[Ron Ramirez]

Hello and welcome!

Have you had the crystal cartridge rebuilt? This is the part on the tone arm which the needle fits into. These are notorious for going bad.

You can rebuild it yourself, and my friend Syl has posted a detailed how-to here on the Phorum:

http://philcoradio.com/phorum/showthread.php?tid=1019

But if you do not feel comfortable doing this yourself, there is a company which rebuilds these cartridges.

http://www.west-techservices.com/

I would suspect that before checking any further, if you have replaced all paper and electrolytic capacitors and any out-of-spec resistors. You should be able to rub your finger across the needle and clearly hear the resulting scratching sound in a nearby AM radio tuned to the 42-RP2's signal if the cartridge is OK and the unit is transmitting as it should.