The PHILCO Phorum

While waiting on some parts for the 610, I decided to tackle an "easy AA5". Uh huh... Ok, I have had this for close to 20 years and never plugged in. I had a model 60 when I was young and was the first radio I ever repaired successfully. Long gone now. Anyway, this is a decades old Ebay find. I purchased it to 'replace' mine, but it isn't quite the same. I did a slow power up and got a whole lotta nothin. I buzzed the volume control and did get a hum in the speaker, weak, but present. Anyway, I decided to do a quick and easy recap and check the tubes. The converter tube 12SA7 checked marginal, and the 1st af/det tube (12SQ7) - flat. All others ok. I have the conv tube, but the 1st af seems a little more scarce.

Here's some pics of this project:

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So far ...

I like the tuner control wheel at the top, very 50's looking, and pretty clean too. Polish her up and start listening. btw- how is the clock running?

Paul

Nice errr, radio.........Your set is here in Ivory.

Happy and blissful times when people didn't know that smoking kills


Much knowledge comes with sorrow.

There's a radio????
Sadly she didn't live much longer after that pic.
DR film star.
RIP 1951 at 39 heart attack.

Tim,

Do you still need any parts for the GE?  I have a couple of clunker sets which are identical.

Mitch

(05-18-2017, 06:01 AM)Radioroslyn Wrote: [ -> ]heart attack.

...and drowning. In a bathtub.

I have seen one of her movies, Arabian Nights. also starring Shemp Howard. You wonder about these hollywood scenes, always think about drugs, booze.


Quite a looker though, I can see why they featured her. 

Paul

Thanks Paul for the pic! Mitch, I "may" need an antenna if you have one. I had a chance to play with it last Saturday after I finished the recap. It came to life, but everything was garbled. I read in another post that these radios with the loop antenna will do this if it is disconnected. Mine was some kind of replacement that looked like it came out of a transistor radio or something. I found it laying loose from shipping all those years ago and reconnected it. Well, it helped the garble, but it seems pretty poor on the reception. It helps if I connect a wire, but is still pretty poor. I get a lot of whistling and squealing when tuning. I don't know yet if it is the antenna, alignment or a bad tube. So, for the moment, this is where I stand. If I recall, the 60 had the loop made on the back, and this one looks like it had a ferrite core in a cardboard holder originally.

The clock does run, but makes the rrRRRrrrRRrrrRRR sound, so I am going to give a shot at lubing.

What makes you say it is a 66? Any markings?
I have an original ad for your radio and it states it is a model 60...

I though that each loop antenna was wrap around,, to get the right amount of resistance,, for that Radio frequency---make and model varied

Well, I think about the only difference between a model 60 and 66 is the later uses a 35W4 and 50C5 instead of the 50L6 and 35Z5 like the 60. The loop antenna may be different.
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I think the 60 has the antenna glued to the back cover. You can see the lines where the wires could go, but this model has what looks like a place for an antenna coil with a ferrite core.
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Maybe a clunker from Mitch would have a good antenna?


Paul

Here is a picture of my recap.
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I did a slow power up, and here are the voltages I got at 120v. One meter is on the inpout filter and the other is on the output filter cap.
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I decided to do some chassis cleaning... at first I thought I would use a paint brush and remove the dust ...
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Of course, I couldn't do just that. So, off came the speaker, tuner and lots of scrubbing. I used Goo Gone cleaner. I lubed the tuner with Liberty oil, so it works a lot smoother now. Also shot the volume control with some Deoxit. Ok, how well does it work now? Eh, so so... Cleaning didn't make much difference . Big surprise. In fact, it was worse. But, I tinkered and got it back. Now, here's the mystery. When I took the back of a model 60 I had and connected the antenna coil. I got some stations about where they should be, but not much, and a lot of static and buzzing.

I reconnected the little coil that came with the radio, and I get some stations better with less buzzing, but I think, and this may really sound odd, but it sounds like shortwave! None of the other stations come in where they should. I guess this antenna coil is probably the culprit. No, I haven't attempted an alignment yet, probably wont until I get this antenna situated. At this point, I really don't know what this radio is suppose to have for an antenna. Any thoughts?

While waiting on a loop antenna to arrive, I decided to attempt to service the clock. It looks like oiling the gears is simple and straightforward. What I am not sure about is the drive motor. This is where the noise is originating. I don't know if this is even serviceable or not. Any clues? I had thought of drilling a small hole and shooting some Liberty Oil or something. Here is a pic.
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