Welcome Guest! Be sure you know and follow the Phorum Rules before posting. Thank you and Enjoy! (January 12, 2025) x

Thread Closed

Philco 49-901 - Horrible (Garbled) Sound
#10

Yesterday, I sat down and took a good look at the chassis of this radio.

First, I checked the loop antenna connections - everything was ok there (it had not been disconnected).

I had not replaced some of the resistors. I remembered that this radio had the appearance of having lived a rough "life". Or, to be crude, it appeared to have been "rode hard and rode often".

Therefore I set out to replace many of the resistors I had not replaced initially.

When I was done, all the resistors save two (R204, which had been replaced in the past, and R403 which was mounted on the selector switch) had been replaced. In addition, I went ahead and replaced four of the mica capacitors in the tuning circuit (C401, C402, C404 & C405). I did not trust C405 as it looked like a "dogbone" resistor with thin, fragile leads.

After replacing those parts, I tried the radio out again yesterday evening.

Was it working correctly now?

You be the judge...

[Video: https://youtu.be/UNY8PF4Qay8]

The first station you hear is WITZ in Jasper at 990 kc. The 1280 preset was silent, but then my home SSTRAN comes in loud and clear at 660 kc. No longer did the volume control need to be at maximum to hear my SSTRAN. Most importantly, the sound was no longer garbled with hum modulation!

Lesson remembered: In an old AC/DC radio such as this that has obviously seen heavy use, don't stop at replacing the paper and electrolytic capacitors. Replace the old resistors as well, and mica caps as needed.

Now I will touch up the set's alignment and make sure the presets are tuned correctly and working, after which I will return the chassis to its cabinet and this project will then be complete. I may, or may not, replace the speaker anyway since it has a couple small holes in the cone. Nevertheless, it sounds ok now.

Thanks for looking and commenting.

--
Ron Ramirez
Ferdinand IN


Messages In This Thread



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)
[-]
Recent Posts
54C Complete Teardown/Rebuild
Richard, The Silvertone 2014 also is a transformerless set, so I am incorporating a 1:1 600 ohm audio isolation transfo...glyphmon — 11:37 PM
Preliminary work on wife's Silvertone 2014
Did an alignment today which was interesting.  IF alignment went great, almost all was already spot-on.  Adjusting on th...glyphmon — 11:35 PM
54C Complete Teardown/Rebuild
The main problem with adding a Bluetooth input is that this set lacks a traditional power transformer to isolate it from...radiorich — 11:19 PM
54C Cabinet Refinish
I started stripping this cabinet before it got super chilly out because I knew I wasn't going to be able to work on ...glyphmon — 11:18 PM
54C Complete Teardown/Rebuild
While I'm waiting to wrap up the final steps on my wife's Silvertone 2014, I started disassembly on the next project.  O...glyphmon — 11:07 PM
Preliminary work on wife's Silvertone 2014
Hello roy, that great news glad it worked out for you !! Sincerely Richardradiorich — 10:50 PM
Preliminary work on wife's Silvertone 2014
Safety caps arrived today.  Soldered one in and had a successful first power-up.  No magic smoke escaped and it tunes in...glyphmon — 09:53 PM
HiFi (Chifi) tube amp build - but my own design.
Tim, you refer to “AK”. Is that Alaska or Atwater-Kent, or… JoeJoe Rossi — 11:49 AM
Grundig 5088
Skip, you are back to this one? As for fixing, Mark Oppat fixes vol. controls. Don't know about Grunding, but woul...morzh — 10:30 AM
Stromberg Carlson 1500 Squeal
I volunteer for a monthly Fixit Clinic in my county. All the fixers tell anyone who brings in a Keurig that it will prob...RodB — 10:24 AM

[-]
Who's Online
There are currently 2579 online users. [Complete List]
» 2 Member(s) | 2577 Guest(s)
AvatarAvatar

>