Radios that "light up but don't get stations"...sheeeeesh....

[Jeffhs]

The title of this post describes a pet peeve of mine. Many times while browsing ebay, I find listings for vintage/antique radios and/or TVs with descriptions reading "it lights up but I can't hear any stations" or words to that effect (this is on par with folks who list a radio on ebay and say in the item description something like "it works OK but with a lot of hum"). Have these people tried hooking up an antenna or, at very least, a length of wire to the antenna terminals? They might be surprised; many old radios will receive at least one station with just the latter hanging off the antenna terminal. All antique radios require some sort of antenna connected to them before they will work; this is something we AKers know and respect, but apparently many if not most ebay sellers of old radios or televisions don't. The old sets need some kind of antenna even if you are close to powerful stations; they won't work worth a darn without one even if you are within spitting distance or in the shadow of your local station's antenna arrays. Television is even worse. I don't know of any vintage or antique color or b&w TV that will produce a picture good enough to watch without an antenna, even in an extremely strong signal area; however, many if not most ordinary people do not realize that TVs as well as radios require some sort of antenna before they will work, well or at all. How many people even stop to look at the backs of old radios on the chance that there might be an antenna terminal strip there? My best guess is, not many; if they do notice such a strip, they quite often will ignore it or figure it isn't connected to anything. People outside the radio collecting/servicing hobby or business, respectively, are so used to AM portable radios with ferrite "loopstick" antennas, with no provisions for outside antenna systems, that it never occurs to them, for example, their grandfather's 1934 cathedral set, found in an attic, needs an external antenna before it will receive anything other than static or hum. I also wonder how many people are flabbergasted when they find an old radio in their attic, again by way of example, that has no power cord, but instead two large high-current automobile battery clips attached to very heavy ignition cables which disappeared into a hole in the back of the radio's chassis. We AKers recognize these radios as farm-battery sets, designed to operate from 6-volt automobile batteries (these were used mostly on farms without electricity in the 1930s or so, before these rural areas were wired for AC power), but again, many or even most people outside electronics don't know and have no idea how these radios could possibly work. Some of them might even be so ignorant or even stupid (!!!) as to cut off the battery clips, hook a flimsy AC power cord to the ends of the battery cables (thinking these cables are actually, heaven forbid, meant to be connected to AC power), plug the whole thing in...and then they are disappointed when the radio doesn't play, but rather bursts into flames as soon as it is plugged in, never mind turned on. The radio is junk from that point on (shattered tubes, burned-out wiring, you name it), but anyone who dares pull a stunt like that no doubt will have learned a lesson he or she will never, ever forget.

[Chad Hauris]

This may be the case for the 1920's sets...they are so robust with very few components and if you supply the proper power supply voltages and an antenna and ground they will likely work (they won't do anything without antenna and be very weak without ground)...
Most times though on sets from the 1930's to the 60's there really are other problems such as bad caps...sometimes bad IF cans can stop reception even if the set has power.

Remember that most old radio sellers are general antique dealers or flea marketers and are not technically knowlegeable about them...you need to buy with the expectation that most old radios will need some repairs to be fully functional.