Old Radio Problems?

Question

I have a old Radio from the 1940's and when it plays it makes a loud buzzing or humming noise and it will it up a station good for a minute then it breaks up. Does anyone know what might be wrong

Answer 1

Hi Nancy, the hum is from a dried out filter capacitor in the power supply. Thus as Duh says needs to be fixed by a repair shop. Try to find an "old" one that repairs TVs and Radios (hard to find these days) they really know tube sets. Good Luck

Answer 2

the abve suggestions are good - you may also need to replace one of the tubes in the radio

Answer 3

There are actually a number of things that could be wrong. if it is a tube type (and if from the '40s, it is), a repair shop is the answer - the radio could be worth some money. You can find them with a search in Yahoo or Google

"radio repair" or "Antique Radio"

followed by your ZIP code should bring one up.

Sounds like the power supply combined with a bad tuner to me.

-a guy named duh

Answer 4

Check and clean with contact spray;  the wiring in your antenna connections and try to put an outside antenna up on the roof to avoid interference from florescent lights.

You are getting poor reception and you may be getting interference from the florescent lights.

AM signals are always stronger in the daytime, and if you are in the USA you can tune to 840 AM in the Midwest which is a 50,000 Watt station based in Louisville KY to see if your reception is better.

Turn off any florescent lights in the room with the radio.

Answer 5

One of the fuses inside might be burnt out..