My original valve ( tube ) Motorola radio

[roy mawbey]

For more years than I care to remember ( I guess at 35 ) my radio has worked to produce only 3 stations going down recently to just one. this station 'Gold' plays all the old stuff which suits me.

To try to rectify the problem over the years I have double checked the aerial connections, the speakers, the connections to the vibrator box and all earths. Also checked the valves and inside wiring Made no difference still one signal that gave me music.

So, yesterday driving along put the radio on. Out came a nice 50's tune but the presenter said welcome to 'Smooth' not 'Gold' Weird I thought maybe Gold has gone off air? So I turned the knob for a different frequency and immediately another station came on air followed by about 6 others some from France. ( thats 100 mil;es across the channel from me.

I am amazed, whats made it all work? a pothole? temperature? Its got me intriqued. But where is Gold its still on my house radio?

Thats not the only thing, I bought a 'durant' mirror from the Porsche agent in late 69 and fitted it to my drivers door. It fitted fine and I thought I had calculated the viewing from my seat. But no,
I had to twist snd turn myself to see out of it. I tried twisting it past the stop to no avail. A few weeks a go I got in the car and reversed out of my drive. As I drove off, I glanzed towards the mirror I had a perfect view after looking in the bloody thing for 45 years

Now you tell me do I have a ghost mechanic in my garage because for certain I have no idea how either of those things happened!!

Roy

[MMW]

You have entered a different dimension? Wish I got one station on mine, all I get is a faint glow from the face, not even static.

[JTR70]

That is weird! Maybe a better ground has worked its way in somehow? Concerning the rearview mirror , after all these years has your seat finally settled low enough to align your field of vision??

[roy mawbey]

Justin,

Your comment made me laugh. Its true I seem to be getting shorter with age But as my seats have patina ( worn out ) I usually put a thin cushion on the seat. The mirror position like the radio happened overnight. I did not knock the mirror and I do believe the transmission in the radio has something to do with an earth.

Roy

[JTR70]

HHHMMMMM...

Sounds as if this may end up being one of those unexplained mysteries like the Bermuda triangle?

[Meissen540]

Roy,
The radio issue has a simple explanation.
Your thought about a pot hole jarring something is most likely it. Two possible scenarios might have happened. One: you have a "compromised" connection at the base socket of one or more of the tubes. Jarring ( road bump) can move a tube just enough to re-establish a good connection, thus it starts working again. Who remembers tube type TVs and occasionally thumping one to get it to work? The next time you have the radio out, pull each tube out (ONE AT A TIME!!) and clean the base pins and socket with contact cleaner. Use a small round brush with the contact cleaner in the socket to get them clean (or push the tube in and out of the socket multiple times with contact cleaner to clean the socket) Make sure all socket joints still clamp each pin tightly, if not, slightly bend it to tighten it.... Don't over do it or you will break it. REPEAT: do not remove all the tubes at once to do this, or you may mix them up and it will not work.

Second explanation: you have a tube with a loose filament, possibly the bias filament, and the bump in the road re-established contact of the filament. In this case. There is nothing you can do except get a new tube.

My two cents

Tom
Atlanta

[Jack Staggs]

All good advice Tom. It seems that the tube that always needed replacing was the 50c5.

[roy mawbey]

Tom,

Thanks a lot for your suggestions. As Jack says above all good points.
In fact when I removed the valve (tube) box, I did luckily take out and clean each valve with the electrical spray cleaner I have. I also did each one separatly to not confuse myself. Out of interest the fact I did not know then what the ' vibrator' with its distictive sound was all about I asked my electronic engineer friend who started his working life in the 50's as a TV repair apprentice. ( he became a first class engineer later on in life )

Anyway, he told me the vibrator changes the wave pattern of the DC signal into a similar AC Hertz version for the radio to operate. I never knew why the radio made that noise. Also I know the radio was installed when the car was delivered into the UK new. I have a page or 2 of the original Motorola instruction for use. Here I found the special screw for trimming the radio itself though at the time it made no difference in obtaining more stations to listen to. I also didn't know Motorola was an American company

So, although I did everything its good in a way you can see where I am coming with with regard to the pothole of which we have thousands over here on side roads.

Probably the problem will return, but now I at least have an idea my friend says he could get the valves probably for me.

You made me laugh over banging the TV! We had a Black and white TV I bought from a friend in 60's when I got married and moved to our first house. It developed a 'vertical hold' problem it would roll the picture upwards in the end you found your head going up and down to keep up! I used to go over and hit it 50% of the time it stopped it happening.

Roy

[Meissen540]

Jack,
Your right, it always seems like there is one tube that is a weak link in a model of radio. If you can get familiar with the design, you can go directly to that area and get it fixed easily. The 50C5 is the Audio amp tube, seems logical that it would be the temperamental one. I would need a schematic to look for others. The old paper capacitors are always suspect in old electronics. Many times replacing these will make the radio sing a beautiful song.

