philco 49-906

[capbuster]

This set works great on am. But on fm i live on the west end of VA. Picks up one station on the east coast VA. beach. There are local stations one seven miles away. Some fifty . Only station i get is VA. beach. All quiet across the dial.
Any info to my problem thanks Capbuster.

[Reece]

Here's the schematic with troubleshooting sections.
http://www.nostalgiaair.org/PagesByM...5/M0013675.pdf

Check that the tuning cap plates aren't touching. Use some cleaner on the tuning cap rotor wiper and on all the tube pins, plug the tubes in and out of their sockets several times with the pins wet. Use cleaner on the bandswitch also and turn it back and forth a number of times while contacts are wet. Are you using an external antenna? Directions for hooking it up are in the schematic material. You can pick up other stations OK on another radio?

A possibility could be that the oscillator in your Philco quits at some point. That would be the 14F8. Testing it might show if it's weak. The VA Beach station: what frequency is it on the dial approximately?

[DaveWM]

it def needs some kind of antenna, even a short lengh of wire will help, but a good dipole antenna is best.

IIRC this one does not make the normal rushing sound that you get so quiet maybe normal with no signal.

As Reese said the osc maybe not working, and also you should check that 1st FM RF amp tube, but again the antenna is the 1st thing to check out.

You may also want to check out and plate load resistors that are in the FM sections to see if they have driffed way high.

[Sandy G]

I remember hearing one time when I was down at Terry's, & had an old 1940s era AM-FM bakelite set down there to be worked on that they DIDN'T have much sensitivity to begin with.

[capbuster]

The station is on 99.7. This set is a bakelite . It picks up great on am.
Will hook it up to antenna see what it does. And will do some cleaning
The outside was covered in nicotine and grease . Just got through working on a philco 48-1253 and 37-93. Recapp ect. Sounds great. Will check this set out.
Thanks much Capbuster.

[Reece]

Oscillators typically quit, when they quit, when they have to go higher in frequency, so it might be working at the low end of the dial and not higher. After cleaning up and recapping, try another oscillator tube.

[capbuster]

Thanks much . Will do let you know. Learning slowly but surely .
Having fun doing it.

[capbuster]

Ok cleaned it does work better. I hooked it to a long wire antenna i have run 30 foot up 200 foot long. Does not do much for fm. What kind of antenna for fm old rabbit ears or tv
antenna?

[DaveWM]

FM would be best with a simple dipole antenna, you can get from radios shack.

Not a long wire for the FM.

In a pinch you can just take a short length of wire, wrap it a few times around the AC line cord and then plug into the FM port on that back plug.

yes TV rabbit ears would work as well for FM

[capbuster]

Thanks much will do . Capbuster

[Reece]

Your long long wire antenna would be great for BC and SW, though, and lots of fun for a high performance litz wire coil xtal set.

[capbuster]

Yes it is a great antenna . Picks stations up from mexico to Canada.
Ran a 10gauge wire get high winds here . And i ground the sets to earth gets rid of lot buzzing ect.