[EdHolland]

On the "do not touch" trimmers, it was as I suspected, they are for compensating the antenna tuning circuits on broadcast, and shortwave (one for each).

Guessing now, but I imagine the factory setting procedure established a compromise to level up the set's sensitivity across the multiple bands. These trimmers would not affect the position of stations on the dial. However, adjusting them for a peak on one band or dial setting might come at the cost of low sensitivity on another.

My 16X seems to tune with good sensitivity across the bands, just by following the standard alignment procedures. Shortwave requires a reasonable amount of antenna, and good conditions. Above ~10 Megahertz can be poor at the moment on any radio ancient or modern, as we are at a low point in the sunspot cycle. IT should be possible to pick up stations on the broadcast/lowest shortwave band, and tuning up around 3.5 MHz you may well encounter some ham radio traffic. I mention this, because there are quite a few operators using vintage gear and AM output, so it is easy to listen with our old radios. Their signal quality is often excellent, and shows off the audio capability of the Philco.

[Stall-U-Rated]

Thanks Ed, very informative information  

Ill have to see how mine performs after i tweak  it up...  Ive been listening to SW the past couple days, and a bit of broadcast.
Took some getting used to since the AM band is continued in the second band as well..

I also took advantage of an abandon phone line to use as my aerial, a definite improvement..  Hoping the tune-up gives me the same results youre getting from yours..

Thanks again,

Steve

[EdHolland]

Thanks Steve.

Yes, these sets are real performers when on a good antenna. I had no idea what to expect at first, having never encountered anything of this vintage or original quality level. Like you, I found it odd that the broadcast band (Medium wave, with my English hat on) is split between two bands. The 1941 RCA I restored last year has a broadcast band from 550 to 1600 kc and then the next short-wave band extends from 1.4 to 4 Mcs. Makes one wonder how the designers determined what to offer?

Enjoy, and do keep us posted on the alignment.

Cheers

Ed

[Radioroslyn]

+1 to Ed's comments.

I find that during the day time short of the bc band anything below abt 7mc is pretty dead. A little before sundown and thru the rest of the day/night 1.8-7.mc come alive. Conversely from abt 12mc to 30mc is the opposite good during the daylight hours lousy at night. All of this has to do with the sun's effect on different layers of the atmosphere during the day and night.

More than likely the dial has the (then) amateur bands marked on it. 1.8-2mc,3.5-4mc, 7-7.3mc, and 14-14.4mc. The only type of signal your set will be able to reproduce properly is an AM signal. Most amateurs transmit using signal sideband and Morse code both, require separate oscillator to demodulate it to intelligible. SSB sounds like some one talking w/a tight closepin on their nose and Morse sounds like a bunch of hisses w/o proper demodulation. There is a gentlemen's agreement that AM operators operate close to 1.885kc, 3.870-3890kc and 7.280-7.295 but AM is legal to use in any of the phone portions of the amateur bands.

Ed,
Was doing some cleaning down in the basement and found three Nick Park's classics. Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers, and A Close Shave. Don't know if you are familiar with them. Early 1990's claymation movies staring Wallace and Gromit. Cleaver bit of animation and good fun to watch after all these years. My now adult kids watched these VHS tapes over and over when they were young.

[EdHolland]

Good notes Terry.

For detecting the non AM ham signals (CW, ssb), we can cheat. A signal generator can be loose coupled, feeding input at the IF frequency. Even if it doesn't work so well, it is fun to tinker with it.

Wallace and Gromit have been firm favourites since they were introduced as BBC Christmas features. In fact, Nick Parks's animation had previously featured in children's art programmes. The short Morph segments were much loved. I've been told I can do a passable impression of Wallace, and all the tinkering with strange old things helps...

Sorry Steve for hijacking your Philco thread.... back to alignment

[Radioroslyn]

You know it's not totally off topic as Gromit has been known to read Electronics For Dogs!! [Image: http://philcoradio.com/phorum/images/smi...on_lol.gif]

Back to our normal programing....

>A signal generator can be loose coupled, feeding input at the IF frequency.

Even a few turns of wire around the IF amp tube and one end slipped under the grid cap works for me.

[Stall-U-Rated]

>Sorry Steve for hijacking your Philco thread.... back to alignment

No sweat guys, its all about sharing ideas...

 Speaking of which, im gonna need a non conductive screwdriver for the RF cans arent i ?
 I know the hex ones need to be insulated...  Just wanna be sure

Steve

[Radioroslyn]

You can use conductive tools on both BUT there are a few issues.

Using a metal nut driver on the trimmer caps is a little problematic. Some of the trimmers have HV present so the driver needs to be insulted so  it doesn't short against any metal object near the trimmer. And you don't want to find yourself between the chassis and the metal portion of the driver. A layer of tape works ok.

The weigh of the driver can depress the copper sheet on the trimmer and not give you a proper alignment. I'll notice when you remove the driver the alignment will shift.

On the screw adjustment same as the nuts in terms of the HV. The weigh doesn't come into play.

GL

[Ron Ramirez]

Speaking of which, im gonna need a non conductive screwdriver for the RF cans arent i ?
 I know the hex ones need to be insulated...  Just wanna be sure

Contact Steve Davis, who is a member of this Phorum. He sells an excellent insulated 1/4" nutdriver, made just for the hex head adjustments on 1928-1936 Philco sets. His alignment tool is better than the original Philco tool.

[morzh]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Philco-Alignmen...ctupt=true

This is him, the alignment tool.

Also if look under "other items" you will find other stuff.

[Stall-U-Rated]

Thanks guys

Steve sent me an e mail awhile back and i am definitely interested and planning to get one
Thanks for the link Morzh, that will make it easier to order since my family has an ebay acct.
Wish it included a plastic screwdriver bit, it would be the ULTIMATE combo tool.

Thanks for clarifying the need for an insulated screwdriver, i had a feeling it would be necessary, but i wanted to be sure before i began ordering...

Meanwhile, ive been using my dads Realistic DX-302 with its digital freq display to get myself acquainted with my new frequency counter..

Thanks again

Steve

[Steve Davis]

Wish it included a plastic screwdriver bit, it would be the ULTIMATE combo tool.

Steve, take a look here     http://www.philcoradio.com/phorum/showth...?tid=19745      

Steve

[Stall-U-Rated]

SWEEEEEEEEEET!!!!

Awesome job Steve....

steve

[Stall-U-Rated]

Any advice on cleaning a dirty compensating condenser? I have a can of PURETRONICS contact cleaner and a can of CAIG PRODUCTS Degreaser/wash.. Or is it even safe to give these a little squirt of these products..?

Steve

[EdHolland]

How dirty? Can you share a picture?

It's better not to get liquids within these components. At the least, it can cause trouble until everything has evaporated again. Worse, there is the risk that contamination gets pushed inside by whatever was applied.