I replaced the two 8 uf caps and prior to recaping the entire radio I checked for operation. I can only receive AM 1080. A very strong local. should I troubleshoot 1st or proceed to replacement
of the caps? Any thoughts on reason for just one station?

I'm a beginner, so take this with a grain of salt. But the other caps in the set are probably in a state of deterioration and may have take some of the harder working resistors along with them. I prefer to CAREFULLY one connection at a time replace crispy old wax paper caps. Then proceed with the trouble shooting.

Are you saying that the radio worked well before the new caps?
If so something happened when you tacked in the new caps,
If the radio wasn't tested first then more information is needed.
Peter

Bear in mind I'm the rankest amateur, but could it be the local oscillator?

Troubleshoot before replacing more caps.
Receiving only a strong local station often means the converter stage is not working.
Are you certain you had normal reception across the dial before replacing the electrolytic caps ?
You have to go waaaaaay out of your way to kill the converter stage when replacing the electrolytic caps.

thanks for the input. to clarify I had a bad electrolytiic to start with so I changed them both and brought it up slowly for the initial check out. one statio 1080 plays loud and a very very faint one in the 1600 freq.

The symptom can also indicate a break between the loop antenna and tuning cap or ground. Test the loop for continuity, and valid connections.

I only have the schematic for the 15, not the 15X, but suspect this radio has no loop antenna but uses a long wire. Connect ten or twenty feet of wire to the antenna connection and run it around the room. Should pick up more. Bear in mind more is picked up at night.

I think you need to be specific,
Does the radio have a 20' wire on the "A" terminal ?
Are you in a basement?
This radio sounds unrestored and we still can only guess.
Attach a 20' wire on the "A" terminal, Lay it out flat and try again.
Let us know what happens,
Peter

oK. Update. I Hooked a 25 foot wire to antenna terminal in my garage. Note did not hook anything to grnd terminal. I can get two stations 1080 and 820. Clear and I also receive a very weak one down in the 1600 range. I have not recapped or rr resistors yet. Is this a chicken eggg what to do first. Troubleshot or restore caps and resistors. Also of note the on switch has 3 positions. Off. A and B. Both a b get the Two A M stations noted is one of those supposed to be SW? Thank you for the replies. this is a big radio and a lot more tubes than I have worked wit in the past

No, this radio is broadcast-band only. The 3rd postion on the on-off switch changes the gain (sensitivity) of the 1st RF stage. As near as I can make out, the positions are off-local-distant, where distant is most sensitive. But it's possible I have the local and distant parts reversed.

The "X" in the model number signifies that it has an inclined speaker baffle so that the sound is projected more upwards. Circuit-wise, the 15 and 15X are probably identical.
Philcoradio-dot-com has a clear schematic with all resistor and cap values:
http://www.philcoradio.com/tech/images/15.jpg

Since you are getting some stations out of it, you would probably be safe in proceding with the re-cap, checking the operation frequently so that you can retrace your work if reception stops.

Nice looking radio!

+1.

+2,
It seems like it is working and with the replacement of ALL the paper caps and the drifted resistors your set may start to shine,
I do not know if your has the capacitors in the rectangle bakelite blocks, But if it does, Post up in same forum about what the numbers mean and someone will chime in.
Do one at a time and test each time,
Use the strongest station is fine between caps and resistors,
IF it is still working as you get nearer to the end you are doing well and you should see an improvement in sensitivity and sound quality!
Peter

Ok thanks for all of the feedback. I have the schematics and philco cap decoder book, I will proceed to rr caps and resistors. I will check back when complete...

what capacitors should you replace first depends on what they are. always the power supply capacitors first especially if it is buzzing or smoking. you need good clean DC voltage before anything else matters. getting stations at this point means that some trimmer tweeking should cause some increase in performance. turning each trimmer back-and-forth checking for improvement works for me every time.

I recently restored an Olympic portable radio that was full of leaky wax capacitors. Just like you, when I first tried it, it barely played, but once I replaced all the wax capacitors and a few other parts, it was full of life. I used to try troubleshooting these sets, but each time it would just lead to another bad capacitor, so I just change them first. I leave the small mica caps alone, lucky so far.
Then I aligned the IF stages with a signal generator, and checked the tuner alignment.
Don

I live in a small town area, and work on a lot of antique radios. Practically every radio I work on, when I am finished, picks up only two stations with decent quality on AM. Unless you are in a metropolitan area, you may be expecting too much.

No disrespect but the Philco 15X is a fine radio that should pick up stations all across the band especially at night and with a decent antenna. It is not normal for it to receive only one to three stations.

Steve Chambers

Ok I am slowly Rr the caps inside the cap blocks. As I do this I wanted to replace resistors too. I am using the philco service data from the Ray Bintliff 3rd edition. Most of the resistors are dog bone style but colors not found in his book. I can get the values from the schematic but what Wattage Value should. Most of my stock is half watt. Example of a solid yellow should be 499k that I see on the unit

Table 3 in the Riders data (Click here) has the wattage rating as well as the color codes for all except the canned-ohm divider resistor (#66). For that, use 5 watt for the 205 ohm section, and 1 watt for each of the 50 ohm sections.