| Jeffhs |
04-08-2006 01:22 PM |
Noisy volume control because of poor/no antenna? I don't think so.
The seller also mentions that the volume control is scratchy at times, but it seems he hasn't thought of cleaning it with a shot of Deoxit. He also says the volume control is noisy because he may have hooked up the antenna incorrectly. In all my years of experimenting with electronics I have never run into this (noisy volume control caused by poor or no antenna). I do know, however, that if the antenna is missing or improperly connected, one can get noise (with most very old radios, that's all one ordinarily receives without some kind of antenna), but I'd think that would be independent of the condition of the volume control. That is, the volume pot could be as clean as a whistle inside and out, but if the radio isn't getting a signal in the first place, it will not make anything but noise. I think the seller may have been trying to test the radio without an antenna. Some people who don't know anything about radios will do things like that, then list the radio on ebay as having scratchy controls, etc. I see this all the time in ebay's antique TV section (and the radio section as well) ; someone will list a set as having no picture and/or sound, then he/she will state in the same sentence that they do not have much of an antenna on the set and/or that they are in a weak signal area. I even saw one old radio being advertised on ebay as having good FM reception, but little or no AM. The seller said he didn't know if the AM worked because he was not sure there were any AM stations in his area! That doesn't make a lot of sense to me, as one should be able to receive something on AM radio nearly anywhere in the country--even if they are not in a metropolitan or suburban area.
I think what happens is that many ebay sellers test these old radios in a hurry. If they don't get reception (or, at best, just one or two stations) as soon as the set warms up, they list the radio as either not working at all or having weak or no AM or FM. I would think that if these people would at least hang a length of wire off the antenna terminal, they would get better reception and therefore would be able to present the radio in a much better light than a lot of them are. Every now and then I see radios listed on the bay as "parts" sets, when the only problem the seller mentions is that the AC cord is missing or frayed (understandably from a safety standpoint, a lot of these people don't want to test anything with a dry-rotted cord), a small part or tube is missing or damaged, or some other difficulty which could be easily repaired, restoring the receiver to entirely normal operation. Again, this kind of description comes largely from people who do not know anything about radios; just because the AC cord is shot (for example), they immediately jump to the conclusion that the radio is beyond repair.
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