My favorite lugables are the Emerson models 505 & 523 post-war or the pre-war FU424. These were 3 way portables That had the elegant design of having a higher power output stage for use on the AC-DC mains, 1 watt vs 250-300mw on batteries. They designed the tricky way running the battery tube filaments from the cathode of the line audio output tube. Some models used a 50B5 and 35W4 and others used a 117N7, combination penthode and rectifier
A few other firms built a variation of same.
They sounded a lot better than the others that ran the battery output tube when using it on AC or DC.

I personally try to stay focused with these and stick to the battery-only models with the airplane-luggage covering. As time went on they lost the simplicity of the early models with busy metal and plastic grills.

This western air patrol has been in my collection for about 25 years. I really like the simplicity of the design, and the proportions of the cabinet. I ran it off 9 volt batteries in series for the B cell, and a couple of Ds for the A cell. It worked nice, I should try it again some time.

http://videokarma.org/attachment.php...0&d=1543953472

Thanks for the pics. You have a real gem there and rather rare one, especially in that condition. The decorative grill trim was a very nice touch. If I may give you a tip for the frayed threads - put a little dab of CLEAR Elmer's glue on your finger tip and smooth the threads down. It works great and neatens-up the cabinet.

Hey that's a great tip, thank you! I don't usually go for battery radios, but this one is quite attractive looking. It's also kind of unusual to find a US market set of this age in Canada.

You're welcome. Just put a dab of glue on your finger, not a big glob. It seems these sets are very addicting once you get a good one and see how well it plays. The bargain prices make them very enticing too. I'm up to 7 so far!

That's easy enough to do! I'm not really actively collecting radios right now, but they do tend to find me from time to time. I do like the complete absence of hum with battery portables. The one battery set I'd really like to get my hands on is the R-100/URR morale radio from the second world war.

That "morale" radio is an interesting one. A nice war-time artifact. I keep saying that I'm not active in the hobby anymore because of display space, but I keep getting that "last one"!

One solution is to sell stuff you like less... I always want something so when I run out of space I sell stuff I like less than what I want.

Is that the big metal cabinet job that is both battery and AC/DC?
Most were made by Majestic and used
locktal and octal tubes. I have two and the backs are missing on both. :sigh:

I just learned about them from maxhifi, but yes, that's the one. Very utilitarian, but an interesting WWII radio.

That's the one! I like the looks and build quality of Mil spec stuff, plus, they actually played a role in defeating the bad guys.

Not pre-war, but tubed and three-way powered.

Motorola 5A7A on my desk at work:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4886/...0cfdca3a_z.jpg

My favorite tube portable at the moment :banana:

Nice set. Very automotive dashboard looking!

PS - Tom - I agree that buying and selling is the only way to keep the hobby fluid, but I've gotten to a point where I either really like what I have, or the sets I would part with are of such menial value it wouldn't even be worth selling. I'm very surprised that collectors seemed to be turned off when you say "trade". I personally would love to swap an equal value set to have something different!

Motorola made several different models of the flip-cover portables, some battery only models.
Does yours state Motorola Inc or Galvin Mfg. Co.? That might the first model after they changed the corporate name. :scratch2: