Battery powered tube radios.

[Telecolor 3007]

Did anyone ever had or unleass seen battery powered vale (tube) radios - portable or not?

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by Telecolor 3007

Did anyone ever had or unleass seen battery powered vale (tube) radios - portable or not?

I am not sure that I understand the question, but AM (MW) and SW battery operated vacuum tube sets are quite common. The early tube radios, offered in the '20s were battery operated, but usually not portable. AC powered sets were introduced in the mid '20s.

I have a few '20s sets in my collection, and a fair number of battery operated tube portables produced in the '30s through the '50s, before transistor sets became available. "Farm radios" were also produced, these looked like "normal" ac powered (not portable) sets, but were designed to run on batteries, or 32 Volt DC power, that was sometimes generated by windmills in rural areas, before AC became available.

FM is another matter... except for a few 1 tube regenerative sets, I have not seen battery powered tube FMs.

jr

[radiotvnut]

I have seen, and personally own, many battery operated tube radios.

Until the mid '20's, battery powered sets were your only option. These sets often used an "A" battery for the filament, one (or more) "B" batteries to supply the various plate voltages necessary, and one or more "C" batteries for the grid bias voltage.

By the late '20's, the AC operated radio came along; but, there were still many areas where electric power lines were not available. I live in Mississippi and I'm told that there were rural areas of my state that did not have electricity until the early '50's. It is for these reasons that "farm" battery operated radios continued to be made well into the '50's. By the late '30's, the battery requirements had gotten lighter. By this time, most battery sets required only two voltages - 1.5 volts for the tube filaments and 90 volts for the plate. The radio usually had a four pin plug that was designed to connect to a special battery pack that actually had both the 1.5 volt and 90 volt batteries in the same case.

There were also portables that would either run on battery power only or would run on battery or AC household current. Many of these were el cheapo models that would only receive the standard broadcast AM band; while others were high end and would receive many short wave bands as well as the standard AM band. These were popular from the '30's until at least the late '50's. The earliest models from the '30's and '40's were in a cloth covered wooden case. By the late '40's-early '50's, colored plastic cases became the norm. The end of the battery operated tube radio was in sight when the transistor radio was introduced to the American public in late '54. The transistor radio was smaller, lighter, required lower voltages to operate, and would usually last MUCH longer on a set of batteries than it's tube-type counterpart. I personally own a plain jane looking GE tube portable from around '58-'59; but, I don't recall seeing any tube portables any newer than that.

Today, these battery radios are still not nearly as popular with collectors as AC operated sets. The reason is because the batteries are either no longer made or very expensive. Decades ago, when electricity came to certain areas, there was a device called a "battery eliminator" that was put on the market. These devices were a rather crude, by today's standards, power supply that would convert the 120 VAC household current to the necessary DC voltages to operate the set. These battery eliminators don't show up all that much and can be a little expensive when they do turn up; but, fortunately, a suitable "battery eliminator" can be made, using modern components, that is more efficient and often safer than the older models. I have two of the older battery eliminators (that were found in the back of the radios in which they were used with) and I have a newer solid state unit that I built.

And, let's not forget automobile radios. Up until the late '50's, these used a vibrator based power supply. In the late '50's, models appeared that used special tubes that could operate on 12 volts B+. These models also used a transistorized audio output stage. The "low B+" tubes, combined with the transistorized audio output stage, eliminated the need for the vibrator and power transformer based power supply. By '63-'64, I think that all automobile radios had switched to 100% solid state designs.

[Telecolor 3007]

Here is an Romanian battery powered tubed radio from the '50's: http://www.proradioantic.ro/index.php?x=item&id_p=506
An here is something intresting: a thermogerator for tube radios: 1,4 V for the filament and 90 V for the plate.
I don't think that in Romania where ever manufactured portable tube radios. But the Soviets made. On the links are 2 radios that can be battery operated and also A.C. operated:
http://www.proradioantic.ro/index.php?x=item&id_p=6234
http://www.proradioantic.ro/index.php?x=item&id_p=6611
http://www.proradioantic.ro/index.php?x=item&id_p=5923
B.t.w., I thought that by 1940 all areas in the U.S.A. where electrified!

[jr_tech]

Here are Most of the battery powered tube radios in my collection at the end of a dark hallway:


Tube Portable Radios

Mostly battery powered tube portables, With the exception of the white Westinghouse on the second shelf from the floor, which is AC powered, and the coral and black Emersons on the 7th shelf, which are sub mini tube sets but have a transistor audio output stage (2 in push pull).

jr

[electroking]

Originally Posted by Telecolor 3007

Here is an Romanian battery powered tubed radio from the '50's: http://www.proradioantic.ro/index.php?x=item&id_p=506
An here is something intresting: a thermogerator for tube radios: 1,4 V for the filament and 90 V for the plate.
I don't think that in Romania where ever manufactured portable tube radios. But the Soviets made. On the links are 2 radios that can be battery operated and also A.C. operated:
http://www.proradioantic.ro/index.php?x=item&id_p=6234
http://www.proradioantic.ro/index.php?x=item&id_p=6611
http://www.proradioantic.ro/index.php?x=item&id_p=5923
B.t.w., I thought that by 1940 all areas in the U.S.A. where electrified!

