Hello to Brad and all the other 890 members,just a quick run down on myself......mid 40's married, twin 8year olds,used to muck about with electronics twenty something years ago. I decided about 6 to 8 mths ago to get involved in collecting old valve radios. my knowledge of repairing radios is very limited to the extent I am currently reading through self help books i.e. "electrical principals 1",etc,what I have found is it seems to be very difficult to get hold of old valve radio repair books etc,i am very excited about getting involved in restoration and repair, so I am hoping that by getting involved as a member of "vintage radio and television", that I will be able to get some support and guidance from other members in these forums and chat lines. in the last six months or so I have collected four radiograms all early fifties vintage, one going and three to be repaired. look forward to some replies soon....cheers clint.

Gday Clint & welcome.Pretty new here myself & being a collector of other vintage things,radios have become my latest.Nil knowledge on repairing them I can however do refurbishing/restoring of the metal bodies(sheety by trade).I`m sure though you`ll find/get all the help for your needs here.Why not add some pics for us to drool over.cheers gordon

Clint,

There are several gurus on this Forum who are very worthwhile listening to. Reading through some previous Posts, and Tutorials and Articles, will give you a good idea of what you should and shouldn't be doing when new to vintage radios. The 'key' is safety. I 'played around' with an old car radio (12 volt only and transistors .....shhhhh!) before stepping up to valves and higher voltages.

Keep reading the books and Post your questions.

Cheers,

Re: "it seems to be very difficult to get hold of old valve radio repair books"

One I can recommend is Valve Radio & Audio Repair Handbook (second edition) by Chas Miller. Although it's a British book, the radios and circuits (and voltages) are close to what we have in Oz, and Chas has 50 years experience in the repair trade so he knows his onions. It's a well-written mix of theory and fault finding, with the emphasis on the latter.

http://www.fishpond.com.au/Books/Valve-Radio-and-Audio-Repair-Handbook-Charles-E-Miller/9780750639958.


Another title is Early Radios in Australia - How to Collect, Understand and Restore Them by Rex Newsome. It contains some quite useful tips, but the book is marred by very many typographical and editing errors. It's a great shame that it was not professionally proofread before it was published.

G'day Clint,

Welcome to our forums, which will be expanded this weekend to cater for those with an interest in old telephones, windup gramophones and phonographs.

Do enjoy.

Hello Clint

A book I have found useful is "Old Time Radios! Restoration and Repair" by Joseph J. Carr. This explains the technical side in a way suitable for tyros - sometimes comes up on Ebay.

An Australian book is based on extracts from the now defunct Electronics Australia "Discovering vintage Radio" by Peter Lankshear. Not so much on repair but is a good education. Also appears in Ebay from time to time.

I will be buying that magazine next time it shows up on Ebay (if it is in good nick). I bought it when it came out but have since lost it. It is one of the best magazines released by Federal Publishing, aside from EA itself of course!

Hi Clint, I can relate very well to your situation!! & have had to grab many books off Ebay to help get enough basic knowledge to get started....an old book that is useful & in good supply from ebay (US mainly) is modern radio servicing & its companion book radio troubleshooters handbook, by Alfred Ghirardi...he writes in my language....simple. The third editions are the ones to get as most of the errors are gone & many updates compared to earlier eds.
Another interesting series of books I managed to score is called "Basic electricity/electronics by training & retraining from 1965 which is a 5 volume set. The third volume delves into valves from basics on how they actually work & up to plotting "the family of curves" used to describe valve characteristics etc. The set I managed to find have a stamp inside the front cover showing they were part of Amalgamated Radio Australiasia's technical library in March 65. Anyway good luck with your endevours, there are many people on this forum that have significant knowledge & are willing to help.

Cheers

Paul

There is a book on the net:

The Vacuum Tube Shortwave Radio, Understanding and Troubleshooting by Richard McWhorter http://www.richardmcwhorter.com/vacuumtuberadio/.

It downloads as a pdf, and best of all is free.