It worked when I took it out

[Royal Ryser]

I removed the radio from my 36 tudor to do some body work and refresh the dash. I'm ready to put it back in but can't get it to work on the bench. There are 3 wires coming out of the radio to the speaker but only 2 places for wires to go on the speaker. The radio hums when I give it 6 volts, but I hear no voices.
Anybody have an idea how the 3 wires plug into the speakers?
Thanks, Royal

[rust runner]

how about plugging in the antenna.

[rotorwrench]

Sometimes the building you may be in can shield the antenna or certain types of lighting can overpower radio signals. The hum is natural if it still has the old style vibrator in that radio set. The original radio set used a speaker that had an electro magnet. It required a connection to power it up. Modern speakers have plain magnets or rare earth magnets so they don't need the power connection. It does have to be insulated or disconnected internally if that is the case.

If you try to use another speaker for your FT-6 Philco, make certain it has the correct ohms impedance. There were several antenna configurations for the years that Ford used them too but none were conventional types. They used the screen wire in the top, some had an antenna under the running board, and some had a spare tire type antenna.

[tubman]

My buddy "fixed" the radio for my '51. I installed it while the car was in my shop, which is in a metal building. I could NOT get it to work. I decided to drive over to his place to show what a shitty job he did. As soon as I cleared the door, it almost blew my ears off. Probably not your problem, but it shows that external conditions can be important.

[Royal Ryser]

The antenna is plugged in.

[Drbrown]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Royal: The plug into the radio on the speaker wire harness normally has 3 prongs but the speaker only uses two wires, and they are normally soldered to the speaker. I have a working OE speaker with harness and radio plug. Can check to see how the wires are attached to speaker if you wish.

Perhaps one of the tubes got damaged when moving the radio around.

Touch the vibrator canister. Does it actually hum/vibrate ?

Ford says theses radios use 6.2 volts. Perhaps that's part of the problem.

There also may be a fine tuning adjustment screw.

As noted by others here, being inside greatly affects reception.

[keith oh]

The on-off switch was moved from the radio box(chassis) 1935 to the control head in 1936. These 1936 control head switches would wear out but still make a click sound like it was connecting but actually was not. It is very difficult, if at all possible to fix that switch so many times there was a external switch put in the power line leading to the control head. ( By the way, making it even harder to diagnose, that little control head switch would sometimes work and not work.)

[Royal Ryser]

Thanks to all for the tips. The speaker I am trying to use is an OE speaker, but there is no plug to attach to the speaker. It was disconnected from the radio when I got the car. At that time another speaker was connected and it has no plug.

DrBrown, I sure would appreciate your looking at the how the 3 wires from the radio are connected to the 2 wires at the speaker.

Keith oh, I have suspected that the off/on switch was bad but cannot figure out how to put in an external switch. I am electrically challenged and can't determine which of the 3 wires of the switch controls the off/on function. I assume that 2 of the wires control the tuning operation.

I plan to move the whole testing operation outside and see if the radio works there. Everyone's help has been great. I think we'll get this to work, yet. In the meantime, I am not installing the radio in the car.
Thanks, all.

[keith oh]

There are 2 larger wires and one smaller wire coming out of the control head. Cut the 2 larger wires off and connect them to a simple on-off switch (radio shack) on one side wire goes to hot side of ignition switch when IG switch is on. The other side of the on -off switch is connected to the wire coming from the radio box and also connect the smaller wire to that side to power the little light bulb in the control head. That wire going to the radio box should have a in line fuse connector(radio shack) 10 amp. This is also to make a place to disconnect when removing the radio.

[Royal Ryser]

I moved the radio outside to test it away from the metal building. It still doesn't produce any voices. Just a steady but quiet hum, which I think is the vibrator. When I .hook up the speaker it makes a very loud hum. I still can't figure out how to go from 3 wires at the radio to2 wires at the speaker.

[Drbrown]

Royal .... Following up my PM to you: Speaker/wire connector I have is 1941-1948 vintage with a two-wire speaker. It may or may not be a similar set-up to yours.

Here's two photos. Plug for the radio has 3 metal prongs - one is larger than the other two so that it plugs into the radio correctly. Someone rewired the speaker. Looking at the photos, the wire from the larger prong is connected to the upper soldered terminal on the speaker.

Ford Service Bulletin 18999-A shows the '41-'48 radios were provided with both 2 and 3 wire speakers. When radio working correctly with a 2-wire speaker the radio should draw up to 7.5 amps; with a 3-wire speaker up to 8.5 amps. If radio draws more than either of those ratings one or more tubes needed replacement or more extensive bench testing.

Their Testing Sequence: (1) test fuse; (2) feel for vibrator casing working; (3) test antenna using 2 diff ohm tests; (4) at 6 volts, check amps with speaker connected; (5) if amps excessive check/replace tubes; (6) recheck amps .... 6 amp okay for 2-wire, 7 amp okay for 3-wire.

[Royal Ryser]

keith oh and DrBrown, thanks for the info and pics. I tried the setup you have, DrBrown, but had no success. I believe the radio is working OK but this speaker problem persists. I'll keep trying.

[Drbrown]

Wonder if you have an antenna problem. Ford service bulletin describes two antenna tests. Can send them to you if you desire.

[rotorwrench]

Here is another recent thread on the old Philco sets.
https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showth...ght=philco+FT6