[davidff]

I have been using my FM converter by plugging it in the small brown transformer box used for the BOL amplification, and turning the selector to "phono", but is there a way to connect to the "television" button on these consoles? I do not see how to use this button to input the FM tuner. Any ideas from the experts?

[Ron Ramirez]

The "television" button is the same as one of the preset AM stations.

The idea back then was to wirelessly transmit the audio from a prewar Philco TV set through your Philco console radio. By setting up one of the preset buttons in this manner, you could then hear the audio from your TV set.

Call letter tab kits included a "television" tab so one of the preset AM buttons could be used for this.

But very few Philco TV sets were produced prior to WWII; nearly all were experimental sets not sold to the public.

Please explain what you mean by "I do not see how to use this button to input the FM tuner." The 42-1015 already has an FM band - but it is the prewar 42 to 50 mc band, not today's 88 to 108 mc band.

[davidff]

I was referring to how to access the "phono" input to input my Pilotuner FM receiver, without having to have the phono itself be on. My BOL tone arm lights up whenever the "phono" button is pushed in, and I was hoping thatr I could just have FM input without activating the phono itself. I just want to be sure I am doing it correctly by using the input jack on the transformer and pushing the phono button.

As a side note, my push buttons do not hold very well on the 42-1015, the saw tooth side bar does not hold the button when it gets pushed in. Maybe a weak spring at the end of it? Anyway, any suggestions Ron on how to get them to hold better?

[Ron Ramirez]

If you want to use a direct audio input, I can only see two ways of going about this:

1. Continue to use your phono input as an auxiliary audio input; or
2. Modify the radio to use an audio input jack and perhaps a switch in back of the set, or use a 1/8" jack that will break the radio's audio at the point of contact and automatically switch to the phone jack input when a plug is inserted into the jack.

There would not be an easy way to use one of the set's AM preset pushbuttons to accomplish this without making some serious modifications, which I do not recommend.

Regarding your 42-1015 pushbuttons: I'm afraid I can't comment on those as I have yet to restore my 42-1015 chassis. I did notice when I bought the set how its pushbutton assembly is quite different from lesser 1942 Philco models.