Re: Antique Radio Book Recommendations?

David Forsyth wrote:
> Can anyone make a recommendation for a good book dealing with the restoring
> of antique radios that focuses heavily on the technical side?  I'm looking
> for a text that goes into great depth and detail as to alignment for various
> types of sets, theory of operation, parts substitutions, etc.  Not so
> concerned (for now) about the cosmetic side of things.  Any suggestions?
>
> Dave
No easy answer.  The "old" technology spans several decades and many of 
the repair practices we now have in 2003 weren't even dreamed of back then.
To give an example...if you look at the old trouble-shooting sheets in 
Rider's for Philcos in the late 40s, they address what may have been 
common maladies in a relatively new radio...the old time equivalent of 
our modern translation from Chinese of "Check to make sure the radio is 
plugged in".
 Nowadays we tend to replace all wax caps and electrolytics without the 
bother of even testing them to see if there's a slight chance of a 
usable pulse.
Having said that, none of their info would bear a shadow of resemblance 
to a 1920s set.
The technology hasn't changed so any education in how the beast is 
configured is valuable but most of the 'how to repair' texts are written 
too generically to be universally applicable.

The major bases are covered concisely on these two websites.  From 
personal experience I'd have to say that 90% of restoration is dealing 
with old wax caps and the random bad resistors or tubes.  The next 5% 
are mechanical problems like dial strings and belts, frayed wires, etc. 
 The last 5% might be actual trouble-shooting and as often as not its 
back to some resistor or cap that was ignored or overlooked the first time.

Bill Harris' website:
http://www.gbronline.com/radioguy/tips.htm

and Phil Nelson's:
http://www.antiqueradio.org/index.htm

After you do this a while (I realize you are not a total newcomer here) 
you might be able to focus a bit into what areas you need further 
explanation.  Its too broad a subject to recommend any single book.

-BM