If your tube or All American Five radio (AA5 radio) is broken, has “no sound,” “no reception,” or its “volume fades,” bringing it to a repair shop might be a good idea. However, it comes with a steep price which is almost the same as buying a new one. Now, if you are thinking twice because of this, why not repair it yourself?
Fixing an old radio on your own is challenging but not impossible. With the right tools and instruction, you can do it. And in this article, learn the 8 easy steps on how to troubleshoot tube radio.
A Step-By-Step Guide to Troubleshoot Tube Radio
Troubleshooting tube radios is a process; hence, you need to take some specific steps to do it. But before performing any of those steps, you must first prepare the tools that you will need.
What to Prepare
For your tube radio troubleshooting, you need to prepare the following
- Wirecutter
- Multimeter
- Pliers
- Soldering Iron
- Soldering Gun
- Solder Sucker
- Adjustable Wrench
- Small alligator clips
- Pencil
- Cardboard
- Paper
- Your radio’s schematic
Once you have collected and prepared the needed tools, you can immediately start repairing your tube radio. Follow this troubleshooting guide to solve problems like “tube radio FM not working.”
Step 1. Remove the Chassis
To repair any problem inside, you need to remove the chassis so you can properly inspect your tube radio.
- Remove the radio back cover.
- Remove the knobs and the mounting screws under the radio. Be careful not to let the chassis fall off.
- Once removed, get cardboard and cut out a circle that fits the radio speaker.
- Tape the cut-out circle over the speaker to protect it from any damage while you are working on the radio
- Note: The chassis should slide out once the screws under the radio are removed. However, if the chassis remains in place, check for any mounting screws inside that hold the dial area.
Step 2. Note the part locations
Learn the components of the radio you are dealing with to avoid confusion later.
- Search for images of the parts of your radio
- Check if you can see a speaker, filter capacitors, tubes, dial mechanism, RF transformer cans, speaker transformer, and one or two dial lamps.
- Get a pencil and a piece of paper and draw an overhead sketch of the top of the radio. You should mark the locations properly. This is necessary to ascertain the placement of the tubes once you reinstall them.
- Make a sketch of the other sides to ensure that you would not miss reinstalling other components since your tube radio may not work if you do.
Step 3. Check the Tubes
Once you have a sketch of the tubes and other components, you can move on to removing them.
Manually and carefully remove the tubes by applying gentle rocking motions to them. Once the tube is in your hand, look for any sign of damage.
- For metal tubes, you need to shake them slightly and listen. If there is no sound, it means that they are perfectly fine; otherwise, replace them.
- For glass tubes, check whether they have a silver metal-like spot on them. If they have, then they are still good. However, if you see white haze, then replace them.
- Note: If you find it hard to remove a tube, you can use a flathead screwdriver to free it from the socket. Also, jot down their part number in the sketch you drew earlier. Taking note of this information is essential since these tubes are not interchangeable.
Step 4. Look for the Capacitors, Filter Caps, and Burnt or Overheated Parts
As part of the tube radio repairs, you need to see several things aside from the burnt parts.
- Get a schematic or blueprint of your tube radio or aa5. This may be tricky, but looking in nostalgia air is an easy way to have one.
- Turn the tube radio upside down. Support the radio so you will not damage any part while it is in an upside position.
- Look for any charred or burnt components. Identify the burnt part using the schematic
- While looking under the chassis, double down your effort and look for the wax paper capacitors. Regardless of their state, get them out and replace them.
- Look for the large cylinder, also called electrolytic filter cap/s, and replace it/them.
- Note: Do not poke the old wiring when fixing an old radio. These wirings are brittle, so poking them unnecessarily might result in the loss of insulation.
Step 5. Check the Lamps, Switches, and Sockets
These parts may not look as important, but they have vital functions.
- Look for the dial lamp in the tube radio. If the dial lamp is burnt or cannot be found, replace it.
- Now, locate the switch. Look for the spot where the leads enter the pot. Spray a contact cleaner on it and work the volume control back and forth. Then, spray on the tube sockets.
- Note: When replacing the dial lamp, check its type first.
Step 6. Inspect the Speaker
Vintage radios like AA5 use either electrodynamic or permanent speakers, so repairing them if there’s any problem can be both easy and challenging.
A broken speaker could cause the volume to fade or there is no sound, so locate it first.
- Identify whether the magnet is electrodynamic or permanent.
- Go to the nearest car stereo shop if the speaker is permanent and needs replacement. If the magnet is dynamic, you can stop or continue by re-engineering or looking for an electrodynamic speaker. However, the likelihood of finding one is slim.
- If you choose to re-engineer, you need to remove the whole speaker. Once removed, install a choke coil of similar value.
- Use a permanent magnet speaker or keep the old electrodynamic speaker.
- Find a permanent magnet speaker that will serve as a replacement and fit it inside the radio.
Step 7. Inspect the Wire Loop Antenna
There is not much to find in antennas when doing a vacuum tube radio repair besides a broken wire, which could be why your radio has no reception.
- Look for a 6-10-inch-long coil or antenna wire inside or outside the chassis.
- Inspect whether there is a broken part in the form of cracks or breaks in the wire surface. If there is, replace the wire with something of the same quality.
- Note: In replacing the antenna wire, you can use enameled wire or a strand from an old copper lamp cord.
Step 8. Plug and test the radio
Once you finish replacing the burnt, old, and weak parts, you can proceed with the last step.
- Reinstall the tube radio and other components you removed. Make sure that the components are in their proper position. Use the sketch to ensure this.
- Mount the chassis.
- Try it. Plug the radio into an electrical outlet.
- Unplug the tube radio and check for any burned smell. If you only smell burned dust, which is normal, you have nothing to worry about.
- Once you are sure there is no burned component, you can start using your tube radio.
Things to Keep in Mind When Troubleshooting a Tube Radio
- AA5 radio or All American Five radio has no power transformer. This means that one side of the line cord is directly connected to the chassis. Given this, you must proceed with caution because if not, it can be fatal. So, before working on this radio or any part of it, ensure it is unplugged.
- Ensure that the products you will use as a replacement have the same voltage number as the old ones.
- Make sure to reinstall every removed part. Your tube radio might shock you if you happen to touch the chassis or any of its exposed metal parts.
Conclusion
Fixing things on your own is fun, especially if you are confident in your DIY abilities. Vintage tube radios or AA5 are a great legacy of the old times. They hold important memories.
But when there is a problem with them, though you are confident in your repairing skills, you should not hesitate to ask experts and friends how to troubleshoot tube radio. Though you can flawlessly follow the steps enumerated above, still, there is no harm in asking for some help.