Montgomery Ward Airline Radio

[Michael Trew]

I found the deal of the day; I picked this radio up locally for $10 --
as is, I didn't even have to clean it. Pretty cool looking radio. I
don't see a model number anywhere on the original back cover, or on the
back of the metal chassis. I suppose I'll have to take it apart to find
out.

I normally would not plug in a non-restored radio, but the guy selling
it put on the tag "lights up but no sound"... for $10, I took a chance
and plugged it in. I'll be darned, it fired right up and worked fine as
soon as the tubes warmed up. Very minimal hum; I expected a lot worse
with presumably original capacitors.

I've never dealt with an FM radio before, but I noticed that the radio
is silent when the dial is switched to "FM". I did not try to plug a
source into the "Phono" input. Does anyone have a clue why the FM dial
would be silent? Perhaps it only will work if I hook an external FM
antenna onto the jacks in the back?

Otherwise, the AM radio is working "awesome". I have it tuned into 650
AM from Nashville right now; it's coming in loud and clear in Eastern
Ohio (just after 11 PM EST). The body cabinets need nothing, aside from
the loose dial glass that rattles a bit. I'll probably end up doing the
capacitors either way, when I fork over the motivation.

Photos:

Body: https://postimg.cc/fVnGMS0Q
Lighted dial: https://postimg.cc/K3mKX8rP

[[e-mail]]

Is the oscillator tube a 19T8 or a 6AQ8? Either of those tubes is both touchy and very prone to Lazy Cathode syndrome - where they are on and lit, but not carrying any signal. Start there.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

[[e-mail]]

Post by ***@aol.com
Is the oscillator tube a 19T8 or a 6AQ8? Either of those tubes is both touchy and very prone to Lazy Cathode syndrome - where they are on and lit, but not carrying any signal. Start there.
Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

And, of course, the same principles would apply to whatever oscillator tube was used on the FM side - not just those two.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA