Hacker RP18

You need our resident Hacker Guru's Mark and Paul. I'm sure they will be along and give the answer

I've owned a couple of RP18s over the years, and had to repair both of them.
The earlier RP18s have white-banded tuning scales; which are rarer.

By and large; excellent Hacker build quality; except the crappy plastic handle which sags when the radio is loaded with two PP9s, and the pip from the top of the aerial will likely be missing. The aerial is straight with no 'knuckle'

Electronically; AF11Xs (yuk) but, seperate AM, FM, and audio PCBs. So easy to work on. Although removing the switch PCB can be fiddly if the switches are intermittent (as mine were on both sets)
Repair will likely require replacing 'lytics, lots of them, and AF11Xs.
Although on both of my sets; i found faulty transistors on FM, but all on the AM board were OK, so I left them.
Both required re-aligning; on FM, which possibly says something about the Gorler tuners that hacker used, but didn't use on the RP25. But on a 50 year old radio, who am I to complain!

You need our resident Hacker Guru's Mark and Paul. I'm sure they will be along and give the answer

Looks like I got in first; sorry, I'll step aside now.

It is and very nice they are too. In addition to the list above, the connector to the amplifier board can sometimes cause a problem.

Andrew

Ok, I will post my experience here. Could be two weeks as the gentleman selling has to navigate the complex shoals and reefs between Alba and Hibernia. Via websites of Couriers. He's only managed the more southern places in UK so far.

I had to put in a UK address to even bid! (Stupid but fortunately easily fooled eBay) However He HAD agreed in advance that he would ship here.

Count me in too, I have eleven.

Andrew

I've got some classic sets full of squashed beetles. I love them just as much

Well, "expert" is a relative term. I've repaired a fair few of these, and have a number here still awaiting my attention, but funnily enough I don't think I have one yet that I could regard as fully restored. I have a white-dial example that after much effort has a perfect chassis, but the case needs repadding. I think my radios are a bit like a house, in that they are never fully finished. Work, kids, house renovations and paying radio jobs have all conspired to thwart my restoration efforts 🙁

Anyway, yes, definitely the first Sovereign, production of which started in 1964. I'll gratefully accept the serial number when it arrives. Wouldn't say no to an eBay item number in the interim.

I think it's all been covered. We know all about the lovely AF11x transistors used in the AM section and the FM IF. There's no need to venture into the Gorler tuning head, as they are something else (memory not working at the moment). The AF transistors have been 100% reliable in my experience. The electrolytic capacitors leak heavily and while they might reform enough to work, it's worth changing them. My first (so far untouched) RP18 actually sounds quite different to every other one that I've worked on, and that's because of failed capacitors. Happily, the restored ones are much better...

Oh, the bass control will be noisy because of the 2 capacitors either side of it.

Yes, RF alignment is normally out on any Hacker - there are perhaps worse than many others in this regard if my experience is anything to go by, and the RP18 FM is normally worse again. But, simple to correct.

And yes, the earlier handles were "floppy", but I believe that there is a strip of metal inside the plastic covering. Later ones were rigid aluminium extrusions with a central plastic moulding.

Watch out for the knobs, as the plastic is quite brittle - if the grub screw has been over-tightened in the past, they crack.

Performance is pretty fair - I don't think I've heard anything better from that year. The sound is full-bodied, but the HF performance isn't the same as later sets - perhaps not surprisingly given this was the early days of FM in the UK. Still very agreeable, and AM performance on these is especially good. There's a very complimentary review in the Gramophone archive: http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/Ju ... 87/757597/

A scan of the full service manual (by yours truly) is available FOC on the Hacker Radio group ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hackerradiogroup/ ). If you're thinking of hosting it on your library, could you discuss it with Paul first?

Hope you enjoy it - and perhaps consider an RP25A or B next. The Hunters are all excellent too. For most people, the problem is stopping at one

Cheers,

Mark

Thanks Mark.
I've signed up to Yahoo Hacker using my existing "groups" ID and downloaded your scan.

I have 30 off Russian NOS PNP HF 60MHz transistors on order. I was going to test some in the Bush TR130 and compare with the 2N3906 or BC557 or whatever silicon "jelly bean" I stuck in. If this Hacker has some sick AF117 they may do. They are likely very much newer NOS than AF12x transistors. I'll pop 6 in an envelope for YTT to try if they are much better than BC557.

If you're thinking of hosting it on your library, could you discuss it with Paul first?

Which Paul? and which "my" Library?

Thanks Mark.
I've signed up to Yahoo Hacker using my existing "groups" ID and downloaded your scan.

Good man 

If you're thinking of hosting it on your library, could you discuss it with Paul first?

Which Paul? and which "my" Library? 

