[PhilcoJohn]

I LOVE my Philco 38-116 but recently its been giving me a real problem. The radio does not pick up on the AM band below 1300 on the dial and Shortwaave is spooty at best. I do not have a tube tester. Console was recaped and was working beautifully. Might have to replace some tubes. What do you think . I usually listed to this radio every nite!  

[PhilcoJohn]

This is not the first time this has happened to me on this set.

[morzh]

Well, if you have spare tubes, you know what to do for the next 1/2 hour

[NostalgiaRadioTime]

Had a similar problem on my 42-355, only to find a small dust bunny had made its home in part of the tuning capacitor. Once I took some compressed air and blew it out, the missing half of the dial returned. Can't say that it is something that simple causing the trouble on your 38-116. Of course my set has no back, which just invites dust inside. Not sure if your console has a back or not. Otherwise, yep, time to try different tubes.

[PhilcoJohn]

My radio has no back also. Good point, It does collect a lot of dust. Will try that. Then its off to find some tubes if that does not work.

[Radioroslyn]

I capped my 37-116 back in the '80s but didn't pull out the RF deck. After a year or so of working well it died. A small paper cap in the osc screen circuit shorted killed the LO. Pain to replace but fixed it and worked again.
Terry