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In the 1950s and 1960s, there were in general, two types of TV tuners, the wafer type and the barrel type. The wafer type are similar to the bandswitches in most antique radios, with the switches in "wafers". These can be cleaned somewhat with tuner cleaner and possibly a Qtip, but if the switch metal is losing its strength, they could need rebuilding with new switches to work.
The barrel type is fairly unique to TVs. I have only seen the Hallicrafters radio that I have that uses a barrel switch. In a barrel tuner, there is a drum (shaped like a barrel) that contains a strip for each channel. On these strips(inside the barrel) are mounted the inductors, etc for each channel. 1/2 of the contacts needed for each channel are also contained on the outside of the strips. Once you remove the TV tuner cover, these contacts are easily cleaned. As the strips are generally removable, some can be removed to allow cleaning of the contacts connected to the main portion of the tuner. This also allows easy replacement of defective strips.
In my experience, the barrel tuners work much better over time than wafer ones. The do cost more to produce which is why some TV manufacturers did not use them. I have always seen wafer type tuners on Motorola sets. I have also seen them in some RCA sets. I have seen the barrel types in some Zeniths, but am not sure that they did not use the wafer type also.
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12-01-2006, 09:46 PM
Hybrid Mode
