On my Silvertone 6120, it appears that one side of the internal resistor is open. So, from pin 3 to pin 8, I have 117 ohms. From pin 7 to pin 8 or pin 3 to pin 7, there's zero ohms. Which explains why the 46 lamp blows when the radio is turned on at full voltage. If I slowly raise the voltage, I'm fine, although the brightness and location of the lamp makes seeing the eye tube difficult. Is there a solution for the ballast problem?

http://www.nostalgiaair.org/Resources/377/M0017377.htm

You need to replace that ballast tube. One point of clarification is when you say zero ohms what you really mean is your meter reads infinity, just the opposite of zero ohms which is a dead short.

My DVOM does nothing. No short.

Right, that section is what is called an open circuit, same as having nothing connected to your meter. I recently restored a radio with a bad ballast by using a 6.5 mfd poly cap and a 50 ohm resistor for the pilot light. This produces very little heat and a soft warm up for the radio.

There are workarounds but you might check with Gary Schneider at PTOP oldradioparts.com to see if he has any replacements in stock.

Hi

Here are what's available:

http://www.oldradioparts.com/2a2fl.txt

Adding a 50 ohm (47 ohm 2 watt) that Lou suggested would be an idea. That way you wouldn't need a new ballast tube.

Here are the workarounds as Jack mentioned:

http://www.vintage-radio.com/repair-res ... calcs.html

I already tried a (on hand) 50 ohm 10 watt power resistor in place of the open side of the ballast. The pilot light is dangerously bright at power up, though. But it didn't burn up. I also take it that a ballast tube gets quite hot? BTW, that tube place in Florida lists my tube, but it says to call for a price. I'll see Monday.

Even with the correct ballast your lamp will flash bright at turn on. Some get around this by adding Zener diodes across the lamp.