How well does your C2 AM/FM radio work?

[Timothy B.]

I had my radio in for cleaning/repair/refurb recently and now that I have it back and been using it for awhile, I am not sure it is working as well as it should. I would like to ask this forum for some of your experiences and comments on what kind of performance I should expect from a midyear AM/FM radio. I know these things are old and I don't expect it to work like a modern digital unit, but wonder if mine might still need to be sent back for some further attention. I went with a repair place that seemed reasonably priced for the work (Dr. Don's), and not the $400 total refurb shops that I had checked into.

On AM it works just fine best I can tell, but I admit I don't spend much time listening to AM these days anyway. Prior to my last repair, AM didn't work at all, so now it works great.

On FM, sound quality is fairly good considering its age. Problem is, I have to frequently retune the tuner to stay in the "sweet spot" for a given station. Even for strong stations I find that I can frequently improve the sound by tweaking the tuning. For weaker stations I have to do this more often. If there is a strong station near the one I am trying to tune in, I have to retune almost continuously to stay on the desired station clearly. Lastly, the tone control seems to do pretty much nothing for 90% of its rotation. Only the last 10 or 20 degrees of rotation near the "treble" side seems to do much of anything - basically removing the "bass" in that position.

Can you guys that also have C2 radios comment on what you think?

[Steve Pettit]

Re: How well does your C2 AM/FM radio work?

I have a 66. I've never worked on the radio and it's performance is generally as you describe.

Steve

[Harry Sadlock]

Re: How well does your C2 AM/FM radio work?

Tim, I have the same problem with my 63. I have the original radio. I did send it out and had it cleaned up and adjusted. There are a few adjustments you can do. Tweak the AM fine tune screw. 63 and 64 it's under the panel on the right, 65 to 67 it's behind the right knob. Also, work you antenna, I've fixed most of the problem by raising the antenna one meter. It still happens, but not as often.

Harry

[Kevin M.]

Re: How well does your C2 AM/FM radio work?

Works just like my 67. I had to replace the lead first to get it to work that good.

Kevin

[Gordon Peterson #4961]

Re: How well does your C2 AM/FM radio work?

Hi Tim -

A couple years ago, I had my '63 AM/FM radio restored. And I too seem to constantly chase radio stations around. But that doesn't bother me because it sounds great!

The tone control never seemed to do much. I figured "old technology". But then the radio developed a problem where the volume control became extremely noisy. The only fix for this is a replacement switch, so I found one and dove into the radio myself.

As you know, the on-off/volume/and tone are all the same switch. To my surprise, when I removed the original switch, I found a broken ceramic disk capacitor on the tone control section! So I replaced this cap as well.

Well, what a difference! NOW the darned tone control really makes a difference! And oh yes, the volume control is quiet too.

Anyone ever notice that the oldies really sound better on these old Delcos?

Pete

[Brian M.]

Re: How well does your C2 AM/FM radio work?

I had my radio out twice recently for repairs. The first time it came back No Charge with no problems found. Re-installed it and had same poor performance IE: very weak AM and poor FM reception with complete cut out after about 10 mins. of play. Keep in mind the National was only 2 weeks away. A knight in shinning armor (Thanks again Joe Ray) came through with a loaner. Returned the problem radio for a second look see and after $40.00 it plays VERY good on both AM & FM.
These radio's worked well when new and there is no rerason that they can't be repaired to work that way today.

[Rick S.]

Re: How well does your C2 AM/FM radio work?

So, inquiring minds want to know, who did you use Brian?

Rick

[Gerard F.]

Re: How well does your C2 AM/FM radio work?

Tim,

You'd be surprised what a new main transistor, volume/tone control arm and a new (correct ohm)speaker will do to the sound. But it sounds like you're main problem may be in the reception end which shouldn't be a problem in a big city like Houston. Try putting on a gypo antenna and see if that makes a difference in the reception, then you'll know if it is the antenna system.

If not, then get the manual/wiring diagragm (it's available), and have a shop look into the relatively simple electronics. There are a number of internal adjustments shown in the manual that you need a signal generator for.

My problem got solved by soldering in a replacement transistor, and new volume tone control, and the speaker was shot anyway, so I didn't go any further. The test is the guitar crescendo of the original "Hotel California". It should sound like a CD playing.

Jerry Fuccillo
#42179

[Jack H.]

Re: How well does your C2 AM/FM radio work?

Station should NOT drift requiring manual 'tweaking' of the tuner dial! FM stands for frequency modulation, meaning the information content that's being broadcast is contained in the instantaneous deviation from the broadcast station's FCC FIXED carrier assignment. Hence, for the receiver to work, the tuner has to remain ROCK STABLE at the carrier center frequency and demodulate the signal based on delta-freq observations.

If she's constantly drifting off center frequency requiring you to manually re-tune, there's a problem inside the radio chassis the repair technician SHOULD have caught/fixed! My hunch would be excessive coupling capacitor internal leakage generating a DC offset that grows beyond the tuner's frequency lock loop tolerance limits. Bottom line....send 'er back and question how long they observed the radio during 'burn in' after their repair....

On tone control, the bass/treble shading is achieved as another mentioned; via a capacitor soldered between the tone control pot section of the multi-stage volume/tone assy and the radio's chassis ground. If the service tech removed the assy for bench work, it's possible he accidentally fatigue fractured the capacitor's lead wires resulting in 'Jeckyl/Hyde' performance (when the broken lead 'happens' to make contact you get bass/treble coloring; when the lead wire is open circuit you get NO color action).

[Mark H.]

Re: What about Pushbuttons?

Only two of mine work. They all pull out to the set position, but only two will set to the new station when pushed in after being pulled out. Any do-it-yourself trick here?

[Jack H.]

Re: What about Pushbuttons?

No easy answer on push buttons....this was a mechanical sub-assy where each button had self-locking cam assy that controlled the set position of a bank of variable, iron core, inductors. Pull the button out when you're mechanically tuned to the station you desire and that button's clutch freewheels and 'forgets' its prior pre-set condition, then push it in and it locks in place at the current position of the tuning inductor bank's in-out geometry and 'remembers' that position.

When a given pre-set 'doesn't work', the fix might be as simple as cleaning & lubricating that button's clutch/cam mechanism. Or it could be as bad as having to replace that 'gang' position with a fresh/used assy whose clutch finger isn't fatigue fractured and rendered dysfunctional as a result....

Bottom line, you gotta pull the radio, crack the case and visually observe the source of functional fault!

[Wayne M.]

But would it pass the "Stairway to Heaven" test ? *NM*

[Gerard F.]

Just like Led was sitting next to you

HaHaHa! Wayne

http://diamond-back.com/stairway.html

Jerry Fuccillo