Nice links, very interesting. Regarding your last comments, a number
of areas in North America are electrified in principle, but the cost
for adding the few missing kilometers of power line may be too high
for some home owners to afford. So I guess several thousand people
are living in modern houses, but have to make their electricity
themselves. Regards.

[Sandy G]

Yeah-It wasn't until 1952 or so that the ENTIRE county I live in had "Juice". MOST of it was done prior to WW2, but during that, no new "electrification" was done. I have a few battery powered tube sets, most notably a couple of Fifties Zenith Trans-Oceanics. Its not too hard to find the old "Farm"-i.e. battery sets, but their numbers are dwindling.

[Telecolor 3007]

Romania was electrifed almsot completly only in 1960. Throu all the communist sayed they electrified the whole country some villages are still not electrified.
There was the General Electrification Plan, going from 1951 to 1960.
In 1937 2,2% of the villages and 6,2% proecent of the village inhabatoures had electricity, and in 1941 (I don't know if Northen Transylvania - which was ocupyed by Hungray from 1940 to 1944/1945 was included in the statistics) 3,3% of the villages and 8,2% of the village inhabatoures had electricity.
Not even in big cityes all people had electricity. Some people where too poor to have electricity installed. In Bucharest, in 1940 you could still see a lot of people poorly dressed or with no shoes in theyr feet... and it was the capital of the country. The ares with most electrified villages where around Bucharest, and in Prahova, Braşov (Brashov) and Sibiu countyes. In Olt county wasn't a single village electrified up untill the '50's. This situation was generaten by the fact that in pre-communist Romania only about 20% of the population lived in cityes and the fact that the Romanian peasents are too individualists and rather then unitying theyr powers they preffer to own small portions of land (throu all they can be very poor).
B.t.w., in some areas of Bucharest the electricity network is the same as in the '60's and '70's, throu all electricity consumption had grown.

[wa2ise]

We had tube portables in the USA, as others mentioned. These sets usually had circuits to allow the use of the powerline as well.

[Phil Nelson]

I have owned a couple of dozen tube portables (more like three dozen if you count Zenith TransOceanics). Most were your typical AC/battery 1950s sets; a number of them have been sold or traded away.

My favorites are European: a Schaub-Lorenz "Golf-Luxus" and a Philips LX444AB/01.

When my Dad was a child, they lived on a farm and used a battery radio. It had a lead acid battery like an auto; they brought the battery to town for recharging every once in a while.

Phil Nelson

[jr_tech]

WA2ISE...
Interesting Garod with the 117Z3 rectifier instead of the usual selenium! I recall seeing a portable set that used a 117L7/M7 to provide DC power and also as an audio "booster amp" when operated on line power. Anybody recall such a circuit or remember the model?
jr

[Telecolor 3007]

Can you still find 45 V and 90 V batteryes and accumulators?

[Electronic M]

I've got a truetone that uses a 117Z3 and a bunch of octal tubes, or at least I had one with the move last year so many of my radios are in storage that I can't remember what I have and don't have.

Tom C.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Telecolor 3007

Can you still find 45 V and 90 V batteryes and accumulators?

You will have a difficult time finding them, as these batteries have been out of production for decades. The 90-volt B+ (plate voltage) supply, however, can be obtained by snapping ten (five for 45 volts) 9-volt transistor batteries together, and the filaments can be powered by heavy-duty 1.5-volt alkaline flashlight batteries. The C (grid) supply, if required, can be one or two 1.5-volt heavy-duty alkaline cells.

I'm not sure what you mean by "accumulators", but if you are referring to battery eliminators, I'm sure a suitable one can be constructed from plans in old electronics magazines (Popular Electronics, et al.) and amateur radio magazines such as QST. Note, however, that the battery(ies) used for the B+ supply will last a long time, since the tubes in battery radios don't draw much plate current. Expect to replace the filament batteries more often, as the filaments in these tubes draw much more current than the plates; however, the actual life of the filament battery(ies) will depend on how much the radio is used. Many AC/DC/battery radios had a small flag on the tuning dial or elsewhere on the cabinet, mechanically linked to the power switch, that would indicate whether or not the radio was turned on. This flag supposedly prevented (or at least minimized) situations in which the radio was accidentally left on at very low volume all night, resulting, of course, to the owner's surprise, in very weak or even dead batteries when the radio was switched on the following morning.

[Reece]

Accumulator is another name for a rechargeable storage battery. Many types of these are available; some use motorcycle batteries when they need to operate a 1920's set away from a power line and battery eliminator.