RGD Rapier Rescued. - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

slidertogrid · 18th Jan 2023, 7:00 pm

This is another set that came from the house clearance chap who has turned up a few gems in the past. My mate happened to be there when the van came in and this is another set that was about to be launched into the skip.
He presented it to me some time ago. I tested it at the time and it seemed to work so I put it on a high shelf in my workshop. I saved it because I thought the RGD model must be less common than the ITT "Featherlight" I saw a few ITT models back in the day, but I can't remember ever seeing an RGD version.
It has a rosewood colour woodgrain effect on the case differing from the ITT teak version.
Recently the set played up the gain would drop then the set would drift off tune. If left it would come back and then drop in and out before drifting off completely.
It took more time to fix than I expected! first of all I cleaned the multi-turn potentiometers it still drifted after a while. I found the gain dropping was down to the aerial isolator panel the socket had cracked joints on all three connections.
Then I tried cleaning the switch-bank that seemed to clear the drifting, but no, it eventually went off again. It made no difference if the AFC was on or not. I tried freezing the TAA voltage regulator, no effect. I clouted the tuner nope...
Finally I removed the PCB with the tuning pots on it and looked at the rear. All four pots had dry joints on them. After re-soldering them it seems to have settled down. After checking the LT was correct I set up the height and linearity centred the picture a bit the magnets are a bit warped so I couldn't quite move it as much as I would have liked but it will do.
On the plus side the set looks like a low hours example the tube is perfect and despite having a few brown Hunts in place it works well.
Keeping my fingers crossed !
Rich

Lloyd 1985 · 18th Jan 2023, 7:14 pm

Nice find! I have the ITT version of this, which had a faulty IC in the RF/IF section, can’t remember the number of it now, it was a Motorola part. Works well after that, but it does get quite hot!

I also have a transistor radio that has RGD Rapier branding on it, got it from a school jumble sale back in the mid 90’s! Took some doing to persuade my mum to part with 50p to buy it for me!!

Regards,
Lloyd

MickMcmichael · 18th Jan 2023, 9:10 pm

Nice one Rich.

These 70's/80's mono protables never really saw much use and give cracking pics nearly 50 years later!

stainless · 18th Jan 2023, 11:59 pm

I had an RGD Rapier VC300. The MC1330 chip failed early on, and was replaced under guarantee. I lent it to a friend, and the tuner developed dry joints, and he threw it out. I was not happy. Stock fault on those tuners, to re-solder ground joints.

slidertogrid · 21st Jan 2023, 10:38 am

The MC1330 was a common fault on the Decca Gypsy portables . I can't remember changing any on the ITT sets but I probably did. It was also used on the BRC 8000/8500 unless I am mistaken, and yet I can't remember ever changing one on that chassis... I wonder if later chips were more reliable or if they had better spark protection on colour sets?
The RGD has stayed on tune for a couple of days so I am going to reassemble it and take it off the bench. What's the betting it drifts as soon as it's back on the high shelf?!

brianbelfast · 26th Jun 2023, 9:16 am

That's a lovely little thing. I remember my parents bought me a Ferguson Courier, for my bedroom, as a child but it was the ITT version of this I really wanted. Spoilt little shite.

slidertogrid · 27th Jun 2023, 12:30 pm

The Ferguson courier seems to have sold in large numbers judging by the amount that have survived. In the early '90s every car boot sale had a few!

The RGD has developed a fault recently, after it has been on for a while the set develops a large hum bar causing the picture to really bend and 'swim'.
Once it has cooled down from cold the set is OK again so for the time being it is off awaiting attention.

My Marconi 1590 suffered a similar problem last year which turned out to be the supply line rising as it got warm due to the set volts pot changing value as it warmed up! That was the last part I suspected ! The clue was the tube heaters got brighter and brighter

Good job I didn't leave it running with the fault present!

Welsh Anorak · 27th Jun 2023, 12:36 pm

I'd suspect the bridge rectifier for that fault.

I remember getting a very nasty belt from the EHT on one of these when switched off - that buff coloured capacitor is a mean so-snd-so!

