E H Scott Book & Abraded Cable

[Joseph W Strickland]

After seeing copies of "E. H. Scott - The Dean of DX: A History of Classic Radios (Expanded Second Edition)" for well over $100 on ebay I looked on Amazon and saw them for less. However, I noticed that the publisher was Radio Daze Press, so I looked on the Radio Daze website and found the same book in paperback form for $14.95, so I ordered a copy and also ordered some AC cord strain reliefs for 1/2 inch holes. I hope I can manage to make at least one of them work on the 800B power supply chassis. It currently has one on it holding two cords, one being an output receptacle for a record changer, the other being the AC power input cord. The actual hole in the chassis measures about .545 inches ID and the chassis thickness is .075 inches, so I hope I can get at least one of these to work.

Much of the braided sleeving on the two wire cables between the radio tuner chassis and the power supply on my Early 800B were frayed, rotten and falling apart. I found that Amazon.com has some 1/4" PET expandable sleeving that will expand or contract to provide for 1/8" to 7/16" ID cable ranges. For about $13 I was able to order some in a brown color including shipping. I need to recover and protect the cloth insulated wires in those cable bundles. I bought some rubber grommets I can use at the openings to the radio tuner chassis, but installing those means disconnecting the leads from the plugs that go to the power supply chassis. Unfortunately the cloth insulated wires inside have lost their original colors to indicate which wire is which. I have decided that I need to color code each wire where it will be inside the connector cover as I disconnect and reconnect them from the plug. I can get some small hobby paints from Hobby Lobby and use the standard RETMA color code to indicate which pin each wire goes to.

Joe

[David C. Poland]

RE grommets.  Cut it so you can place it around the cable. Then with a small screwdriver , work it onto the chassis hole.  Beats removing the cable and reinstalling it. Results are just fine.

[Joseph W Strickland]

David;

Thanks for the suggestion. I had thought of that too, but want to do the best job I can on this unit. The jacket on the cable wire bundle was so ratty looking and literally falling apart to the point that it needs replacing. Since to do so I will have to remove the plug anyway, it will be easy while the plug is off to slide the new grommet up the cable to the chassis and press it into place. The reinforcing heat shrink at the grommet area will need to be placed and shrunk before the outer jacket can be installed. I don't want to leave the area of stress without a little more protection before the sleeve is installed.

In looking at the original jacket over the cable where some tape had been applied the color was quite different than the rest. The disintegrating area of the jacket was a brown color. The part that was covered by the tape was more of a gray-green color (almost an olive color). I don't know if the gray-green color was original or if the adhesive of the tape that had been applied changed the original color of the jacket at those areas. In any case the brown tends to match the color of some cloth covered AC cords I have seen on older radios and will at least make it look neat again and protect the cable from abrasion against external surfaces.

Joe

[Norman S Braithwaite]

If you want original, YnZ can replace the braided jacket with new cotton braided jacket.  You send the troubled cable in and they remove the remnants of the original jacket and dip it through the loom!  They offer black and white unless you want to pay a lot for a special run.  The white can be died any color you want but not if there is cloth insulation on the wires within.

http://www.ynzyesterdaysparts.com/

Norman

[Joseph W Strickland]

Norman;

Yes thanks again. You had mentioned YnZ once before in a note to me. While I may not have an exact match on color, the brown I selected will look close to other period radios AC cords and speaker cords. It will go on easily by my own hand and will cost significantly less than what YnZ would charge. I am sure they do a fine job, but on this one I am on a budget so this should look good.

The wires in this cable are cloth covered types, two of which also have braided ground shields (audio leads). I went to Hobby Lobby this morning and bought a set of multiple colors of acrylic paint that is easy to apply. The only color not included was gray and I just mixed some of the white with black to get the shade of gray I wanted. I colored each wire: #1 Brown, #2 Red, #3 Orange, #4 Yellow, #5 Green, #6 Blue, #7 Violet, #8 Gray, #9 White, #10 Brown & Black, #11 Brown & Brown, #12 Brown & Red. I am now waiting for the paint to cure. Then I can unsolder them and be ready to install the chassis grommet and the heat-shrink tubing around the wire bundle where the grommet will be. I can see the original wire colors at the plug end where the braided cover shielded them from light. I will document those color codes for posterity and send that data along to Kent. I have the one Late model radio tuner chassis and I will look at it to see what color codes show up on each wire of that version and report that to Kent also. I also need to check on the wire gauge and number of wire strands and report that too. It is possible that someone may make new replacement cloth covered wire, but I have doubts that anyone does. I have seen solid color cloth covered wire from several sources, but these Scott radio cables typically have white wires with color dashes to identify them. It may be helpful to others in troubleshooting the wiring if they know what wire colors were used on each cable.

Joe

[Joseph W Strickland]

I received the E. H. Scott....Dean of DX, second edition today and spent some hours reading it. It is a very interesting book. We can thank Kent and some others here plus Marvin Hobbs for their work in compiling the historical information on the man and the company he created. There are some nice schematics included plus color pictures of a good number of the radios from private collections.

Joe