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AM Radio/FM Converter
The AM radio in this car did not work from when I bought it. I happened to see a radio on E-Bay going cheap that was suppose to work so I bought it. It was a piece of junk. I usually have luck on E-Bay but not this time. It did have a set of good tubes though so I guess I didn't lose anything. I decided to look at the radio in the car. I checked power to the set and it was all there. I took it out and put in on my bench with a replacement speaker and antenna and hooked it up to a 12V supply. It worked!! So I took it back out to the car. Installed it again and nothing. Again, out of the car, on the bench, and it worked. This time I did not put it back into the car but left in on the floor and jumped in everything to the car. Nothing! I then use the replacement speaker and wire for the antenna like on the bench and still nothing. I then jumped power from the 12V supply and it worked with the car speaker and antenna. I check the power again from the car and everything was there. I then notice that I have the red lead on the meter on the chassis and I am reading a positive voltage. I swap the leads and then I see the problem. The radio is being fed -12V!!! It made me just sit there a minute to comprehend it! So I go under the hood and sure enough the battery is in reversed! So many questions went though my mind. How does the car run?? Well if you think about it. Cars this old don't have any electronics. Everything but the radio would not care about the voltage polarity! So I reversed the battery cables, re-polarize the field coil in the generator and low and behold, the radio worked just fine!! If you get anything out of this, make sure when ever you put in a new generator or reverse the polarity on your battery, you re-polarize the field coil. Do this following the directions that come with the generator, regulator or your shop manual.
I also added one of those FM converters. These were originally made for people with AM only car radios. Perfect for the Comet!
Notice that this radio had the CONELRAD markings at 640 or 1240 kHz on the dial. This system was used to broadcast warnings to citizens in the event of an emergency during the cold war.
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