In 1963 I was 13 years old and I pressed my nose against every window of the radio and television shop. I really wanted to have one of those little transistor radios.

Great video.  There were actually three radios in this series from Channel Master,  the 6505 5 transistor,  6510 6 transistor, and 6520 8 transistor.  I have all three in my collection.  Luckily none of them had nearly this many problems getting them playing.  The 6520 is also the only portable radio I own that has heat sinks on the output transistors.  When I was 12 years old I mowed enough yards to buy myself a brand new Channel Master 6509 radio with a genuine leather case.  I'm 73 now and my little 6509 still plays (with new capacitors).

That’s nice looking Channel Master. It’s unusual to see one without an damage to the plastic.

That was Grandma Johnson's "Billy Graham" radio. Brings back 50 year old memories. Thanks.

I used to have one of them when I was a teenager in the 1960's. I listened to it while I was driving the tractor because it was loud and clear.

A very sensitive AM radio is crucial after a hurricane knocks out all other means of getting information and with AC power down the lack of interference can more than double their daytime range. A large homemade inductive loop can triple that. A Sony ICF-19 I had was a lifesaver after hurricanes Laura and Delta here. It has a very fat 4.75 inch ferrite antenna and works very similar to a CCrane during the day but heavy DSP muting ruins it for DXing at night with signals dropping out. What a ridiculous "feature."

when I was a kid, my family had three of that exact model, one at home, one at the cottage, and one at my grandparent's house.  I think we got them in the late 60's.  All three sat on top of a refrigerator playing every morning and evening for over 20 years.  They all worked great.  I wish I still had at least one of them but sadly they are all long gone.  I've been an electronics tech/eng for over 30 years so I know I could have repaired them.  I didn't get the chance to try.

What a dude.  He guessed the wrong transistor (with good reason) then figured out it was the other transistor, and then could prove his work and show on the schematics why the RF transistor screwing up would make you think it's the 1st IF transistor.  Killin' it.

Great video! I love these longer in-depth ones. I had to smile when Shango proclaimed "this radio kicks ass". That's a mighty big compliment coming from Shango

“Bark point cigarette xylophone”. 😂

That "today is a great day testing testing" station is just so weird and creepy, I love it

My grandfather bought me a Channel Master radio for my sixth birthday. I used it for years. Pretty decent reception...

My dad worked for an electronics distributor who’s was a Sanyo/channel master company. They sold a ton of those things out here in the sticks and they really performed

My grandfather gave me a Channel Master AM/SW   radio when I was a kid. It picked up CHU Canada very well for a small radio. I enjoy your videos even though I have zero knowledge about electronics

It appears to me that the RF shield for that tunable coil you point out was not missing from the factory. If you look carefully (and maybe you did since I haven’t watched the entire video yet), the capacitor next to the said tunable coil has some sort of hot-snot on it (as Dave of EEVBLOG calls it) that took the shape of the shield that once must have existed beside it. Unfortunately this radio is so unnaturally clean it would be hard to confirm that further by looking for signs of the missing shield or “can” by finding traces of its ghost in the dust that normally accumulated after all these years.  This radio is a real beauty though. Can’t wait to watch the rest of the show lol.

Nice radio.
I used to blindly troubleshoot radios ages ago, but without a schematic, I don't enjoy the job as much anymore, like I do when I do have the information!

This may very well be one of my favorite videos you've done. It has a bit of it all right down to the rural DX test at the end. A shame can only give it one 'thumbs up.'

The best radio repair video I've seen in a while . You covered a lot of ground in this one .

I recall back in what seems like ought- five ( actual in the 70's, i was a young tech working with a bunch of 'old' crusty tube  jockey tv repair guys.
I had an audio issue in a tv.  Back then shops usually had one scope for the whole shop to share on a wheel- around cart.
I had only been there a week and was obviously the FNG young guy.
It was a solid state audio stage and that was kinda new to most techs at that time.  With no audio tracer in the shop.  So to just to get a handle on the thing, i asked if i could use the scope.   They all in concert started poking fun at me for needing a scope to fix an audio problem.
In my many years now of working on Audio equipment,  the audio signal tracer has made really quick diagnosis of audio problems.

I’d love to find one of those. Sweet unit.