[winkydink]

A few months back I purchased an "electronically restored" (re- recapped) Philco 46-200 off of ebay. When the radio arrived much to my dissapointment, it was not as advertised and did not play well. The seller did indeed replace the capicitors and added a long lead wire for the antenna. He also claimed to have tested it for 48 hours straight and had a good clean reception.

Rather than having me ship it back, he refunded half of the purchase price. This was several months ago and it just let it sit until I had more time to look at it.

The trouble is that the signal is weak and when I do tune something in, it sounds garbled like when they change the voices of people in witness protection.

I tested out the tubes and one tube, a 7C6 (used as a substitute for a 14B6) tested marginal.

Another tube issue and question I have is with a tube that should go in the spot where the specs call for a 35Y4 tube. In that spot is an RCA tube that I cannot identify what the tube is. on the base it has an "LU" marking, and on the side of the tube (not the top) I can barely read the numbers "575". I tested this tube on my Heathkit TC-2 tube checker and it indicated a "short".

Question:

(A) Can I test an unknown tube as if it is the tube that should go in that location ?

(B) If I do test as if it is a 35Y4 (and it is not) can I damage the tube ?

At this point I don't know if I should buy replacment tubes for the 7C6 (14B6) and the 35Y4 or just the 7C6.

Any help troubleshooting the radio and answering the tube tester questions regarding mystery tubes would be appreciated.