Short of taking a college course on electronics, is there a good beginners book on how to align a Radio?

Howard W Sams had a book, "AM-FM-TV Alignment" by Robert Middleton. The Sams number is 20602 and the first edition is copyright 1967. If you can get hold of a copy of that, it should answer any questions you have.

73
Bob WA2UEH

I would add a couple of things to Bob's comments. Should you plan to align an old radio after reading that book, get a copy of the service notes for that particular radio. There are often specific techniques for different types of recievers. Many can easily be misaligned if you just start adjusting using general guidelines. Check a resource like http://www.agtanenbaum.com for the service notes. You will need some equipment such as a reliable signal generator. There is some very good information on this site about how radios work and that could also be a of help to you. See the home page then tips and training. The beginning of a training course is posted. It is under construction so some of the tuning stuff isn't there yet. However the description of how a radio works is. It is important to understand this if you plan to align properly.

: Short of taking a college course on electronics, is there a good beginners book on how to align a Radio?

: Short of taking a college course on electronics, is there a good beginners book on how to align a Radio?


Rick: For most, if not all, AM sets it isn't particularly difficult, just takes a while. If you can tune a radio, you can align a radio. There are several good books on the subject:

"Practical Radio Servicing" by Marcus
"Old Time Radios! Restoration and Repair" by Carr
"Antique Radio Restoration Guide" by Johnson

But the alignment instructions for each set may differ quite a bit from 'general' instructions. The most important things you will need is a signal generator and a set of diddle sticks.