, and my father in law pointed out the rather obvious answer that I overlooked.  On a radio like this, the volume knob doubles as the on/off switch. So I either need to find an A50K pot with an on/off switch or just run those wires to a toggle.

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