Over the years that I’ve owned my ’49, I’ve agonized over the vacuum antenna not always operating as it should, and finally not operating at all. So, for the nth time I disassembled the unit this year and noticed that one of the original plastic disks had cracked in half where a glued repair had failed.
Maybe it was time to replace those disks; but how and with what? A friend, who can repair antique radios, build furniture, and use power and hand tools to recreate just about anything, came to the rescue. I gave him the original plastic parts and he recreated them in Lucite, drilling the correct holes as well. The original leather or rubber gaskets were not part of this project, but I was able to reinstall them after oiling them well.
Almost voila! The antenna rose when the volume control was pulled, but would not retract when the knob was pushed. Time and our warm Georgia spring came to the rescue and now the antenna goes up and down as it was intended to.
If you want to troubleshoot and rebuild your own antenna, you can order a set of the two disks from my friend for $30 postpaid in the US. E-mail Mark Palmquist at jmpalm@mindspring.com
