Metz German tube radio Röhrenradio a request for advice.
 

Good day.

I am hoping the experts in this forum could advise me if this unit is worth looking at and attempting a fix. I am local to the seller, so it would only be the actual costs, not shipping. I am interested in it both as a nice piece to display as well as using for shortwave. Do old tube radios work well for shortwave or should I look at a newer transistor uinit?

Thanks for any input provided.

Cheers,
Joe

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...e=STRK:MEWA:IT

Joe- Looks like a "go For It" to me. I can't imagine the ferrite antenna is so boogered up it can't be fixed, or worse comes to worse, another one can't be robbed from another set. -Sandy G.

Thanks Sandy.

How do tube radios like the one mentioned in this thread compare to SS SW radios? I would assume this one would work better than a small transistorised portable. My wife would like to pick up some stations in Russian.

Thanks,
Joe

Joe- It all depends on what segment(s) of the shortwave bands this radio will pick up. "Shortwave" traditionally goes from 1600 KC-top of the AM band- to 30 MC-below FM, which starts at 87.9 Mc. That covers QUITE a bit of real estate in the spectrum, but in reality, most SW broadcasts are in fairly limited places on the dial.-Sandy G.

Looks very similar to a Grundig...we have had clients bring in Grundigs and Telefunkens for repair and their performance is better than any American home radio of the same time period...the German sets are the best we have seen in tube type sets in audio quality, lack of FM drift, and sensitvity...would recomend them highly.

Had a Grundig with no AM or shortwave and just had to spray the tube socket for the AM convertor tube with DEOXIT and spray the switches...just dirty connections.

From my experience the ferrite antenna is not used on shortwave, only MW AM (550-1600). also on a lot of these radios you can switch off the ferrite and switch to external antenna only. You cannot pick up SW without something attached to the external antenna terminals.

on these old tube radios shortwave is usually 1.8-6 MHZ and 6-18 MHZ, this seems to cover most of the foreign stations. These sets seem to pick up shortwave pretty well but they may not have the sensitvity range of a communications receiver or transistorized shortwave set to cope with fading signals as well.
The best SW performance I have seen is in the transistorized Zenith trans-oceanic.

Thanks Chad

Well, I won it. @$22.62 US$. I think that is a good deal. Seller will allow local pickup and get this: will allow me to back out if it does not meet the auction description. Is that a good seller or what? I will look at it tomorrow and test with an external antenna.

Thanks for all tha dvice from a tube neophyte...

Cheers,
Joe

Joe- I think that's a bargain, because I don't think there's all that much wrong w/it. Even if it don't "Float yer boat", I'd get it anyway-maybe one of yr buddies here might want it...(Wink, wink..Nudge, nudge)...-Sandy G.

Always seemed to be plenty of easy to recieve broadcasts from Russia, though most of what I heard was in English, of course! With a little attention to the antenna this should do fine for your purposes. I have a Metz console, I wish I could find a home for it. Guys, show up at my door with lunch money & I'll help ya load it up!

This radio type has only a limited FM band with a range from 87 Mc thru 100 Mc. If you provide the exact model type I can try to find the exact schematics for you.

Is that because the German FM band was originally only 87-100 MC?
We have a Blaupunkt that someone had bought in Germany that is like that...most of our favorite stations are below 100 mc so not a big deal.

Yes. In the 1950s, the range of 100 - 108 Mc was excluded. The first radio stations on air in the range of 100 - 108 Mc appear in the 1970s.

It is a North American Spec model. Full FM band (88-108). The problem is that when it was shipped to Ottawa from CA, the ferrite antenna was not tied down. The antenna bounced out of the "holder" and ripped out all the wires from the tuner. The man who received it here in Ottawa, was upset, but it was shipped w/o insurance so he was stuck with it. He had over 30 other tube radios, so he did not want to bother getting it fixed. He has an amazing collection, wish I owned a digital camera.

The Metz works well on FM, but no sound, not even a crackle on AM or SW. The magic eye tube was gone, amazingly, the seller gave me a brand new one for free! Model # is Metz 409/3D. Hopefully I can get the tuner working with an external antenna for SW.

Kinda interesting in that it has 4 spkrs, one looks to be 6 X 10" and a tweer on the front baffle with two side firing speakers.

It has a samll bit of damage from the poor shipping, the trim piece around the push buttons is missing a small bit on the right ansd the left tone knob has a piece missing as well.

Overall for $23 (US$) it is worth looking at repairing, I think.

There is a similar lookning unit on eBay right now. I am almost temped to bid, just for parts. Only problem is that it is Germany only shipping. I would need someone to agree to have it shipped to them, strip it and mail to me. Tall order, unfortunately.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Joe

Would anyone have an idea whre I could find a schematic for a Metz 409/3D? Any ideas where parts could be sourced?

Thanks,
Joe

My advice. Go for it. The German radios where the best radio in the word...
Judging from the sound point of wiew, sometimes the sound is as good as at an digital reciver. I think it works on 88-108 Mc. I own an "Grundig" made for U.S.A. in the '50's and it haves all the F.M.