1946 Philco score.

[Creighton]

Brought this home tonight for $100. Not a scratch on it. Everything works great. Even the light when the phono door is opened. Better pics tomorrow. SW BBC on now :-)
Creighton
http://spokane.craigslist.org/atq/1972673080.html

[Kilroy]

Holy cow, what a find,. I love it!

[bubba]

Looks great.. Congrats!

[BrianB]

Very nice, very nice. I love early floor model radios. I think the turntable is a really cool feature. Also great to see that you got it for $50 less than the asking price!  

[Larry]

nice!

[collecture]

Way Cool Creighton!

[Jim]

Very Nice Creighton ! ! !

[Chris]

Great find!

[Ltransam]

 Cool !!! 

[rayg]

Sweet! :

[cokemachinesandmore]

love the look of those old radios

[Creighton]

Thanks All!!
It is very cool. Once the tubes get up to temp. the sound out of the 16" or so cone speaker is killer. Not having a great deal of luck finding a forum for dumb questions. Any idea's?
Thanks in advance!!
Creighton
 

[GreginNM]

Nice radio, Creighton!  I have had one like that in the past.  I have somewhere around 120 radios, most of them in storage in North Carolina while I'm still moving around.  I used to do a lot of restorations on them, so I can help with some basic questions.  There are also a couple of Philco websites out there that have forums and good info on them that are maintained by some of the most knowledgeable Philco collectors out there.

I also picked up a radio this weekend out here in Southern California.  It's a 1938 Philco.  Here's a picture below.  Should work fine, but I need to replace the power cord before plugging it in.

Greg

[BrianB]

That's a great looking radio, Greg! I didn't know you were that into old radios. That's really cool. We have a Ham Radio Swap meet, Hoosier Hills Hamfest, this weekend at our local fairgrounds. I'm not into Ham radio so that part of it is lost on me. However, there are always a bunch of old radios, vintage test equipment and a ton of old components for sale. 2 years ago I picked up Atwater Kent 55 console radio in excellent condition for $50. I'm also into restorations as well. I've done more auto radios than anything, mostly Philco.

My favorite sites have to be Nostalgia Air, The Philco Repair Bench, Radio Daze and "Just Capacitors" up in Canada.

[Creighton]

Great looking 1938 Greg! Had found the Philco site will check the others, Thanks.

When you replace the cord is there any need to update to a grounded one? If so where, is the best place to attach the ground wire?

Compressed air ok to get rid of the dust or should I use an electronic cleaner?

Buddy is a ham so will bother him about best approach for SW antenna. Suggestions always welcome.

Thanks,
Creighton

[mznb1u]

Here is a nice old Philco on the Lansing, MI CL.  I almost thought about picking this up but the War Department would not like me branching out into old radios.  Very cool though and the price certainly seems right!

http://lansing.craigslist.org/ele/1945768933.html

  Tim

[BronzeGiant]

Here is a nice old Philco on the Lansing, MI CL.  I almost thought about picking this up but the War Department would not like me branching out into old radios.  Very cool though and the price certainly seems right!

http://lansing.craigslist.org/ele/1945768933.html

  Tim

I wonder if he'd ship that???

[Kilroy]

I need to get to Lansing

[Pat Pixley]

WHo ever wants the one in lansing let me know this is in my back yard and I could go look at it (just not tonight got to get the lawn cut)
I will also pick it up if need be  drop me a line .

Pat

[Creighton]

Kind offer Pat.
Good thing is these don't weigh sh*t and if you turn it around won't have to look at the woodgrain :-)
Creighton

[Pat Pixley]

Kind offer Pat.
Good thing is these don't weigh sh*t and if you turn it around won't have to look at the woodgrain :-)
Creighton

      Creighton  you make me laugh.

    Welll wood grain and all I will still pick it up for who ever . 

[BrianS]

Greg,

Can I borrow a bit of your radio expertise?  I have a 1940s Delco tabletop radio that belonged to my grandfather.  I have done some minimal research on it and it turns out its a "farm" radio.  For those who don't know what that is (that included me until I started looking into it) it does not have a power cord.  It was made to connect to a wind turbine for rural people who did not have electrical power at there homes back in the day.  I believe you could use a battery, but they were too expensive to continually buy and replace back then so the radio looks like it is dual voltage - battery power or turbine power.  The radio has a great art deco look so it looks nice just sitting there, but I would like to see if it actually works.  Unfortunately, I do not have a wind turbine lying around so I would like to figure out how to modify it to use standard power.  Any chance you have done this with some of your collection?

[BrianB]

Farm radios are really neat. You are absolutely correct on how they were powered. As far as the batteries go for these.....

Basically most older radios have three different batteries: A, B & C. Later on the "C" circuit was eliminated removing the need for the "C" battery. But you still need to provide juice for the A & B.

The "A" battery provides DC power to the filament which in turn heats it up, this is a relatively low voltage but the battery itself is bigegr than the "B".

The "B" battery provides DC voltage between around 22 volts on the low side and around 90 volts on the high side. This is what is called "Plate Voltage"

If you have some eletrical/electronics knowledge, you can build your own Battery Eliminator. If you don't there are a couple of places that sell them. Probably the best one on the market right now and definitely worth the money, the ARBE III. Here's the link to the website.

http://www.arbeiii.com/

[GreginNM]

Hey all, been busy here at school.  Thanks for the comments!  Yes, Brian, I've collected radios for about 25 years now (man, I'm getting old!).  I mainly collect 1920s radios, but I like the cathedrals and Philcos as well.  Great deal on that A-K 55, and that swap meet would be a blast!

Creighton, you don't need to switch to a 3 prong plug.  I usually restore with the reproduction cloth covered wire and a 2 prong plug.  If you wanted to ground it, you could just connect to the metal chasis somewhere.  Compressed air works fine.  I usually go through mine with a fine tooth comb and clean everything out using a damp rag and such, but that takes time.  I like them to look like new when I'm done working on them.  Most of the radios had their own antenna in them that worked fine, but you could just run a piece of wire up in the room where the radio is along the wall or something, and that would get you even better reception. 

Thanks, Brian, for getting the response on the battery/farm set!  The ARBEs are great, and will work on any battery radio.  Otherwise, building your own is the best option.  I don't usually power most of my battery sets.  Having one or two ARBEs around just to show off a couple radios as working is good enough for me.

Greg

[scalebowler]

For those battery powered radios could you just hook a bunch of standard batteries together untill you get the same voltage? It would not be the best way to do it because of the amount that you would need but could it work?

[Creighton]

Thanks Greg!
It will be going in the basement hence the antenna.
Hope school goes well.
Creighton