The HT pot on the 1590/1 was a common fault, oddly more prevalent on the 14" versions whose tubes didn't take kindly to too many volts and never recovered. For some reason thoe black presets got a sort of white bloom on them which suggested they wouldn't last long.

Hybrid tellies · 27th Jun 2023, 1:06 pm

Nice job Rich. These as with most ITT equipment were rather good and always gave great results.
I know the set before this the Featherlight 12 was built in the far east but not sure about the VC300.
Mention of the MC1330 IC bought back happy memories from the mid 1970's.. We use to get quite a few Decca Gypsies in for repair during the summer months with the same fault, a blank but bright white raster, cant remember if the sound was affected or not, with the CRT cathode voltage low. A replacement MC1330 restored normal service.
Like others have mentioned we never had this IC fail on other sets that used this IC.

slidertogrid · 27th Jun 2023, 1:37 pm

On the Decca I remember the symptoms of blank raster and foreign radio noises from the speaker, maybe that was failure of the other chip, the smaller 6 pin one? It was all a very long time ago! Maybe the Decca didn't have adequate flash over protection? I never had one fail in the 8/8500, the 'Tants' always failed first!

slidertogrid · 27th Jun 2023, 1:43 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Welsh Anorak

I'd suspect the bridge rectifier for that fault.

I remember getting a very nasty belt from the EHT on one of these when switched off - that buff coloured capacitor is a mean so-snd-so!

The HT pot on the 1590/1 was a common fault, oddly more prevalent on the 14" versions whose tubes didn't take kindly to too many volts and never recovered. For some reason thoe black presets got a sort of white bloom on them which suggested they wouldn't last long.

I will watch out for the evil capacitor!

funny that you should mention that white bloom I had a bag of NOS black plastic presets and many were covered in that. I thought that it was down to storage but now I know better... I wonder if it was something to do with the plastic ?

18th Jan 2023, 7:00 pm	#1
slidertogrid Octode Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, UK. Posts: 1,898	RGD Rapier Rescued. This is another set that came from the house clearance chap who has turned up a few gems in the past. My mate happened to be there when the van came in and this is another set that was about to be launched into the skip. He presented it to me some time ago. I tested it at the time and it seemed to work so I put it on a high shelf in my workshop. I saved it because I thought the RGD model must be less common than the ITT "Featherlight" I saw a few ITT models back in the day, but I can't remember ever seeing an RGD version. It has a rosewood colour woodgrain effect on the case differing from the ITT teak version. Recently the set played up the gain would drop then the set would drift off tune. If left it would come back and then drop in and out before drifting off completely. It took more time to fix than I expected! first of all I cleaned the multi-turn potentiometers it still drifted after a while. I found the gain dropping was down to the aerial isolator panel the socket had cracked joints on all three connections. Then I tried cleaning the switch-bank that seemed to clear the drifting, but no, it eventually went off again. It made no difference if the AFC was on or not. I tried freezing the TAA voltage regulator, no effect. I clouted the tuner nope... Finally I removed the PCB with the tuning pots on it and looked at the rear. All four pots had dry joints on them. After re-soldering them it seems to have settled down. After checking the LT was correct I set up the height and linearity centred the picture a bit the magnets are a bit warped so I couldn't quite move it as much as I would have liked but it will do. On the plus side the set looks like a low hours example the tube is perfect and despite having a few brown Hunts in place it works well. Keeping my fingers crossed ! Rich Attached Thumbnails

18th Jan 2023, 7:14 pm	#2
Lloyd 1985 Nonode Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Coningsby, Lincolnshire, UK. Posts: 2,819	Re: RGD Rapier Rescued. Nice find! I have the ITT version of this, which had a faulty IC in the RF/IF section, can’t remember the number of it now, it was a Motorola part. Works well after that, but it does get quite hot! I also have a transistor radio that has RGD Rapier branding on it, got it from a school jumble sale back in the mid 90’s! Took some doing to persuade my mum to part with 50p to buy it for me!! Regards, Lloyd

18th Jan 2023, 9:10 pm	#3
MickMcmichael Pentode Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, UK. Posts: 196	Re: RGD Rapier Rescued. Nice one Rich. These 70's/80's mono protables never really saw much use and give cracking pics nearly 50 years later!

