[Ron Ramirez]

Well, there's good news and bad news, folks.

What shall I give you first?

Okay, the good news:

The capacitor order arrived today. I immediately opened the box and pulled the caps I needed to restuff the two electrolytics:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...e00017.jpg]

I had already attached antenna and ground leads and an AC cord.

After electrolytic installation, I tested all six tubes. Two were bad.

A 7B7E tested dead...and the dreaded 6X5 had P-K shorts!

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...e00019.jpg]

Imagine that, a Brand Z 6X5, at that.

I had good, tested spares for each, and these were installed.

Once these were in place, the set was turned on...and it came to life:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...e00018.jpg]

It was barely picking anything up; the strongest signal was my SSTRAN signal which came through loud and clear.

So far so good, right? (You can probably guess where this is going.)

Now the bad news.

After playing for about a half-hour's time, as I sat in my easy chair across the basement from the workbench, it seemed to me that the volume began to drop slightly.

I looked - and the power transformer was releasing its magic smoke!

 

I did consider snapping a quick photo, but I was more concerned about preventing a possible fire and with keeping the work I had done from completely self-destructing.

Naturally, the smoke release made the area where my workbench is smell awful...and the transformer was extremely hot...liquid wax was pouring out of it...

So this one will require a power transformer. That means that, once it cools off, it will be put back on the shelf for awhile.

But at least I have the satisfaction of knowing my AM antenna coil rewind worked, and I also know that the radio will probably play fine with a new power transformer and a good alignment.