1959 Radio

[59thunder]

help please,,

I have been trying to bench test my radio without any luck, all i get is static and no stations....

I can can raise and lower the volume , the pilot light works but nothing else..


I have the fused lead going to positive and the pilot lamp also to positive.. And the body on both the amp and the radio to earth (the amp does warm up)

New antenna also fitted but no tunes??

any ideas......

[JohnG]

hi Tony

sounds like you've got a good basis there... if you get static then the amp should be working (2 power transistors there that are all but unavailable)

Let's see... the antenna on a car needs to be grounded so if you are bench testing then you might want some kind of jumper from the base of it to the chasis of your radio.

The other things that come to mind are: a) weak tubes and b) antenna trimmer out of adjustment

There are only 4 tubes *. You might either get them tested if you can find someone with a tube tester or just get 4 new ones (none were expensive)

On the antenna trimmer, there is an adjustment on the bottom of the radio for it. I can dig up precise instructions - it involves finding a strong station and adjusting the screw for max reception. Haven't done it in ages so the details are fuzzy.

Oh ya . . poke around and find out what the resistance of the speaker should be. If you're using something you had hanging around, it might be the wrong resistance which won't help.

hang in there!!

John

* 12AD6, 12AF6, 12BL6, 12DL8

[YellowRose]

1959 Radio

I received an email from Tony regarding his radio problem, but I see there are more details here. I sent him the five page booklet pages as attachments, and some other information also, to see if they might help.

Then it hit me! Tony is in Australia! They probably do not have that broadcast band there! That is an American broadcast band that the radio is tuned to. So he might be trying to tune in stations that do not exist in his country. If he happens to be able to tune in WWL in New Orleans, or WOAI in San Antonio, hang on to that radio!! Lol..

Penelope, or some of the other Tbird owners Down Under, should be able to tell Tony what he should expect to be able to hear on that band. I think Bill's daughter is getting married this weekend! So he is probably out of pocket, or has empty pockets! lol..

[JohnG]

You mean there's no AM radio there???

[Guest]

Australia AM radio stations
666 kHz 666 ABC Canberra
846 kHz Radio National - ABC
1008 kHz 2KY - Racing narrowcast
1053 kHz 2CA - Capital Radio Network
1125 kHz Radio 1RPH - Radio Print Handicapped Network
1206 kHz 2CC - Capital Radio Network
1440 kHz 1SBS - SBS Radio Multicultural
1620 kHz Rete Italia - Italian Radio - Sth Canberra
1629 kHz Rete Italia - Italian Radio - Nth Canberra
Richard D. Hord

[YellowRose]

1959 Radio

Yup, there should be AM radio stations operating in the AM band in Australia. I was not sure that band was allocated worldwide for standard AM broadcasting that we have in this country. But it is, with some differences in frequency coverage. I went to the ABC.net.au website for Australia and this is what it said.

AM radio stations operate on two frequency bands:

• Medium Frequency (MF), which broadcasts on frequencies between 531kHz and 1602 kHz. MF AM radio began operating in Australia in 1923. MF broadcasting relies on radio waves which are transmitted radially and follow the ground contours of the earth. This usually provides good coverage up to a 40 to 80 km radius. Today there are over 250 ABC, SBS, commercial and community stations operating in this band in Australia.

Their AM band does not quite have the same frequency range as ours does, but has most of it. Ours is 53khz-1710khz. So he should be hearing something in the way of AM radio stations on his receiver. Unless he is out of range of them all... I see that Richard posted some AM stations to look for.

[YellowRose]

1959 Radio

Yup, there should be AM radio stations operating in the AM band in Australia. I was not sure that band was allocated worldwide for standard AM broadcasting that we have in this country. But it is, with some differences in frequency coverage. Not all frequency allocations in one country are shared with all countries worldwide. It varies depending on ITU Region, across the frequency spectrum. I went to the ABC.net.au website for Australia and this is what it said.

AM radio stations operate on two frequency bands:

• Medium Frequency (MF), which broadcasts on frequencies between 531kHz and 1602 kHz. MF AM radio began operating in Australia in 1923. MF broadcasting relies on radio waves which are transmitted radially and follow the ground contours of the earth. This usually provides good coverage up to a 40 to 80 km radius. Today there are over 250 ABC, SBS, commercial and community stations operating in this band in Australia.

Their AM band does not quite have the same frequency range as ours does, but has most of it. Ours is 53khz-1710khz. So he should be hearing something in the way of AM radio stations on his receiver. Unless he is out of range of them all... I see that Richard posted some AM stations to look for.

[JohnG]

So one approach might be to get another radio (plug in the wall kind), find the strongest station using it, and have that as the target to get the TBird radio to detect/receive.

All this assumes the tubes are in good shape . . .

[bird 60]

Hi Tony, I'm from Adelaide South Auustralia & have no problem with my A.M. in my '60. There's quite a lot of '50s & '60s cars in Queensland with A.M. Radios so check out a Club or two that's had similar problems to put you in the right direction.

Chris....From the Land of OZ.

[59thunder]

feel a bit silly

Well i almost gave up on bench testing the radio,,, but i then decided to fit the new antenna to the car,and had the radio sitting on the front guard.
I powered up the radio and straight away had tunes......

Maybe i should have done this straight away might have saved me a few hours...

Next question how hard should the station buttons to push in,, mine are quite stiff to push....

[JohnG]

If you take the covers off the radio and press the buttons you will see the mechanisms involved. There are a number of obvious places where a little oil or light grease is appropriate. You have brass on brass that has seen nothing since it left Philco 50 years ago.

Don't forget that new antennae needs to be grounded. If you car has been painted, the ground may be gone.

[bird 60]

Hi Tony, Get some Contact Spray from Dick Smith Electrical.
Great stuff, you can also use it for your power window switches as well.

Chris....From the Land of OZ.

[YellowRose]

1959 Radio

Hi Tony, I see you are getting some good information on lubricating those buttons. Here is some good information that bcomo gave me when he gave me a new antenna. He said to be sure to cut a very small piece of rubber hose and slip it down over the center shaft on base of the antenna where the antenna cable connects with the antenna. He said that failure to do so will actually ground OUT the antenna and you will not be able to hear anything. If you look inside the base of the antenna you will see about an inch long center post. That is what he said to slip the small piece of rubber tubing over. At least, that is how I understood it. It only needs to be about a quarter inch or so. Just enough to keep it from grounding out the signal.