Roy,
You probably can find this tube somewhere, just search around the internet and ebay. I have a scrap radio with tubes, but I have not tested them yet.
Regarding your comment about tuning the radio for stations, if you are turning the antenna trim screw that is fine. This screw should have access from the outside of the radio while it's in the car. Make sure your antenna is fully extended when you do this.
If you are turning the screws inside the radio with the cover off, I recommend not to do that. These are the balancing pots and they are all inter-related in some way, so it can be complicated to get them tuned correctly. If you get them out of wack, your not going to receive any stations. It takes some special old equipment to properly tune a radio. Some of the new stuff today won't do it.

I personally love the sound of tubes. Roy, your friend was possibly describing Thermionic Emissions..... The reason for the beautiful tube sound. Modern chips can not replicate it. Some claim they can, but it's marketing BS.
I have many tube amps and radios. Just the other day I was listening to a new release of the entire Doors collection on vinyl..... Yes they still make albums! I was listening through a Circa 1964 Sherwood amp, Linn turntable, and KEF speakers ( remember those names Jack?). The amp and turntable were found in the trash, speakers from Goodwill. I doubt I have $200 in the whole system and parts to bring it back to like new working order. Kids today don't understand the joy of hearing well reproduced audio. It forces you to slow down and enjoy. I have a hard time listening to the compressed digitized music of today.

Roy, don't let anyone talk you into replacing the guts of the radio with modern electronics. It can always be fixed. You just got to find a like Jack that does radios.
Good luck
Tom

[roy mawbey]

Tom,

Interesting info again. My aerial trimming screw is accessable from outside the valve box. There is a hole in the metal casing to get a screw driver into. Maybe Mic should find his trimmer might give a station or two.

The vibratory noise I was talking about is the 'humming' when you turn on the radio. Its very audable until the music comes through when the valves warm up.

Now I have a question for you and Jack. Over here all TV transmissions are now digital. Old Analog versions no longer work unless you have a separate box to allow digital in coming.

I already have now a DAB ( digital ) radio in the house and the talk is everything radio over here will go digital as well.

So for my old 6v valve radio I see nothing but a ' hum' coming out of it. They did say 2016 they would start converting but I think it will be extended somewhat on that.

But Tom the innards of my radio will never be taken out. I have listened to it myself for 45 years and others 10 years more than that.

So what options exist other than a converted I-pod and earphones? Do you think any small stations will run analog? I have heard of people who will rip out the innards and install modern stuff in its place but not for me. ( Would say that as I still have 55 year old carpet in the car )

Roy

[Meissen540]

Roy,
I think it will all depend on the government regulations. The intent of going "digital" is to reclaim bandwidth on the frequency spectrum. If the governments shut down the frequencies (I assume they will eventually) it will be illegal to operate a station on those frequencies. In the US (not sure where you are) radio stations are operating in both digital and analog at the current time. TV stations require a lot more frequency range to operate in analog, so that is the low hanging fruit for frequency reclamation. Of course its possible they will reclaim radio and tv frequencies at the same time, I don't know the "plan".
I suggest using your Ipod inputed into the radio. I have done this for a while, and switch back and forth. I bought a product off the Registry site called "Blau Velvet" and was able to utilize the plug between the amp and receiver of the radio to input the ipod. I have no idea if its still made, or who I got it from, sorry. I do recall the price was reasonable, and an individual was making and selling them,.

The issue with "digital" is the amount the signals are compressed. They eliminate so many bits that the music ends up sounding like its being played through a cardboard tube. We have Satellite radio called XM/Sirius. Some stations sound better than others (the more popular ones) due to the differing amounts of compression. The product is so bad I cant listen to it any more. Its terrible.
Apple recently increased the bandwidth of their music offering to increase the listening quality. They figured out quality of the sound was suffering. Hopefully others will follow, as some of the live broadcasts out there really suck on the sound quality.
An age old debate amongst "audiophiles" is: which is better, the original analog recording or uncompressed digitally "enhanced" recording? You will get as many opinions as people you ask on this. My vote is analog provides superior reproduction, hence my tubes and albums. I will say that I have a few recordings in both high quality vinyl and high quality CD. The wife can even tell the difference in the two, with a nod to the vinyl having superior dynamic range and soundstage.
Sorry for epistle on this crap. This is yet another hobby I dable in, along with fishing, hunting, antique guns, and baseball. I need to pare down my interests.
Hopefully I answered your question too!
Tom

[roy mawbey]

Tom,

That was a great reply it does answer my questions. I also saw the thread on the registry a while back about what to do converting. I think you and my friend would get on well, he has played a guitar since our school days together and because of his electronic ability has produced amplifiers and sound recording equipement himself. Its way beyond my capabilty to keep up with his projects but he also has been so helpful.

He too like you prefers the older systems. Sound quality is so important my old radio of course is mono and not stereo. My BMW radio is much more involved and of much more can go wrong.

I live by the way near the sea on the southern coast of England. I like fishing as well but also Art and modern jive dancing. Suppose like you I just dabble in all of them

Cheers again for your effort.

Roy

[Meissen540]

Jive dancing? That may be similar to Clogging here in the south.
Two countries divided by a common language huh?
Our 356s bring us to common ground though....
Take care
Tom