Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good radio repair service? My '41 110 has an original Motorola tube radio that is not functioning.

It originally had the external antenna on the driver's side but I have removed it and filled in the holes prior to a recent exterior refinishing. I have seen the "under runningboard" antenna from Yesterdays Radio but the cost is prohibitive.

Is there a way to run a generic AM antenna under the car and out of sight?

Thanks!

Don't have a recommendation specifically for under the car but you might try something like this universal AM-FM antenna.

For the price of less than $10 it might work and if it does it should be able to be easily hidden somewhere in the passenger compartment or, it might even work underneath -- but that is generally a poor reception area for that type an antenna.

EDIT: Was just reading on another car forum where some have used an ordinary modern universal fender antenna mounted sideways under the car in place of a running board antenna. Mount the base to a bracket bolted to the frame rail or the running board cross brace to provide the necessary ground and support. Use another bracket bolted to a convenient place to support the middle of the antenna shaft. The other side of that second bracket bolts to an insulating piece of thick rubber and the antenna shaft sticks thru a hole in the rubber so the antenna end is supported and can't bounce or touch any metal. Interesting idea and would be easy enough to try.

Cool idea! I'll definitely give that a try if I can find someone to get the radio working for a reasonable price.

I am sure there are people in your area that repair tube radios. If all else fails hemmings always list a bunch of people that claim to fix them. The self contained radios are easier to fix-usually the vibrator is main issue but do not forget to replace the bypass capacitor also. The antenna that HH describes will work-just make sure the antenna is insulated from the frame of the car.

Thank you all, I will give it a shot! With a little luck, the crackly sounds of AM will soon fill the '41 cabin once again! Too bad there's hardly any decent programming left on those airwaves....

Once you have the radio functioning there is a small unit that will plug inline at the antenna input which will let you play any number of devices thru the radio. Other than needing a power source It in no way changes the radio or requires modifications. The radio plays as normal or you can plug in an iPod, phone, cd or tape player or whatever to provide some additional program options. On their website is a list of some places that work on radios. Didn't see any in WA but there are a couple in OR.http://rediscoveradio.com

That is too cool! Thanks for letting me know about it.

This repair is getting costlier by the minute...

UPDATE: I found an excellent radio repairman here in the Seattle area who fixed the radio quickly, expertly and for a fair price.

For anyone local who is in need of antique radio repair, I highly recommend Harold Hagen:

hhagen@eskimo.com

I put the radio back in the car along with the $10 eBay antenna that HH56 recommended. It works great! The only issue is, I was testing it with the engine off. Today I drove the car with the wife and kids in it and went to crank up the radio for the first time and...nothing but solid static that ranged in frequency in synch with the engine RPM.

I am running a Pertronix ignition unit with a heavy duty Pertronix coil. It is still a 6V, Positive Ground system but using an alternator in lieu of the original generator. Clearly, there is shielding issue going on but does anyone know of a fix? I am running the antenna wire out the back of the dash and through the hole in the firewall where the main dash harness comes out just behind the instrument cluster. From there, it goes down and under the car and mounts under the driver-side running board.

Could it be the wire is too close to the coil as it comes through the firewall and picking up RF noise from that? Would it work better if I left all the antenna wire coiled up behind the dash and inside the cabin?

I believe there were some suppression measures taken on all cars. Here is a Clipper version.

Location of the antenna lead could have an effect and you also need to make sure the outer shield on the lead has a good ground. On Packard antennas there was a separate ground lead but in modern antennas that is generally done in the way the antenna base is mounted to the fender sheetmetal. If you mounted the antenna under the running board, depending on how the base is fastened you may need to run a solid ground wire or strap between the base and body.

Have you still got the original condensers and hood ground clip in place. Am not sure where the condenser mounts on an alternator but it might not be as important since there are no brushes and generator interference is generally a whine that changes with speed rather than ordinary static.

I would have a condenser on the ign switch and new condensers can be obtained at many parts stores. I don't know for sure what the modern equivalent of the piece in the high tension wire might be but changing the short length of plug wire between the coil and dist to a resistance type may substitute. Not sure how the Pertronix will affect the static.

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Thanks, HH! I don't believe there is any kind of condenser on the car. I rewired the whole thing with a nice new harness from Rhode Island Wiring and dont see any place where it would have been. Is "condenser" the same thing as "capacitor" in this case? If so, what size one would I ask for?

Also, I observed yesterday that even with the engine off, when I run the fuel pump, I get a loud clicking going on in the radio. This suggests to me the interference is not just coming from the ignition system but from the overall electrical system. Would the condenser you described address that, even though it would be inline with the coil (which, I presume has no effect with the engine stopped?)