10-25-2018, 10:16 AM
Thank you Bob and Terry -- terrific advice. This morning I turned my attention to the 46-200's apparently touchy loop antenna circuit by asking myself "what have I done to change this?" Hmmm. Well, I did replace that old, original wax paper Philco branded antenna coupling cap up top with a shiny new yellow poly number. The waxy brown one was marked .0015 MFD, so I substituted a new one of the same value (or did I?).
At any rate, I dug the old Philco cap out of my trash bin and re-inserted it. Bingo! No more audio distortion! (Okay, there's one exception and that's a 50KW clear channel AMer at 1500 KHz whose transmitter is precisely one mile from my house. None of my receivers, including my fancy Kenwood and ITT Mackay Marine jobs, can handle WTOP Radio very well, so I'll forgive my $20.00 Philco). Anywho -- the 46-200's playing nicely now.
BTW, my most rewarding Philco project was the rebuild of a PT-25. I found the cute little number in a New Hampshire antique shop. It was in cosmetically decent and definitely worth sprucing-up condition. When I pulled the chassis out, however, I was shocked to note that an apparent 'lytic unwellness had blown to smithereens all power supply components and most of the radio's wiring. Melted insulation, charred resistor remains, boiled wax and scorch marks littered the bowels of the little Philco.
I was about to toss the thing in the trash (it had cost $10.00) when I drew myself up to full height (5'6") and vowed to bring this abused little wireless set back to life. And I did -- working from a schematic and replacing every single cap, resistor and hookup wire in the thing. About the only original components left intact were the IF cans, inductors and tuning capacitor. After a long round of TLC, it played, naturally, just as new.
Thanks again, fellas!
Craig
W3CRR
Silver Spring (near Sandy Spring) Merry-Land
At any rate, I dug the old Philco cap out of my trash bin and re-inserted it. Bingo! No more audio distortion! (Okay, there's one exception and that's a 50KW clear channel AMer at 1500 KHz whose transmitter is precisely one mile from my house. None of my receivers, including my fancy Kenwood and ITT Mackay Marine jobs, can handle WTOP Radio very well, so I'll forgive my $20.00 Philco). Anywho -- the 46-200's playing nicely now.
BTW, my most rewarding Philco project was the rebuild of a PT-25. I found the cute little number in a New Hampshire antique shop. It was in cosmetically decent and definitely worth sprucing-up condition. When I pulled the chassis out, however, I was shocked to note that an apparent 'lytic unwellness had blown to smithereens all power supply components and most of the radio's wiring. Melted insulation, charred resistor remains, boiled wax and scorch marks littered the bowels of the little Philco.
I was about to toss the thing in the trash (it had cost $10.00) when I drew myself up to full height (5'6") and vowed to bring this abused little wireless set back to life. And I did -- working from a schematic and replacing every single cap, resistor and hookup wire in the thing. About the only original components left intact were the IF cans, inductors and tuning capacitor. After a long round of TLC, it played, naturally, just as new.
Thanks again, fellas!
Craig
W3CRR
Silver Spring (near Sandy Spring) Merry-Land
