- 2024
- Oct
- 12
An interesting Westinghouse Radio
I was at an antique store today and walked past a display with multiple radios. One caught my eye - obviously an AA5 in pretty good shape. The color is rather boring, but that’s not really an issue for me. There were a few others, a clock radio and some transistors. One was marked working, the others were all marked “Does not warm up.”
Of course the transistor radios don’t warm up, not having any tubes….
I purchased the one, it was also marked “Does not warm up.” Ok…that’s rather odd for a direct string radio, but whatever.
It’s kind of neat - the entire front is a speaker. The label, however, revealed something interesting about the unit.
There are 6 tubes in this thing? That can only mean it’s got a tuned RF front end. This thing should be a good performer if it works. But it “Does not warm up?”
Opening it up, it’s most certainly a tuned RF front end. Three gangs on the tuner.
I noticed that the tuning dial is kind of wonky, it binds at the front and slips elsewhere. Not a big deal, that’s almost expected.
I also noticed that the power switch was push-pull. I can almost guarantee the person selling it turned the knob and didn’t get a click, so they automatically assumed it was dead.
I gave it a good look over. There’s a lot of different brands of tubes in there. This thing has seen a lot of hours. But I immediately noticed something else, something that is probably the issue.
The filter is kind of funny with cracks in the top. So…put it back together, plug it in, pull the knob out…the ZZZZZZZZZ of bad filters greets me.
So, problem solved. There’s no AM stations where I am, so I didn’t get anything under the hum. The filter is easy enough to get out, and I think I have some extras at home. This will be a quick weekend project to at least get it cleaned up so I can diagnose any other issues.
Once we get the filters changed, stay tuned!