Symptom & remedy

Hello, I'm new at antique radio repair & so many times I run into a problem & I go back to the books and try to find something on the symptom & most times find nothing or very little on what I need. It would be great to have a symptom & remedy chart or hand book. Just something to help people like me get some pointers on where to look or what to check. This would be a great learning tool as well. Anybody know where I could get something like that?
 Thanks Larry G

You could try ebay. They have a great vintage radio section many pages long. http://www.ebay.com/sch/1930-49-/38034/i.html?_fsrp=1&_trkparms=pageci%3D1cb05124-3e9a-4729-8d60-0ef68c75bb0d%2Cparentrq%3D5c808b5b1560a884acf5ab1effffd2ea%2Ciid%3D1%2Cobjectid%3D38034

Here is a link to a basic AM radio.

am radio

I usually replace the wax and can caps first before I turn one on. If it doesn't work I use a method I learned in tech school where you test half at a time. In other words if it doesn't work I inject the proper signal half way between, usually between the 1st and 2nd IF transformers. If I get a signal to go through I then test half way between there and the antenna. If I don't get a signal there I go between in the middle of that spot and the speaker. Its the quickest way for me to fix them. It eliminates a lot of guess work.