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Originally Posted by mjennens
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I had a Magnavox radio exactly like yours years ago, a thrift-store find. Chassis only, no cabinet or speaker. Had to rewire the speaker socket, as this particular radio apparently used a field-coil speaker rather than a PM (permanent magnet) one. It was well worth it. I used the radio for some time in the basement of my former home in suburban Cleveland using an old cheap car-stereo speaker but it worked very well, getting every major FM station in Cleveland, just using a 6-foot length of wire on the FM antenna terminal.
Yours should work just as well on both bands. Be sure you have some kind of antenna on the FM antenna terminal strip on the rear apron of the chassis, even if it's just a length of wire; if you try to pick up anything on FM with this receiver without an antenna, it just won't work unless you are within spitting distance of the stations, and even then I wouldn't count on hearing too much. As I said, you don't need much of an antenna in most areas; even a pair of rabbit ears will work in near-suburban environments. I don't know how many local FM stations you have in Bismarck, but you should hear at least one or two if the radio is working at all.
If your set still won't work on FM even with an antenna, I'd test the tubes in the signal circuits and replace any weak ones. The tubes in the radio are probably 60 years old or more (many of these oldies still have their original tubes), and the radio itself likely dates back to 1947 or 1948, especially if there is a position on the function switch marked "TV" as yours has. This would indicate that the chassis is very likely from an early three-way entertainment center, with AM/FM radio, phonograph and a television receiver.
Clean the controls while you're at it, especially the function switch. Your loss of FM signal could be due to something as simple as a dirty contact on that switch; if you can make the signal cut in and out by wiggling the switch around, it's either dirty or worn out.
I would also replace the capacitors. In a radio of this vintage, many of the caps are either bad or going bad, particularly in the power supply. The three-section electrolytic in the power supply of this receiver, indeed in all radios 60+ years old, is probably on its last legs if it hasn't failed already; replace it with a fresh one as soon as possible. A defective capacitor could be the cause of your FM problems as well; check the caps in and around the tuner under the chassis, but be sure you have a schematic diagram first. In a radio of this vintage, again, there are probably dozens of capacitors that should have been replaced by now.
IIRC, your Magnavox radio has a small tube on the chassis that looks like a full-size metal tube which was squashed by a steamroller. This will be a 6H6, again IIRC (I'm going by what I remember my own Magnavox chassis looking like) which was used in this chassis as an FM discriminator; if it gets weak or goes bad altogether, you can lose the reception on the entire FM band, although the AM will continue to work as if nothing has happened. I don't recall offhand if there are any modern substitutes for this tube, although you can check with Antique Electronic Supply, as they have rare, hard-to-find tubes and parts for all types of antique and vintage radios.
Good luck. Once you get that radio working, you should have a fine example of early high fidelity that will continue to play for years. These old sets were built like tanks, so if you get it going, you will have a receiver that will run rings around today's plastic headphone stereos, boom boxes and the like. This particular Magnavox should sound very good as well, even with a so-so speaker, as it has a push-pull audio output stage. You won't be disappointed with the sound. These older radios and combination units, not to mention those fabulous 3-way color console TV units with AM/FM/stereo FM and phonograph (especially Magnavox's Astro-Sonic stereo theater with 25" TV and Total Remote Control from the mid-1960s, which controlled everything on the set by means of a small hand unit and had a system of cams, gears, motors, belts . . . to control it all that was, or could have been, a serviceman's worst nightmare) set a standard for outstanding sound quality that most of today's offshore-built stereo systems and portable full-size boom boxes would be hard-pressed to equal, let alone surpass. Magnavox (the original Magnavox Company of Fort Wayne, Indiana) was a leader in the high-fidelity field for many years second only, IMHO, to Zenith, when the latter was building its own TVs and stereo consoles, etc. in Chicago. When these companies were taken over by offshore interests some years ago, we saw the end of an era the likes of which we will, unfortunately, never see again.
