"Michael A. Terrell" wrote in message
...

klem kedidelhopper wrote:

On Jun 4, 5:59 am, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:
isw wrote:

From the subject, you say the original transistor is a Ge device.

There's a very good chance that the "replacement" is actually a Si
one.

There is a 100% chance that you're wrong:

http://www.nteinc.com/specs/100to199/pdf/nte160.pdf

This link was also posted in the original thread: AM/FM radio
troubleshooting

--
It's easy to think outside the box, when you have a cutting torch.

Yes I am aware of the reversal of emitter and base leads between the
two types. I was very careful with that. I triple checked the
connections each time I removed the 160 and then re installed it. The
radio does in fact work intermittently as it did before each time the
old transistor is installed back in the radio so at this point I can
still get back to square one, thankfully, (as long as the foil doesn't
start lifting from the phenolic board). The ohmmeter confirms the
original as well as the 160 as being a PNP Ge transistor too.There is
somewhat of a difference in reverse ohmmeter readings between the 160
and the AF126 but I would have suspected that from germaniums,
especially one old one and one new one anyway. Although it really
shouldn't be necessary I did a search for an AF126 but the only thing
that came up were some old spec sheets. I think that this one sadly is
long gone. I did initially try the 160 in the circuit with the metal
can lead disconnected. I didn't think that this would make any
difference because when troubleshooting the chassis originally I was
looking for "whiskers" as suggested to me before as possibly being the
case. So I had lifted all the can shields from all the transistors
and that didn't make any difference. The radio still worked
intermittently. So I did finally solder the can lead on the 160 on but
it still did not work, I don't want to touch the alignment because I'm
just not convinced that this is where the problem is. I know that
NTE's don't always work in the particular application but I wonder if
perhaps this is whats going on here. I just can't help wondering if
I'm missing something else though. If anyone has any further thoughts
on this I would be most sincerely grateful. Lenny



Once again: Check the Collector voltage. That will show if the
transistor is properly biased, and if it is a good transistor. If it
isn't in the ballpark of a similar radio, look for the cause. Shorted
capacitors in IF cans was a common failure, but well below bad &
intermittent transistors.

I serviced hundreds, if not over a thousand transistor radios in the
'60s & early '70s. I never saw a radio that needed alignment after
replacing a transistor,

I've even got away with replacing transistors in UHF tuners most times I
attempted it.