Period Radios

Post by **Chris** » Sat Apr 05, 2003 7:46 pm

Hi all,

My dad found an old phillips MW, LW pushbutton radio, and amp in the attic today

. It's about 1955-57, mainly valve operated but with some transistors After a lot of thought we worked which wires went where. So we set it up using a speaker and a car battery.

After a bit of fiddling something resembling static could be heard but no radio stations. So I did the instinctive thing and pulled it apart, well at least removed the covers, the bulb for the dial was broken but didn't notice anything else. Put it back together and no static could be heard

Would it be worth trying to get someone to repair it, how much could it cost to be repaired? Is there a chance of trying to do it ourselves (I have played with electronics before, but nothing like this)? If we do where can parts be found? What are the most common things that go wrong with them?

Many thanks,
Chris

Post by **les** » Sat Apr 05, 2003 10:32 pm

Chris, I don't want to give the impression that I know too much about this but often the capacitors in radios can deteriate if unused, also there may have been a fault with it before. It is probably positive earth, bear that in mind. Dirty contact somewhere maybe, dry joint or perhaps a duff valve. try looking for a radio site on the net, you might get some contacts. I am thinking it would be a bit later if it has transistors, but not sure.Good luck.

Post by **Chris** » Mon Apr 07, 2003 7:13 pm

Cheers les,

To tell you the truth I am not too sure if it has transistors. There is a fairly large round component in the amp, with 3 pins, so I instantly though transistor, but I'm most likely to be completely wrong.

Cheers,
Chris

Post by **Willie** » Mon Apr 07, 2003 8:31 pm

Lo, if it is an OLD valve radio then the 'large round component with
three pins' could be the ' converter' which supplies the high
voltage to the valves. Does it vibrate?
It is obviously imposssible to estimate the costs of repair from here.
What I will say is that there is at least one company who specialize
in fitting modern,transistorised, circuitry into your old casing so that
you retain the looks. Probably advertised in 'Practical Classics'

Post by **Jimbob** » Tue Apr 08, 2003 2:33 pm

Chris, I've done some research on this in the past. Take a look the following web site, you might find it helpful.

www.vintagewireless.co.uk

Jimbob