DUST IN RECEIVERS

Shannon News, 15 March 1929, Page 4

DUST IN RECEIVERS

Even TV-Hen the cabinet of,a wireless receiver is carefully constructed and apparently effectively sealed it will be found that there is a tendency for du.sl to accumulate on. the components. Although the dust .itself is practically non-coirducting and can cause little trouble if kept dry, usually it tends to collect moisture, and therefore causes serious short circuits in the received. These short circuits result in noises in the speaker, loss of volume, flatness of tuning, and often in the rapid deterioration of high-tension batteries. The cleaning cf a wireless set is. often difficult owing to the conipli. cuted nature of the wiring and the inaccessibility of some of the components, but it can be facilitated by the use of a vacuum cleaner, especially if it be fitted with a'blower device as well as suction apparatus.'. Dust can also from inaccessible parts of a cabinet by means of a motor-car or bicycle pump, or a more constant source of compressed air* caif he obtained for this purpose by infiat ing an old motor-car. inner t'ibc- and-re-it using the air contained in it through' a nozzle connected over the valve piece by a length of rubber tubing. A small, soft brush of the type used by artists can be inserted into even the most inaccessible corners of a cabinet, and will be found valuable in removing dust. In cleaning a receiver special attention should . be given to the vanes of variable condensers. Dust is liable to lodge between condense! vanes, and when the vanes are meshed it will cause .short circuits between the fixed and moving plates. Unless some form of blowing device is used ! it is difficult to dislodge. A slip of thin cardboard cut to a convenient shape . can sometimes be slipped between condenser vanes to brush out dust.