I was thinking of this: https://www.radios-tv.co.uk/dmanager/php/login.php

And sorry - meant Paul King, who owns the Hacker group. Scarily nice chap, and incredibly knowledgeable too. He is a member on here: memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=32

Cheers,

Mark

If I'm seen as 'quiet', it's probably got more to do with having been a victim of an oppressive regime; and getting used to freedom.

A bit like when Harry Palmer escapes torture in the Ipcress File; only to find that he's not in an Eastern Bloc country, but in central London.

Hi TD,

I suspected as much, I hope in time yourself and others will come to feel comfortable out of the shackles. As I've said to others feel free to fly, it might take some getting used to. While on bird metaphors if whilst flying any member accidently poop's so what no harm done, anything can be sorted and even the team screw up we are all human.

Nice Hacker to start with... very nice Hacker to start with, in pre-eBay days I was practically 20 years into my Hacker affliction... I mean, my membership of the unofficial worldwide fraternity of Hacker enthusiasts. before I found one. There can't be much else to say before it arrives with you that Mark and others haven't already covered, except that the unjointed telescopic aerial tunneldiode mentions, like the springy handle, changed in the course of production, so if you've a later RP18 it will have had a knuckle-jointed aerial from new.

Paul

To think I almost suggested he keep the Hacker and sell it separately to reduce my postage!

I have one of these
http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/pye_p31mbq.html
(Not restored yet)

One of these from Luke (Mendipsview)
http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/pye_p114bq.html
Mostly restored, working nice. Thanks Luke!

So I wanted this
http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/pye_p131mbq.html
The Hacker RP18, and two other radios in the same lot.

One is some flavour of
http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/ever_sky_master.html

The other is cheap Asian multiband transistor
http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/koy_ktr_1661ktr166.html
Actually possibly maybe not as poor a radio as I thought now that I look it up.

The Postage/Shipping will cost more than the four radios!
But I have seen the Pye sell for £5 more than I paid for all of them (but it was a very clean one).

OK how many more closet Hacker types do we have here? come boys out you come, just because we appear to be a bottle orientated site you 3 legged or multi-legged fans are welcome to talk about your afflication,,,, errr passion too.

I only have one Hacker so far and most of it's 3 legged inhabitants were originally the dreaded 4 legged beasties. I do have a craving for one of their valve models though.....

In the spirit of VRAT open-ness and accessibility (recently brought into sharp relief by current issue(s) playing out "in another place"!!) I have to confess I have succumbed to temptation and have both a Sovereign RP25A and RP25B...the latter from new...so whilst I am not yet in the tertiary stage of the incurable "Hacker Syndrome" I know I have to be careful... and my recent joining of the Yahoo Hacker Group may yet be an ominous portent!
Trevor.

I made 2 x PP9 out of 2 x 6 x AA

I cut 2 x four way holders into two 3 way holders and used double sided sticky foam to stick back to back and wired in series for each PP9. I know that they are still sold online, but not locally. Lidl does 8 Alkaline AA at 3 Euro or the bargain shops do 14 x AA Zinc Carbon, not fully filled so about 35% to 40% of the Alkaline mAH.

Anyway...

Is the Serial number the label on the Turntable? It's 24915

The VHF head has
GÖRLER
7-1966
312-0031

The telescopic rod is the straight kind (no swivel knuckle) and no sections are "broken" but the shim/springs are out so the sections fall apart. Top intact and not bent. So possibly repairable.

Mysteriously both the volume and tuning knob completely loosened, but unbroken.

Seems odd to me that a Germanium transistor set designed with Negative earth and for 18V! Someone drilled a small hole beside power jack and there was a badly soldered wire on volume control going nowhere.

(Extra hole just to rear of Power socket)
Before any clean up at all.

VHF seems to work very well. But LW & MW are totally dead. I shall consult the circuit diagram!

AF117 trouble, most likely: it's a stroke of luck that whiskers haven't silenced FM too.

The serial number's dependable position is on the underside of the aluminium tray beneath the control panel, pretty close to the rear of the set - open the back, look upwards in a decent light and you should see it stamped there. Most likely the number on the turntable is correct, but turntables are quite often swapped and/or the paper label falls off. The telescopic aerial changed from a rigid to a knuckle-jointed version at serial 26000, so the number on your turntable would fit with that: the date of July '66 for the FM tuner head's manufacture is much as expected too. What isn't is the DC socket, definitely a later addition: they weren't fitted as standard to Sovereigns until very late in production of the RP25A version of the Sovereign II. Little wonder, then, if there's some below standard wiring associated with it, though I've no idea why anyone would have drilled a further hole.

Paul

The PCB and wiring on power socket looks fine. The dodgy wire was tacked on the Volume control. Maybe some had added another in or out (though there seems to be socketry on the top for that).

P.S.
Thanks Paul, I might never have spotted the chassis S/N. But it does actually exactly match the paper label on the turntable.