12-15-2008, 04:36 PM
I just finished putting together the 42-350 I have been recapping and rewiring for a long time. I had lots of problems due to some wiring mistakes I made early on when my notes were wrong, and those mistakes caused other problems that were hard to find and fix. Thanks to Ron Ramirez, planigan, Steve in Missouri, exray, and any others who helped me with these problems.
The upshot is that the radio now works great. I aligned the IF, and I get great reception. Yesterday around dusk I picked up strong broadcasts from Boston and Philadelphia, quite a few stations all across the SW band, and even, faintly, two local FM stations on the old prewar FM band. (I can't remember the explanation for this--something about oscillator harmonics.)
My question involves the compensators for aligning the tuning to the numbers on the dial glass. On this radio the dial glass is attached to the cabinet, not to the chassis, so it seems like the alignment must be done with the chassis in place in the cabinet, but most of the RF compensators are at the front of the chassis where they are really hard to reach with the chassis installed. Does anyone have any suggestions for aligning this set? "Just try harder" would work, I guess, but I wondered if anyone has a hint I don't know about.
I did have a thought of making marks on the back of the pointer assembly when the pointer aligns with the required frequencies on the glass, and then pulling the chassis and the loop antenna out to the bench to adjust the compensators to those marks, but that's the only idea I have.
The only other problem is that the hum seems greater than on my other Philcos, especially from the rear of the set. I don't notice it when I am listening across the room, but it is pretty noticeable when I am tuning and adjusting it. I tried a couple of different speakers (same type) and reversed the field coil leads and also the voice coil leads, but there was no change either way.
The upshot is that the radio now works great. I aligned the IF, and I get great reception. Yesterday around dusk I picked up strong broadcasts from Boston and Philadelphia, quite a few stations all across the SW band, and even, faintly, two local FM stations on the old prewar FM band. (I can't remember the explanation for this--something about oscillator harmonics.)
My question involves the compensators for aligning the tuning to the numbers on the dial glass. On this radio the dial glass is attached to the cabinet, not to the chassis, so it seems like the alignment must be done with the chassis in place in the cabinet, but most of the RF compensators are at the front of the chassis where they are really hard to reach with the chassis installed. Does anyone have any suggestions for aligning this set? "Just try harder" would work, I guess, but I wondered if anyone has a hint I don't know about.
I did have a thought of making marks on the back of the pointer assembly when the pointer aligns with the required frequencies on the glass, and then pulling the chassis and the loop antenna out to the bench to adjust the compensators to those marks, but that's the only idea I have.
The only other problem is that the hum seems greater than on my other Philcos, especially from the rear of the set. I don't notice it when I am listening across the room, but it is pretty noticeable when I am tuning and adjusting it. I tried a couple of different speakers (same type) and reversed the field coil leads and also the voice coil leads, but there was no change either way.
John Honeycutt
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