Hello:
I have a Realistic DX-66 Air/SW Monitor radio. I have owned it since new, about 1986. It was knocked off a desk many years ago and since then the dial lights won't light. I bought replacement bulbs soon after but after opening the radio decided it would not be wise for me to attempt accessing the bulbs.
Now I wonder if, since both bulbs stopped working at once, could it be another issue causing the problem. Maybe not the bulbs but a connection that was broken in the accident.
Any ideas on what I might check? The only test equipment I have available is an analog multimeter.

Thank-you very much.

It is not un-realistic, if they are globes that the filaments the envelope, or both were broken by the impact.

If the set is working ok.It may actually be easier to get to them and look; Let us not get paranoic yet, it may well be that simple to fix.

If you are only measuring the voltage too the globes, its likely AC and the meter used only has to be able to measure that. In the (unlikely) event that you need to measure.

Marc

Thanks for the reply, Marc.
The tiny globes are hard to see well. I have looked with a magnifying glass and it's possible the filaments are broken, just not sure.

When I open the back of the radio it seems I will have to remove the circuit board from the plastic cabinet to access the two bulbs. I have new replacement bulbs.

The old radio works great and I don't want to change that. It looks like three or four phillips screws holding the board in place. Does this make sense to you? I don't want to turn anything until I feel a little more confident. Can you think of anything I should avoid before I start turning screws? Two of the screws I think are holding the board in place have little pictures of a screw inside a box with an arrow pointing to the hole they are in.

Thank-you for reply.

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The bulbs are located at the bottom of the "glass". (light is from flash)

Seems like I will need to remove this board to access bulbs. Am I making it too difficult? Any thoughts appreciated.

Making the globes difficult to get at, has been standard practice & procedure from the time they started using them.

You normally have to remove the knobs (carefully) first and only after that attempt releasing the board.

It's normally fairly straight forward with that sort of radio; if you go carefully.

Marc

OK. Thank-you very much.

My old thread.
I finally got around to pulling the radio out of the case enough to access the dial lamps. Is there a seller that has photos I could compare to my lamps?

Thank-you.

Not really a standard. What do you have in there now. Since you bought it new, do you still have the liturature? I may have a parts list/schematic in there.

I closed it back up without removing the lamps. Soon after I wondered why I did that.
I couldn't find literature that came with. I have emailed RadioShack customer service requesting dial lamp information.

Thank-you.

Hi,
I have a schematic of the Realistic Patrolman SW-60 (AM - FM - SW - VHF Lo - VHF Hi - UHF) that is related to your radio, and although it doesn't say on the schematic which particular dial lights to get (they're labelled PL1 and PL2), it looks like they both run right across the battery circuit, and my SW-60 runs on 4 C Cells, 6 volts. I'm guessing your SW-66 also runs on 6 volts, 4 C's.

You may be able to get some 6 volt grain of wheat bulbs that would work or fit. That would be my guess. The bulbs in my SW-60 look like grain of wheat bulbs.

The bulbs are cheap enough, and it might be worth a try.

Thank-you Renton481.
Now I'm back to thinking I might better leave well enough alone on this radio. Wiring in the wheat bulbs might involve another layer of dis-assembly to access. I have even less confidence tinkering inside these solid state sets than the old tube sets. Have you ever put any lamps in your Patrolman?

No, I've been fortunate, I haven't had to replace the dial lights in my SW-60 yet. Most of the time I have used it, it's been on battery power (lights are off on battery power unless you press the dial light button -- lights are on all the time when unit works on AC power).

I hear what you're saying about having to remove a bunch of stuff just to get to the dial lights... I've got a couple other transistor radios that are the same way, and have left well enough alone on those radios, also.

The dial lights on most of the transistor radios don't seem to have been designed for replacement, unlike the old tube radios, where with some of them you can just reach inside and change a bulb.

PS, did you check the operation of the dial light button? Maybe it was damaged when the radio hit the floor. On my SW-60, when the radio is on AC power and the dial light button is depressed slightly, the lights will turn off. Maybe it got jammed. Another possibility would be a solder connection to the lights.

I haven't taken the back off my radio, but by looking at your photo it looks like the dial light mechanism might be just above the power transformer.

The dial lights on mine work the same way as yours.
I finally learned how to release the circuit board from the case. It is held in by just two screws, after the back is removed. One screw by the band selector knob and one screw next to the transformer. Both screws are marked on the circuit board by a little picture of a screw with an arrow pointing to the hole it goes in. This is good to know, because it kept me from randomly turning screws hoping to release the circuit board. After the screws are removed, you can slide the board out from around the transformer. If you ever have to do it, you will see what I mean.

Thanks for the help.