Just added six more radios to the collection

[radiotvnut]

The other day, my 8th grade history teacher called to see if I was interested in his small radio collection. He claimed his wife was pressuring him to get rid of them so she could stick other furniture in their place. That's just a reminder that if I ever get married, make sure the wife likes the radios as much as I do.

The two consoles are a circa '35 GE and a Philco 39-40. The Philco is an 8 tube set; so, it should be a good performer. I actually fixed these consoles for him back when I was a lot younger and didn't know as much as I know now. That means I probably need to go back over them again. As can be seen, the speaker in the Philco is one I stuck in there. I want to say the original one had an arcing field coil. Now that I have more resources than I had then, I may try to find the correct Philco electrodynamic speaker to stick back in there.

The next one is a circa '41 Westinghouse. This one needs a recap and some cabinet work.

Next is a big '40's Sonora BC/SW table radio. This one plays well; but, needs it's controls cleaned.

Next is a circa '41 (have not looked for the model number yet) Philco radio/phono combo. Non working and cabinet needs work.

Last is a circa '36 Sparton BC/SW radio. This one works; but, needs it's controls cleaned and the dial restrung.

I used to own the Westinghouse, Sonora, and Philco R/P combo; but, I traded them for a big Westinghouse tombstone that I wanted. I didn't really want to part with the radios; but, I wanted his tombstone and that's the only way we could deal. Now, they're all back home. It's amazing how radios that I owned 15-20 years ago will make their way back here. The Philco R/P never worked, the Westinghouse worked then, and the Sonora worked minus the noisy controls.

[zenithfan1]

WOW! That's a great haul! BTW, your little RCA will be on it's way soon

[electronjohn]

I once had one of those Philco 39-40s....still kicking myself for selling it.

[radiotvnut]

My Sonora is a model LWU-181. The only thing I can find is a schematic on NA that says "pre 1945". I pulled the chassis to clean the controls and the only caps that have been replaced are the electrolytics. I got this set the first time back in '91 at a radio show and I don't think I ever pulled the chassis. So, those caps have been in there at least 18 years. They are Nichicon brand and appear to still be in good shape; so, I'll leave them alone and replace the old paper caps.

The Westinghouse is a model WR260 from circa '39.

I also pulled the Sparton chassis to clean it's controls and it appears that every cap is original. It's amazing that those filters are 70+ years old and are still functioning. The radio will still receive a recap just to be on the safe side. My tuning problem is due to a dried out rubber grommet on the tuning shaft. If I hold the shaft in hard enough, I can tune the radio.

I did discover a new radio station during all of this: WIST-690 out of New Orleans. They play "standards" like Sinatra, Perry Como, etc. The older I get, the better I can tolerate this kind of music. It sure beats the usual dull talk crap that's on most other station.