Quote:
Originally Posted by fumplet
yeah the instructions just say one can coil up the antenna wire and put it inside the set so I dont know if radio has more issues or I just need more wire which I was adding wire up to about 8 feet and then no more gain.
This weird reed speaker really does sound like junk.
|
Some early table radios (late 1930s-'40s) had an external wire antenna and a resistance line cord. The "resistor" in the line cord was a length of wire, which caused the cord to become very warm when the radio was on; the cord had to be placed so that it did not contact anything flammable. My grandmother had one of these radios, a Sears Silvertone table set, years ago in her summer cottage; it worked well, but it overloaded like crazy on one local radio station. The station was a 50kW flamethrower, and the transmitter was just a mile or less from the cottage. I am amazed to this day the sheer strength of its signal did not keep lights on in the place, as 50kW AM stations often did years ago.
My grandmother died some time in the 1980s, and the cottage was torn down shortly thereafter. I wish she would have held on to that radio, as it would have been a collectors' item today.
BTW, I wouldn't coil up any resistance line cord as it becomes very warm, even hot (!), when the device it is connected to is operating.(This is why these cords are often referred to as "curtain burners.")This can and will cause a fire if the cord is anywhere near anything flammable, as I mentioned. The other reason these cords must not be coiled or pinched under anything is the cord can and will become very hot where it is pinched/coiled, causing the resistance wire to open in a very short time. The length of these cords is carefully calculated when the device they are used with is manufactured; lengthening or shortening the cord will alter the value of the built-in line cord resistor, possibly damaging the tubes or other parts of the device in short order.