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Philco 38-14 Radio Tube Compatibility and Sources
#9

Thanks! Assuming my 43 and 25Z5 are functioning, I've got all of the tubes. Now to compare the schematic and work on the electrical. There are definitely some newer components and the old plug wiring needs to be updated. It is soldered directly to a screw on the chassis. 

Here are some cautionary steps that I read on another forum: 

  1. Do not power on your radio. You could cause damage if you power it on before replacing the capacitors. There are several flavors of capacitors but the ones that typically decay with age are the electrolytics (usually found in power supply and on audio output circuit) and the wax-paper coupling capacitors.

  2. Find a service manual. Most are available online.

  3. Replace all electrolytic and paper capacitors with new ones of similar value and same or better voltage rating.

  4. Examine closely and replace anything that looks damaged, such as burned up resistors.

  5. Test the radio using a dim bulb tester, which is a 60 to 100 watt lightbulb wired in series with your radio’s line voltage. If the bulb glows dim after a while then there are likely no shorts across the B+ lines within your radio. You might even hear a crackle or some signals coming through.

  6. If it passed the dim bulb tests then try to power it up directly off the line. Most antique radios will work once the capacitors have been replaced.

  7. If it does not work then signal trace through the circuit by injecting a signal at the IF or RF, replacing resistors or occasionally a tube where needed. Old resistors have a tendency to increase in value with age. Often a bad stage in a tube radio is due to a resistor that has increased in value to the point of biasing the tube into cut-off. Tubes are usually not what caused the radio to be put out of service. The quickest way to find bad resistors is to probe the tube pin voltages. There will be a tube pin voltage chart in your radio’s service manual given a specific volt meter impedance. Wherever you find a voltage out of tolerance (greater than 10%), then check the resistors connected to that pin or to other circuits connected to that pin.

  8. If the stations are too weak then perform an alignment following the procedure in the service manual.

  9. Turn on the radio. It should work!

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Meghan Bright
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Messages In This Thread
Tube Compatibility - by Inkthinker2 - 11-19-2020, 03:36 PM
RE: Philco 38-14 Radio Tube Compatibility and Sources - by Inkthinker2 - 11-19-2020, 05:51 PM
Electrolytic, Film Caps, Isotap - by Inkthinker2 - 12-16-2020, 10:14 PM
Great Information - by Inkthinker2 - 12-17-2020, 12:43 PM



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