The PHILCO Phorum

All the tubes light up but all I hear is a loud hum. 

Adjusting the volume does nothing. 

Any ideas?

First and foremost, DO NOT power up old radios until the capacitors and any drifted resistors have been replaced. Components in old radios degrade with age (especially capacitors), and can cause damage to other components (most which are much more expensive and harder to find). Caps are relatively inexpensive and replacing them will help keep other parts from being overloaded. Take care and BE HEALTHY! Gary

+1 what Gary said. Here's some more information courtesy of this site:

https://philcoradio.com/library/index.ph...urn-it-on/

Bottom line, your radio will need some components replaced under the chassis before it will play without that loud hum.

Welcome to the Phorum!


The capacitor and resistor replacements are not too difficult especially if you have a little knowledge about soldering and electronics. If not, questions to the group here can help you through it or you can find someone to do the restoration for you.

From what I have read, the hum is most likely caused by the old electrolytic filter capacitors. Those are very important and should be replaced.