Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Does anyone have any experience in repairing these radios?

1 difficult in removing them?
2 Parts esp the tubes?
3 tube numbers-I looked at the schematic

My radio hums-and occasionally I hear something like maybe a station.

Any info would be appreciated

David

Your radio is not very difficult or expensive to repair. The tubes are long lasting (10,000 hours) and replacements are not hard to find. Typical tube cost, $5 to $15. There are probably 5 to 7 tubes in your radio.

The parts that go most often are capacitors. They are made of wax paper and tinfoil and have a life of 10-20 years. Modern replacements are made of mylar plastic and have a life of 50-100 years. They cost 35 cents to $2 apiece and there are about 20 of them.

There is also a vibrator to turn DC into AC. That is the hum you hear so it is probably OK.

You would be surprised how good the reception is on those old radios. Unfortunately the AM band is all they bring in but this can be remedied without modifying the original radio. A repair man can add a jack for an MP3 player or outside CD player or FM receiver.

The best suggestion I can make is to try and find a local repairman. There are hobbyists all around the country who love tube radios.

Please do not get sucked into paying $800 to have a $35 Chinese radio slammed into your casing. The old one is better, more original, and deserves to be saved.

It's a miracle that yours works at all after all this time. It should be possible to get it working perfectly.

Quote:
Good advice Rusty! I have a AM/FM conversion radio in my '47 which I bought on eBay for a fraction of the $600 cost to convert. The sound is tinny and reception is lousy. My original radio needs a vibrator and there are no AM stations left in this area so I bought this converted one because of the FM.

What about getting the thing out? I read the inst listed on this web site about getting the thing in the car. It does not sound complicated.

The reason I ask about repair of the radio-I am a DIY person first. Usually Packard stuff is very straight forward to repair. I got the clock working!

Source for tubes?

thks for the inputs-the info Guscha pointed out was better than what I found on this site. I thought I had done a pretty good search of the site.

thks

David

Tubes are not hard to find. A friend of mine has 25000 of them in his basement. He went around and bought up the NOS inventory of all the old radio shops in the area.

When transistor radios and TVs came in, it happened so fast thousands of shops got stuck with millions of tubes. The tubes are made of glass with a vacuum inside so they will keep for 1000 years.

For this reason there is no shortage of NOS tubes. There are a few that are considered rare and expensive, my friend has some that look like purple light bulbs, they are for some of the first tube radios made in the 1920s. Most tubes from the mid 30s on are easy to find however.

There are dealers online, ebay etc. I can't recommend any specifically because I don't know them.

This guy is a good source for capacitors and resistors. I have done business with him.

justradios.com/

It's getting hard to find such things locally because there is so little demand for them. And, the values used in tube radios are different from transistor and other modern applications.

There are lots of radio repair services that advertise online but again, I can't get into specifics as I do not know who is good and who is not. There are probably hobbyists and repair techs in your area if you can find them. Possibly by asking around among your old car friends, or tube radio and audio fans if you know any.

Here is a good site with great advice forums, slanted towards home radios.

antiqueradios.com/

I don't know how deep you want to get into the old radios. They are not that hard to fix. It's mostly a matter of cleaning them up and replacing the old capacitors and wiring, if the insulation is falling off the wires.

Tubes may or may not need replacing but most are probably OK. The only way to know for sure is by testing with a tube tester. Tubes are not usually the problem, it's the capacitors that wear out. Replacing the tubes accomplishes nothing.

The schematics and specs available on this site, are worth their weight in gold.

Also you are very lucky Packard radios are made by Philco, they are about the most popular brand of tube radio. There are hundreds of Philco fans out there ready to help.

Quote:

Friend of mine was absolutely floored by the performance of a 1953 Wonderbar radio in a Buick he bought. Compared to the radio in his new Chev pickup, it brought in stations from 3 to 5 times as far away, clearer, and with a better tone. He couldn't believe it but I could, I have some killer tube radio and audio equipment at home.

Quote:

Don't you listen to AM 740 out of Oakville? (Toronto). There are a couple of good stations in Peterboro too or at least there were a couple of years ago.

Rusty, I live in Thunder Bay about 800 miles northwest of Oakville or Peterborough.