Guys, I have a Sony 2R-31 small, pocket sized transistor radio that doesn't play very loud and I am not sure how receptive it is either. Is there anyone on the forum I can ship it to for repair?

It looks like this: http://radioattic.com/item_sold.htm?radio=0520100

Thanks

Round trip shipping, in addition to paying someone for labor will be more than it's worth.

Replacing the 4 Electrolytics would bring it back up, and that's really very simple for you to do.

I have that same Sony radio but no schematic. I changed the electrolytics and re-aligned it. Works good. Good sensitivity and tone. The metallic looking case adds class to it. Ken

I would be willing to take a stab at it but I will be unavailable for a while (due to this: http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av031/status.html)

Brett

I grew-up 20 - 30 miles south of Cape Canaveral right next to PAFB. back in the early 60s there were a lot of duds. big fireworks in the sky. Alan Shepard had to be crazy to ride a Redstone an early anti ballistic misstle. actually they were all military rockets from Atlas to Titan and in between. Atlas uses kerosene/liquid oxygen fuel. Titan is hypergolic extremely toxic fuel. one breath of that stuff and youre dead. the most spectacular was the Saturn V night launch. sun coming up in the north ground shaking fish jumping out of the water experience. nothing else compares

Being on the Cape for Apollo 17's launch was spectacular to say the least. I was with a group that had some sort of press passes and were only a couple of miles from the pad. I know every pic I took was way overexposed. Only have the pics in My mind. Lit up the cape like the sun came up.

so on these 4 electrolytics, i havent worked on a circuit board before, but just kind of melt them off and remove and stick new caps in an re-solder? i have a hard time hitting a nail with a hammer not sure i can solder that small...

Be aware of the proper polarity so you can get the new ones in correct. Just use enough heat to melt the solder and use a solder sucker or wick to remove as much as possible. Too much heat will separate the foil trace from the board. I would practice on a common broken junker if you're not confident enough.

This is perfect advice.

I would add for you to do one at a time, making sure of the polarity before removal, and in fact writing down (+ on left side, + next to speaker hole, etc.) the position for each one.

Use a pencil type soldering iron, 40 watts max, and the less the better.

You can get the iron, and solder braid or a solder sucker at Radio shack; either one will do the trick to remove solder.

The leads on the original caps are usually inserted into the two holes, and then bent over and soldered. I use the needle part of a safety pin to lift them up while heating the solder pad, and once removed, to open any hole where the solder remains covering it up.

Verify the capacitance values, which can also be purchased at Rat Shack. If it's powered by a nine volt battery, any rating at 10 volts or above is OK AFA voltage rating.

You can do this, just take your time at it. The money you spend on repair items instead of postage and labor costs will serve well for your next set in need of fixin'.

Yes .. i do .. and have for 40 years . I do not overcharge .

Mbird97 and Fifties have given good advice.

In addition, I'd suggest taking closeup digital photos. Take your time and
be sure to reflow any iffy-looking solder joints when you replace those caps.
Soldering/desoldering 'small' discrete components will take a little practice,
but it's not that hard. After the first cap, the rest are easy.

~ Mitch ~