HI hoping someone can help me? I have an extremely creepy Kriesler 11-99 portable! I have it on a shelf, not connected to power or aerial at all and several times a day it makes a whirring noise like a DVD disc drawer opening or closing.. is this normal??? and anyone have any idea why it is doing this? any ideas as to what is going on would be greatly appreciated as I have never heard a radio do this and couldn't even begin to imagine why it is doing this! thanks very much in advance!

There is a slight chance that part of the tuned circuit is in such a state that it is picking up a signal. I once heard that a person with a gold dental filling could hear faint music coming from that filling due to it picking up a radio signal. Whilst I found it hard to believe at the time since I was only about ten years old, and I admit that it'd be an extremely unusual situation I can't really discount it though I am left wondering how the music output actually worked in such a situation - perhaps the same way a piezo speaker works? Not sure.

My first suggestion here with your Kriesler would be to place it somewhere else for a while and see if the noise continues.

Can you film/record it? That would be very interesting to see, and may help locate the cause. Are you absolutely sure it is the radio making the noise?

Chris

Back in my schooldays I once heard 2UW coming though faintly but pretty clearly on mum's Simpson washing machine. I had to go and get other family members to ensure that I wasn't imagining it, and I wasn't.

The fact that it does it randomly suggests that it may be a motor with bad brushes (washing machine), or Compact Flourescent Light, perhaps a Refrigerator starting

Those are two common ones. We need a bit more info as to what sort of area you are in. Welders will also make that sort of noise.

At this point we will not blame the set. Do you have another radio that you can run to see if it also does the same thing?

Marc

Hey everyone! thanks for the replies! I remember as a teenager playing electric guitar in my cousin's shed, when the strings were left free to vibrate you could hear the local radio station faintly through the Amp so I know what you are talking about with the picking up a signal thing... it is definitely the radio making the noise, it happens completely at random so I don't think I could tape it unfortunately, I was sitting near it one day and traced the noise definitely to the radio. I originally thought it was the DVD suffering from power surges or something but the DVD player is in a different part of the room, the noise is definitely mechanical, not the sound of a signal so that is what has me confused, I can't think of any parts in a valve radio that would make that noise, but then I don't know that much about them

Cockroach or beetle stuck inside?

^ Some sort of critter walking across or gnawing at the speaker cone could be on the money.

GTC: That is not as stupid as it may sound. I get quite a few radio's where the speaker cone, wax capacitors and other bits have become Ratatouille .

Mice in a speaker tend to make a "scritch" noise. With the onset of cold weather mice move inside.

The varmits are contortionists & can crawl through a half inch hole. The 11-7 on the bench here smells of mice and there are other small blackish clues.

Seeing that its not a HMV "Little Nipper". If you do not want to remove the covers, or have kids & can't really safely use "Mice pellets" (in little cardboard boxes) one could try feeding the cat cheese & sit it in front of the radio (Nipper style), with baited breath?

Marc

I have a few of these http://www.the-bigcheese.com.au/products/welfare-friendly multi traps

I use bird seed or guinea pig seed as bait.

Caught 12 mice in one night.

Some great hints there! We do get mice in here during cold weather though the radio isn't scritching, I found this sound link, it is very similar, the radio's noise is just shorter (around 3 or 4 seconds) and lower pitched without the knock at the end. http://www.sounddogs.com/sound-effects/25/mp3/307944_SOUNDDOGS__pr.mp3

Yeah, mice love birdseed. I kept white mice as a kid and that's what I fed them.

With rats, which are clever at taking baits without triggering the trap, I found that my dog's Good-o dog food rings were the perfect bait -- certainly for the traditional style of wooden rat trap. Rat has to tug on the Good-o and it's game over.

http://www2.woolworthsonline.com.au/Content/ProductImages/big/248282.jpg.

My computer wouldn't play that sound sample.

Hmm... this may be a dumb question but do valve radios have servos? The soundclip is of a 35mm projector servo, so I thought maybe servos were the go?

No servos in broadcast receivers for domestic use as a rule.

The 11-99 is pretty simple radio and not a bad performer. Last of Krielser's valve radios -- they went solid state after that.

I listened to your sound sample and I would say the radio is probably picking up some powerful interference from an electrical machine motor somewhere not too far away. Iy could even be a servo of some type - a garage door or something much smaller.

One way to check would be to leave another AM radio switched on, tuned to no station, in a place where you would be sure if it was also picking up some sort of sound.

It is quite possible to pick up an audible signal without the radio circuit having any power. Crystal sets drive an earphone without any power.

If the signal is really unique to that particular radio, then it is probably a coincidence that the combination of wires and coils in it, plus any antenna that is attached or internal wiring that is acting like an antenna, are producing enough energy from something to make an audible signal through the speaker. Any spark can make a signal that an AM radio will pick up.

Maven