William Haywood Jones

Arvin Radios ~ Bill Jones While there is no shortage of Arvin’s, a particular model may, at times, be difficult to find. I have been looking for an Arvin 422 for some time and finally found a cream colored one. I did not care if it was brown or cream since I plan to restore one of each. The brown is the 422 and the cream (Ivory?) is the 422A. The electronics are much the same for all of the four tube Arvin’s, but there are minor changes. The 422 that I just restored had the I.F. transformer on the underside of the chassis and the transformer was not shielded. Most four tube Arvin’s that I have seen have had the I.F. on the upper chassis with shield. In restoring the chassis of this Arvin I found an oscillation at the low end of the dial. I have noted this type of oscillation before with other radios. I paid little attention since it is removed by a slight detuning of the I.F. While checking this Arvin I began to wonder why this was happening. The oscillation was of a type...

The Hindenbug - WHY February 25, 2017 By Bill Jones. There are many articles on the cause of the Hindenburg disaster. These articles discuss the possible causes. There are a number of theories.  One important theory is that the fabric was ignited by a spark caused by the Hindenburg being electrically charged.  It was certainly   electrically charged, but the question in doubt is how did this electrical charge cause the fire.    Another theory is that the Hindenburg, on its final approach to landing made two sharp turns because of wind shifts. These turns were beyond the design specifications of the aircraft. It is suggested that a thin steel structure wire broke and whipped into a hydrogen gas bag. It is said that it broke because of the sharp turns. There were many such thin steel wires between the air bags. The hydrogen then leaked from the bag and passed through air vents that were in the top of the aircraft. The hydrogen was then ignited by corona that ...

Miniature I.F.Transformers 2nd I.F. Repair ~                                                                     By Bill Jones The repair of the first I.F. transformer has been covered in another article on this site.  These miniature transformers may cause a problem because of their built in tuning capacitors. The capacitors in question normally have a value in the order of one hundred pico-farads.  They are constructed on one small piece of mica that is slightly smaller than the I.F. transformer base, and the capacitors are in the base of the transformer.  The mica is silver plated on each side and the silver is placed on the mica to form ...

By Bill Jones These miniature transformers may cause a problem because of their built in tuning capacitors. The capacitors in question normally have a value in the order of one hundred pico-farads.  They are constructed on one small piece of mica that is slightly smaller than the I.F. transformer base, and the capacitors are in the base of the transformer. The mica is silver plated on each side and the silver is placed on the mica to form two capacitors, one for the primary of the transformer, and one for the secondary.  One edge of each of the capacitors is physically close to each other. Tuning for these transformers is accomplished by means of a ferrite slug.  Because of factors that are not clear, some radios that have this type of capacitor   will be found to have a silver migration from one capacitor to the other capacitor forming what I call a “migration resistor”. The resistor is unstable and causes a radio to be very noisy.   I would guess tha...

   By Bill Jones This note will cover only the tube type Superheterodyne receiver, and the ways that it can be aligned. The main theme of the article will be the alignment of the Intermediate Frequency (I.F.) transformers. However, the Radio Frequency (R.F.) stages will be considered. The alignment may depend on how you use the receiver, and this will be discussed. It is a surprise to most radio collectors that the best way to align your receiver is most often - by not following the manual. The manual is a good way to align the receiver – but not the best way. The basic alignment requires that you have a s2ignal generator and an AC voltmeter. You will align the I.F. before you align the R.F. stages. In this process you set the signal generator to the I.F. frequency and connect the signal generator to the converter (also called the “mixer”) grid. The generator is connected through a capacitor to the grid. Connecting the output of the generator through a capacitor keeps the grid...