18th Jan 2023, 11:59 pm	#4
stainless Tetrode Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: London, UK. Posts: 70	Re: RGD Rapier Rescued. I had an RGD Rapier VC300. The MC1330 chip failed early on, and was replaced under guarantee. I lent it to a friend, and the tuner developed dry joints, and he threw it out. I was not happy. Stock fault on those tuners, to re-solder ground joints. __________________ If you can have 4.7 MHz, why can't you have 4.7 MOm!

21st Jan 2023, 10:38 am	#5
slidertogrid Octode Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, UK. Posts: 1,898	Re: RGD Rapier Rescued. The MC1330 was a common fault on the Decca Gypsy portables . I can't remember changing any on the ITT sets but I probably did. It was also used on the BRC 8000/8500 unless I am mistaken, and yet I can't remember ever changing one on that chassis... I wonder if later chips were more reliable or if they had better spark protection on colour sets? The RGD has stayed on tune for a couple of days so I am going to reassemble it and take it off the bench. What's the betting it drifts as soon as it's back on the high shelf?!

26th Jun 2023, 9:16 am	#6
brianbelfast Triode Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. Posts: 21	Re: RGD Rapier Rescued. That's a lovely little thing. I remember my parents bought me a Ferguson Courier, for my bedroom, as a child but it was the ITT version of this I really wanted. Spoilt little shite.

27th Jun 2023, 12:30 pm	#7
slidertogrid Octode Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, UK. Posts: 1,898	Re: RGD Rapier Rescued. The Ferguson courier seems to have sold in large numbers judging by the amount that have survived. In the early '90s every car boot sale had a few! The RGD has developed a fault recently, after it has been on for a while the set develops a large hum bar causing the picture to really bend and 'swim'. Once it has cooled down from cold the set is OK again so for the time being it is off awaiting attention. My Marconi 1590 suffered a similar problem last year which turned out to be the supply line rising as it got warm due to the set volts pot changing value as it warmed up! That was the last part I suspected ! The clue was the tube heaters got brighter and brighter Good job I didn't leave it running with the fault present! __________________ The rotation of the earth really makes my day...

27th Jun 2023, 12:36 pm	#8
Welsh Anorak Dekatron Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: North Wales, UK. Posts: 6,918	Re: RGD Rapier Rescued. I'd suspect the bridge rectifier for that fault. I remember getting a very nasty belt from the EHT on one of these when switched off - that buff coloured capacitor is a mean so-snd-so! The HT pot on the 1590/1 was a common fault, oddly more prevalent on the 14" versions whose tubes didn't take kindly to too many volts and never recovered. For some reason thoe black presets got a sort of white bloom on them which suggested they wouldn't last long. __________________ Glyn www.gdelectronics.wales

27th Jun 2023, 1:06 pm	#9
Hybrid tellies Nonode Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: 1966-1976 Coverack in Cornwall and Helston Cornwall. 1976-present Bristol/Bath area. Posts: 2,965	Re: RGD Rapier Rescued. Nice job Rich. These as with most ITT equipment were rather good and always gave great results. I know the set before this the Featherlight 12 was built in the far east but not sure about the VC300. Mention of the MC1330 IC bought back happy memories from the mid 1970's.. We use to get quite a few Decca Gypsies in for repair during the summer months with the same fault, a blank but bright white raster, cant remember if the sound was affected or not, with the CRT cathode voltage low. A replacement MC1330 restored normal service. Like others have mentioned we never had this IC fail on other sets that used this IC. __________________ Simon BVWS member

27th Jun 2023, 1:37 pm	#10
slidertogrid Octode Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, UK. Posts: 1,898	Re: RGD Rapier Rescued. On the Decca I remember the symptoms of blank raster and foreign radio noises from the speaker, maybe that was failure of the other chip, the smaller 6 pin one? It was all a very long time ago! Maybe the Decca didn't have adequate flash over protection? I never had one fail in the 8/8500, the 'Tants' always failed first! __________________ The rotation of the earth really makes my day...