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Tube radios

Old Thrashbarg said:
Fi It's possible there's a selenium rectifier, but it's more likely to use a tube rectifier... the standard one for smaller transformerless sets was a 35W4, which is generally trouble free. If it does have a selenium one, though, you should definitely replace it. A 1N4007 plus a dropping resistor in series (generally around 120-150 ohm 5W) will do the trick.
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I doubt that it's a selenium rectifier and I'm guessing probably not submini tubes. AA5s were also built in standard octal (hence, the 35Z5 for your 35W4, and a 50L6 for the submini 50C5). It could also be the rare Loctal AA5. Philco made those also (35Y4, 50A5...).
 
Chuck(G) said:
I doubt that it's a selenium rectifier and I'm guessing probably not submini tubes. AA5s were also built in standard octal (hence, the 35Z5 for your 35W4, and a 50L6 for the submini 50C5). It could also be the rare Loctal AA5. Philco made those also (35Y4, 50A5...).
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I guess I got an anomaly. Mine has a power supply, but more to the point! I went through each and every fuse, swapping them with the ones I bought, and then back again. I ended up finding two bad fuses. One from each group. Because while swapping them I suddenly got some static! Then after swapping the other fuses back and forth, the old lady worked! I immediately unplugged it from the wall, and documented which fuses I had that were bad, so I could get a refund on the bad one, possibly more.

Anyway, after completely cleaning it up, inside and out, I took my time to recheck all of my connections. I ended up replacing several more wire splices, and taps. Now the Philco is working right next to me.

I still love the sound quality of this thing. Granted, it's no Bose Wave radio, but it certainly sounds a hell of a lot better than any of the TV speakers we have in the house.

Together, we solved another one.
Thanks for your input everyone.

Tom
 
bettablue said:
I guess I got an anomaly. Mine has a power supply, but more to the point! I went through each and every fuse, swapping them with the ones I bought, and then back again. I ended up finding two bad fuses. One from each group. Because while swapping them I suddenly got some static! Then after swapping the other fuses back and forth, the old lady worked! I immediately unplugged it from the wall, and documented which fuses I had that were bad, so I could get a refund on the bad one, possibly more.
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Fuses in broadcast-band radios were pretty rare. I wonder why yours has them? You do know how to check fuses with a continuity tester, don't you?
 
You set your VOM to ohms and the fuse will read short (0Ω) if it's good and ∞ if it's not. Mine squeals on shorts so you don't even need to look at the meter to know. :)
 
I did that, but I guess I missed the two for some reason. Ire there any circuits in fuses that won't necessarily "short"?

Stone said:
You set your VOM to ohms and the fuse will read short (0Ω) if it's good and ∞ if it's not. Mine squeals on shorts so you don't even need to look at the meter to know. :)
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bettablue said:
I did that, but I guess I missed the two for some reason. Ire there any circuits in fuses that won't necessarily "short"?
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There are no circuits in fuses. A fuse is nothing more than a conducting wire i.e., a short circuit, that melts at a certain current load, therby breaking the circuit. If there is no short the fuse has already blown and needs to be replaced.
 
I was able to find some replacement tubes, and broke out my old Simpson Multimeter to start diagnosing the problem. I found a few loose connections, and there were a couple of wire splices that needed replacing, but overall, nothing was obviously "wrong". The fuses I bought were tested in another radio at a vintage electronics repair shop where they offer free tube testing. I had all 5 of the tubes tested before I bought them, so I know they're OK.
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When you say "fuses" do you mean "tubes"? :confused:
 
KC9UDX said:
You aren't using a Harbour Fright special, are you?
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Oh no! I'm using my trusty old Simpson 260-6, or my Radio Shack Pro model from about 1975. I don't trust anything from Harbour Freight. Nor do I trust any of those $15.00 special digital Fluke wannabes from China. It amazing that people even think they're of any use. During the testing, all of the fuses had read as a short, so I don't know what I missed, if anything. It may have even been the idea that just reseating the fuses a couple of times did the trick. Regardless, the radio works now, so I' really don't want to push things.
 
bettablue said:
Oh no! I'm using my trusty old Simpson 260-6, or my Radio Shack Pro model from about 1975. I don't trust anything from Harbour Freight. Nor do I trust any of those $15.00 special digital Fluke wannabes from China. It amazing that people even think they're of any use.
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You and I are on the same page.:cool:

During the testing, all of the fuses had read as a short, so I don't know what I missed, if anything. It may have even been the idea that just reseating the fuses a couple of times did the trick. Regardless, the radio works now, so I' really don't want to push things.
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It's possible the fuse holder is or was oxidised. If it were me, I'd probably pull the fuse and scotchbrite the fuse holder. But, I'm overcautious about that kind of stuff. It will probably be just fine the way it is.

Congratulations on getting the radio working!

It's going to give you some trouble at some point in the future. Eventually, it will need new condensers, an alignment, and probably some resistors. When that happens, don't be afraid to do what it takes to keep it going. In the meantime, enjoy!
 
bettablue said:
Oh no! I'm using my trusty old Simpson 260-6, or my Radio Shack Pro model from about 1975. I don't trust anything from Harbour Freight. Nor do I trust any of those $15.00 special digital Fluke wannabes from China. It amazing that people even think they're of any use. During the testing, all of the fuses had read as a short, so I don't know what I missed, if anything. It may have even been the idea that just reseating the fuses a couple of times did the trick. Regardless, the radio works now, so I' really don't want to push things.
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Sadly even Fluke is becoming just another name in cheap Chinese junk, like Craftsman. I recently learned that with one of my meters. I've heard that Klein Tools is starting to bring some of their manufacturing back here, so we'll see how that turns out. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good quality meter? I don't care where it's made as long as it is built to last more than a year and works properly.
 
Stone said:
I have absolutely no idea what rat pee might smell like as I've never stuck my nose that close to a rat's ass. Would you care to clue me in so I won't have to approach one of those critters to make a determination?
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It depends on the breed and diet. I've found that field mice have a kind of earthy aroma, while house mice... Wait, what was the question?
 
SGTSQUID said:
Sadly even Fluke is becoming just another name in cheap Chinese junk, like Craftsman. I recently learned that with one of my meters. I've heard that Klein Tools is starting to bring some of their manufacturing back here, so we'll see how that turns out. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good quality meter? I don't care where it's made as long as it is built to last more than a year and works properly.
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Depends upon your price point. I picked up a new Fluke 113 for $52 off of ebay about 2 years ago, and while a basic meter, it does what I need it to do. I've found that multimeter is one of those tools that you can spend as much as you would like to spend in obtaining... but that doesn't necessarily mean that a low-end or used one won't meet your needs.
 
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