Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Intermittant hum
#1

Hi y'all, hope that you can give me some direction. I have a Philco 46-1203 radio/record player that I re-capped several years ago. It's played great for me, but recently a bad hum has begun intermittantly, both in the radio and record player. Playing with switches, the on/off on the turntable, the front on/off or the tone knob can get rid of it for some seconds then it's back. After the set warms up, about 20 minutes, the hum is gone and it plays fine after that. 

Could you give me some starting points to look? 
Thanks,
Alan
#2

Start with cleaning tube sockets. See if all screws holding chassis together are tight.
See if any ground posts that are riveted have good GND connection, tap them with something plastic, see if it affects anything.
check your caps, especially the AC power filter (if present) for cold soldering spots.
And, as the last resort, change tubes one by one.

(all above applies if you are sure that it is gone after 20 minutes and not because some fluorescent lamp is there producing noise)

People who do not drink, do not smoke, do not eat red meat will one day feel really stupid lying there and dying from nothing.
#3

Thanks for the direction, I appreciate your response. Yeah, my first focus was "is someone turning on a dimmer switch?" but after a while it's beautiful. Time to get her out of the case and start looking around.
Thanks,
Alan
#4

An "open" in either the volume or tone control can induce hum. In most cases this is caused by wear of the conductive strip and/or isolation of the wiper (contact). this is unfortunately rather common in late 30's Philco's and can be worsened by attempted cleaning of the control.

Yes, the volume can be affected.

"I just might turn into smoke, but I feel fine"
http://www.russoldradios.com/




Users browsing this thread: 4 Guest(s)
[-]
Recent Posts
Philco 46-420 Code 121 Reception issues
Welcome Eric, I agree with Bob and far as the two main electrolytic filter capacitors did you change them yourself or w...radiorich — 11:43 PM
Philco 46-420 Code 121 Reception issues
You mentioned the Philco manual and going through the check points...just to be sure we're on the same page here's the m...klondike98 — 08:13 PM
Philco 42-1008 conversion kit
Interesting. I haven't seen that before.klondike98 — 07:02 PM
12' Philco
Yes I had looked for it on the web as well some time back and could not find it. I was glad to see it turned up in Ron'...klondike98 — 06:59 PM
Shadow Meter Bulb
Now if you had a set with a tuning light then the bulb type is important to the circuit, some sets used those prior to t...Arran — 04:58 PM
Shadow Meter Bulb
Ok. Thanks for the correction.RossH — 03:09 PM
Model 28L
For 28 you will probably need to buy a Hammond 125CSE. Or any of the series of the power you need, with SE suffix. Then ...morzh — 02:09 PM
37-60 revision 6
I am restoring a Philco 37-60 and it shows run 6 they removed the ground from G3 of the 6K7G and put the G3 to -2.5v for...bobbyd1200 — 01:01 PM
Shadow Meter Bulb
Mike is correct on the bulb connection, two separate circuits. I found that by rotating the bulb and sliding it forward ...RodB — 12:19 PM
Hickok AC51 tube tester
Cleaned ann contacts, switches and sockets, works great now.martinj — 11:32 AM

[-]
Who's Online
There are currently 5827 online users. [Complete List]
» 2 Member(s) | 5825 Guest(s)
AvatarAvatar

>