[mikethedruid]

Welcome Brian ! Actually, if you want the radio to not self destruct, you are going to have to change a number of things. You will need to replace all the paper condensers (capacitors to use the modern term). Some people go to the length of actually heating the old condensers, pulling out the old guts, and replacing the guts with a new poly cap of the same capacitance and equal or higher voltage rating. Modern 630 volt condensers will easily fit in the old tubes and are higher voltage rated. Some of us, myself included, do not bother with this and just replace the paper condensers with the new ones, and leave them looking new. It makes little difference in the long run since they are hidden under the chassis. You will also have to rebuild the filter condensers. For this you can use modern electrolytic condensers of equal or somewhat higher capacity and equal or higher voltage rating. Folks here will explain how to rebuild the old electrolytic condensers so they will look the same, but have the new condensers hidden inside. I DO rebuild the electrolytics. Why do all this ? Because if one of the old condensers fails in a shorted way, it can cause damage to the power transformer. Also, you will want to check all the resistors to make sure they are still within specification. If they are you can leave them, if not they too will have to be replaced for the radio to function properly. I usually just go ahead and replace them with modern resistors of a higher power rating and the same resistance. Again, the modern resistors are smaller for the same rating as the old ones, so a 1 watt is about the same size as an old 1/2 watt, and so on. After all this, you will need to have the radio aligned, the circuits re-tuned, for it to work at its best. If you do not have the equipment to do this you will need to have it done by a repair shop that does have the equipment, or buy the equipment and learn to do it yourself. I know this seems a lot to go through, but it is fun, it is what this hobby is all about. When you are finished you will have a radio that functions like new, and will be reliable, something you can be proud of. If you are not experienced at soldering, I suggest you practice using some spare pieces of wire until you get the hang of it. For work on these old radios, I find a Weller gun type iron works much better than the small pencil types one uses for printed circuit board work.