Philco 38-62 from the AHRS swap meet

[TUD1]

I got this Philco this past Saturday for $45. It works, sort of. I will be replacing the electrolytics Saturday 5-1-15 in hopes of getting some stations. It gets one station loud and clear, and sometimes gets a few more, but never at night. It also has issues at the higher end of the scale. It has a botched up job of and electrolytic capacitor replacement, I will hopefully take care of that this weekend. We have been talking about the capacitors here, so maybe some of you could take a look and give me some additional advice. And yes, I still have the Zenith and will begin working on it when I get one of those "round tuits."

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by TUD1

I got this Philco this past Saturday for $45. It works, sort of. I will be replacing the electrolytics Saturday 5-1-15 in hopes of getting some stations. It gets one station loud and clear, and sometimes gets a few more, but never at night. It also has issues at the higher end of the scale. It has a botched up job of and electrolytic capacitor replacement, I will hopefully take care of that this weekend. We have been talking about the capacitors here, so maybe some of you could take a look and give me some additional advice. And yes, I still have the Zenith and will begin working on it when I get one of those "round tuits."

You'd have to consult the schematic and see if there is any mistakes, when someone did the so-called restoration.
Are the parts recent issue? I don't see the schematic on N/A. It's in Riders VIII.

[Jeffhs]

I'd fix the connections around the filter capacitors if the replacement looks "botched up", as you put it. In fact, in a radio this old (the 38- in the model number means 1938 model year), every other capacitor in it is either defective or failing, so I'd replace them all on general principles. This is probably why the radio only gets a handful of stations in the daytime, as the sensitivity goes way down if the capacitors in the signal circuits are bad; normally, these older radios should receive stations hundreds of miles away if the caps and other parts of the signal path are up to snuff.

This has been said many times in these antique radio forums, but it bears repeating: In any antique radio, TV or other electronic device, the capacitors must be replaced as part of the restoration procedure; otherwise, damage to the power transformer or other parts of the set may occur, especially in the case of filter capacitors. These must be among the first capacitors replaced in an AC-operated antique radio with a power transformer, even if the set is not exhibiting AC hum; failure to do so will almost certainly result in transformer damage when (not if) the old filter cap shorts. These capacitors are in a position to short the power supply directly to ground when they fail, so if the transformer is not fused (most pre-war radios did not have line fuses), it will overheat and eventually burn out if the house fuse(s) or circuit breakers do not blow/trip first.

[TUD1]

I understand that the old capacitors must go, I simply do not have the time or resources to do so in a timely manner. The only time I get to work on radios is on Saturdays at my radio club. I only get 3 hours a week to do so.