[RoyG]

Just picked up a Packard Bell 48E (48F chassis). Found a schematic (Rider) on Nostalgia Air. Any ideas where I might find additional info like alignment data? Light spots on top right and lower right of cabinet in picture is glare.
   

[Arran]

I looked at the schematic, it's a nice set in that it has a pair of push-pull 6V6s but not a particularly elaborate one in terms of the front end. By the looks of things it's not much different then a typical 5 tube AC set, two IF cans, an oscillator adjustment, and an antenna adjustment for each band. According to the schematic the IF is 460, so nothing really unique there, likely you feed the test oscillator signal into the antenna through a .1 mf cap and adjust accordingly.
Regards
Arran

[Phlogiston]

What is different about them is the West Coast stationized dial.

[Arran]

I was answering a technical question regarding the alignment, I have several Packard Bell sets and am quite familiar with the "Stationized Dial" gimmick that P.B used to market their sets. Printing call letters on a dial in and of itself was not that unique, even in terms of West Coast manufacturers, Remler was another, but Packard Bell was the one that coined the phrase "Stationized" and copyrighted it. Actually Packard Bell printed two sets of call letters on their dials, one set for California, the other for "Northwest" stations which included Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado.
The circuit used in the radio is NOT unique at all, its a pretty standard late 30s early 40s RCA licensed design in the front end, as it tended to be in most P.B radios, so the alignment procedure should be almost generic.
Regards
Arran

[Paul Philco322]

"It is "Stationized" now available at your local Packard Bell dealer! Imagine nowadays having any electronic item customized for use by region manufactured by some overseas concern?

Schmaltz, but I love it.

Paul

[BrendaAnnD]

IIRC, Packard Bell was not sold outside the west, ergo there were no "Stationized" sets for anything beyond the mountain west.

[chris25260880]

Can you imagine a feature like stationized now with call letters changing on some stations every six months.
Legendary KING 1090 Seattle over the past 15 years has had 12 different sets of call letters....there are some bleeping morons controlling the broadcast industry these days.
50 Kilowatt flame thrower KING has fallen of the cliff, it has become a non entity....no one knows what it is or cares. This is beyond stupidity.

[Phlogiston]

Well actually DVDs and the players are regionalized. More to do with content and licensing I think.

Anyway watch that photo-finish strip if you intend to refinish it.

[BrendaAnnD]

Chris,

I agree. Morons.

I lived much of my life in the Northwest, listening to stations like KING, KOL, KWJJ, KGW, KISN, KOMO, KEX, etc. I think now the only one of those that retains its original call letters is KEX, with all those other big strap stations, that had been a part of the personality of the Great NorthWest, are all gone, given over to new calls that nobody cares about, and running almost all sports/news/talk formats. Very sad.

[Arran]

KIRO, KGO, KOMO, KXL, KXLY, KOA, and several others are in the same spots they were back in the 1940s. There is one in may area that swapped call letters but is at the same frequency, KVOS, 790, it's now KGMI. Packard Bell products were mainly sold in the West but I think their dealer network expanded East over time, by then they dropped the station call letter gimmick and were into TV sets.
Regards
Arran

[Phlogiston]

Like BrendaAnn said, I listened to Craig Walker every morning on KGW for 20 years. He WAS NOT a conservative talk show host, just the news and stuff. They are still there. Craig is gone. And I have no idea who or what their call sign is. No wonder they can't sell advertising!

[BrendaAnnD]

In Portland, the AM dial has changed almost completely.

In 1970: Today

620 KGW KPOJ
750 KXL KXTG
800 KPDQ KPDQ
910 KISN KKSN
970 KOIN KUFO
1080 KWJJ KFXX
1150 KKEY KXET
1190 KEX KEX
1230 KRDR KRYN
1290 KLIQ DARK
1330 KPOK KPPZ
1410 KPAM KBNP
1450 KBPS KBPS
1480 KVAN KBMS
1520 KYXI KGDD
1550 KGAR? KKOV

As you can see, only three total stations on the whole dial still retain their original call signs. KPDQ is a religious station. KBPS is public radio from Benson Polytechnic High School. KEX is one of the original 50K clear channel stations.

Out of all of these, only KPDQ and KBPS retain the same format and "ownership".

New frequencies lit up in the area since 1980:

860 KPAM Troutdale
1010 KOOR Milwaukie
1040 KXPD Tigard
1130 KQRR Mt. Angel
1640 KDZR Lake Oswego

Other stations in or near the PDX market:

550 KOAC Corvallis
880 KWIP Dallas
940 KWBY Woodburn
1360 KUIK Hillsboro

[Paul Philco322]

It just all rolls around to radios and programs ain't what they used to be, eh sonny? Anyway in Boston we still have the great station with the classic call letters WRCA and all the nifty music and vintage radio shows, ahem.... when they are not doing ethnic!

PAul

[chris25260880]

Worked in the broadcast industry for 44 years 38 of them in Boston

1330 WCRB City of license Waltham
WHET "
WDLW "

WRCA " Later COL was changed to Watertown when moving
transmitter site to Oak Hill (Newton)

660 WEAF New York
WNBC "
WRCA "
WNBC "
WFAN "
As you can see the WRCA call letters on 1330 are hardly original and follow the very bad trend trend we were discussing

[Arran]

The Portland station KXL must have changed call letters fairly recently because I remember hearing the station ident with those call letters maybe a year or two ago. One that is an old station that has not changed is KGA, I believe they are in Spokane along with KXLY, same with KFBK in Sacramento. KING moved to FM so that's probably why the AM allocation was taken over by someone else. KOH is a Reno station I listen to quite a lot, with three letters it must be fairly old. Of course none of these Packard Bell sets have any Canadian stations marked on the dial unfortunately, even though it's likely that many listeners in Washington state and Idaho would have listened to them.
Regards
Arran