Customer Reviews

The All-American Five Radio: Understanding and Restoring Transformerless Radios of the 1940'S, 50'S, and 60's

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Where was this book when I got started?!! Probably the best "first book" for anyone interested in repairing old radios--or just learning about how they work. The book is limited to the All American 5 Superhet radio just as the title says and therefore is highly focused on these radios which make up the bulk of the vintage radios out there today. Too many books try to discuss every old radio type from old TRFs to multi-band consoles and become very tedious and often too general for anything but entertainment. This book gives you just what you need to know (and no more) to get an old AA5 radio to work. You don't get bogged down in complex theory and useless details and history. With this book, a dead AA5 radio, and just a few tools which the author lists, almost anyone with any kind of mechanical ability can have that radio working in no time. Of course much of what you will have learned in this book can be applied to more complex radios as well, since all superhets operate in basically the same way.

Just received 'The All-American Five Radio'.
This book is riddled with Typos, not just missing a letter here or there,
but calling the term Pi...pie, calling a Sine wave...a Sign wave, etc.
In the very first chapter there is an equation demonstrating Ohms Law,
the answer given is wrong. The book gives the answer 135 by multiplication, the answer is 60 by Division! The equation just below it has the right answer but the fraction has the values in the wrong position. This on just a brief look at the book so far. Many of the definitions in the back are bad or just plain wrong. Not sure what to trust in this book. The concept is good; could have been better written for a learning manual, especially about electric and Radio. My personal opinion is that anyone giving this book a top five star rating just doesn't get it or they are associated with book somehow,,,this is suppose to be a how to learning manual, understand?

This book has a lot of detailed information for anyone interested in restoring All American 5 or 6 Radios. You will need a little knowledge of electronics to fully utilize this information however. This book is likely not for beginners. This book is however a good addition to your bookshelf if you are interested in the history of Radio and in particular Tube radio.
Some errors in spelling and a few mistakes but there is a addendum to correct most of those. For the money invested this book is a good value if you are looking for information.

This book is just what I needed, just getting started in tube radio repair. It covers basic radio funamentals and electronics, in an easy to read and understand format. Even though it only covers one peticular radio, I feel I can apply it to any other radio. I recommend it to anyone with moderate electronic background.

this book is excellent for the beginner - i have learned a lot from this book. highly recommended for the novice repairman.

This book covers fundamental electronics with excellent schematic and pictorial diagrams to help the reader understand how tube radio components work. I especially liked the explanations of each stage from power supply through detector and audio amplifier, and the descriptions of the functional elements of each tube. There are many useful tips for selecting and installing replacement parts which I highlighted for future reference. Yes, there are more typos than normal but that is a minor nuisance which doesn't reduce the value of the content.

This book really hit the mark with the right balance of theory and practical application. I've waded through more than a few technical books on tube radio theory and restoration, and this one, though not as detailed as a textbook, is clearly the place to start.

However, the section on troubleshooting was extremely limited. Experience indicates that after following the steps recommended in the book between 10 and 20 percent of restored radios will still have some type of problem. Most individuals learning the process for repairing tube radios will be seeking practical guidance for identifying possible sources of these problems and their potential solutions. Maybe troubleshooting will be the subject of Mr. McWhorter's next book.

Amazon provided very quick and speedy service. The book I recieved in a very short time was an excellent choice. It was excatly what I was looking for.Very plain and down to earth to understand highly recommended.Thanks amazon

This is by far the best resource for new Antique Radio enthusiasts who are interested in restoration. The only criticism I would offer is that the index is not as complete as such a reference work deserves. Otherwise, this is a clear, concise explanation of the inner workings of what has to be the most common radio type of the period.