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It was $25,a super deal.

It was $25,a super deal.

(post is archived)

[–] 1 pt (edited )

In good condition, there's always some market for a device like this - but I can't really advise you on price, I don't have a feel for what the collectors market demands - I will say the prices you typically would see on eBay and at non-tech shows are probably out of range of what the device is worth. I typically laugh at those prices.

I can give you two things here - the Rider's manual was designed in an era when the device was in use, so you're going to see problems that that manual didn't cover, things that normally wouldn't happen in the device's useful life of 10-20 years. Other things are happening now, parts are corroding, mechanical devices are disintegrating - take the manual with a lot of "the tech using this paper wouldn't have seen this device in it's current condition."

Second, don't plug it in or mess with parts internally if you're unsure. Chances are there are some shorted or leaking (electrical) parts at this point, and you could cause the first tube in the circuit to red-plate (too much current) or worse, burn out that transformer that you'll never find. If you plan on selling it, it's best to sell it "untested, unmolested, will not plug in unless you're paying." That may make some people mad, but I've seen some stuff that probably wasn't helped by plugging in with an unknown state at hand.

That one's a lot more complex than most radios of the time, and it's going to require someone with know-how to physically touch it to try and fix it.

[–] 1 pt

That one's a lot more complex than most radios of the time, and it's going to require someone with know-how to physically touch it to try and fix it.

I kid of felt the same way when I last checked it 30 years ago. When I was a child my grandmother would have her local AM station talk radio or music playing in her dining room. I remember her always baking cookies and other goodies to eat when I was there. We had Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners there too. She sold her house and moved to an assisted living facility 50 years ago, I think the radio worked at that time, my Dad and I cleaned out her house, and now I have all that stuff. I'd love to hear the radio play again, but if it costs more than a few hundred to fix, I doubt I'd do it. I should be unloading my treasures, I'm getting older, have no kids or living family, don't want to leave a mess of stuff for cousins or their kids to have to clean up.

[–] 1 pt

If you could do it yourself, chances are it could be made to play again - at least on AM - fairly easily.

Those skills are few and far between outside DIY...

[–] 1 pt

I could disassemble, clean all contacts, replace burnt/bad resistors, check wires, resolder broken joints but will have to pick up a new multimeter, my old one died years ago. From then on, it's up to how well I can follow those directions. I don't have power supplies, scope or any sort of test bench.

Then, after all that, I plug it into the wall and <poof>.