Welcome Guest! Be sure you know and follow the Phorum Rules before posting. Thank you and Enjoy! (January 12) x

Thread Closed
Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Intermittant hum
#1

Hi y'all, hope that you can give me some direction. I have a Philco 46-1203 radio/record player that I re-capped several years ago. It's played great for me, but recently a bad hum has begun intermittantly, both in the radio and record player. Playing with switches, the on/off on the turntable, the front on/off or the tone knob can get rid of it for some seconds then it's back. After the set warms up, about 20 minutes, the hum is gone and it plays fine after that. 

Could you give me some starting points to look? 
Thanks,
Alan
#2

Start with cleaning tube sockets. See if all screws holding chassis together are tight.
See if any ground posts that are riveted have good GND connection, tap them with something plastic, see if it affects anything.
check your caps, especially the AC power filter (if present) for cold soldering spots.
And, as the last resort, change tubes one by one.

(all above applies if you are sure that it is gone after 20 minutes and not because some fluorescent lamp is there producing noise)

People who do not drink, do not smoke, do not eat red meat will one day feel really stupid lying there and dying from nothing.
#3

Thanks for the direction, I appreciate your response. Yeah, my first focus was "is someone turning on a dimmer switch?" but after a while it's beautiful. Time to get her out of the case and start looking around.
Thanks,
Alan
#4

An "open" in either the volume or tone control can induce hum. In most cases this is caused by wear of the conductive strip and/or isolation of the wiper (contact). this is unfortunately rather common in late 30's Philco's and can be worsened by attempted cleaning of the control.

Yes, the volume can be affected.

"I just might turn into smoke, but I feel fine"
http://www.russoldradios.com/




Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)
[-]
Recent Posts
Philco 42-345 Restoration/Repair
Vlad95, Thank you for the stringing guides and wow there are so manyosanders0311 — 06:01 PM
5U4 vs 5Z4 tubes
A pre war Hallicrafters, and an early one too, very nice! 1936 is pretty early for metal tubes too, which would explain ...Arran — 05:58 PM
Philco 42-345 Restoration/Repair
Thanks Rod, "When you hear the background hiss and no station it usually indicates that the oscillator quit" ...osanders0311 — 05:52 PM
Philco 42-345 Restoration/Repair
RodB :beerchug:Vlad95 — 10:22 AM
Philco 42-345 Restoration/Repair
Vlad, you nailed it. Swiss and German roots.RodB — 09:54 AM
5U4 vs 5Z4 tubes
Well this is a Hallicrafters SX/9 circa 1936. No real issues so far although I dodged a real bullet with a cap that was...bridkarl — 07:59 AM
5U4 vs 5Z4 tubes
The pinout is the same but the 5U4 has a 3 amp filament, verses 2 amps or less on the 5Z4. I think that the pinout of a ...Arran — 12:04 AM
Philco 42-345 Restoration/Repair
By the way. osanders0311 Take a look here: Dial cord stringing Guides May be here you can fount correct string settin...Vlad95 — 11:15 PM
5U4 vs 5Z4 tubes
5U4 and 5Z4 almost identical. I think nothing happened if you left 5U4 instedad 5Z4 long time. Just heater current 5U4 ...Vlad95 — 11:02 PM
Philco 42-345 Restoration/Repair
Hello Vlad95 , Very Funny ! Sincerely Richardradiorich — 11:01 PM

[-]
Who's Online
There are currently no members online.

>