1939 Silvertone FARM RADIO! AHHH!!

[bgadow]

I built a power supply from AES years ago but I never got it working right. (I'm sure it was something I did wrong.) I've done okay just cobbling together batteries. That string of 9volts may be expensive to buy but they'll last a long time.

[transmaster]

It is to bad you couldn't put together the original "Farm Radio" setup. My Great Grandfather Billings had a Zenith setup it consisted of the Radio, a Zenith branded 32 volt Windcharger , and batteries. I remember the derelict setup as a kid about 1960. REA came in and The Wincharger Corporation, owned by Zenith, saw their market vanish. Windcharger built branded wind chargers, and Radio Chargers, for others, including Silvertone.

[radarv]

Originally Posted by transmaster

It is to bad you couldn't put together the original "Farm Radio" setup. My Great Grandfather Billings had a Zenith setup it consisted of the Radio, a Zenith branded 32 volt Windcharger , and batteries. I remember the derelict setup as a kid about 1960. REA came in and The Wincharger Corporation, owned by Zenith, saw their market vanish. Windcharger built branded wind chargers, and Radio Chargers, for others, including Silvertone.

I have a zenith wincharger . most were 6 volt for the radio batteries only. they did build a 32 volt set up for lighting and some appliances. delco, Johnson iron horse, & a few others also built and sold small gas powered generators as another way to charge the radio batteries for rural use.

[wa2ise]

Do you still have it and looking to give it another home? I don't have any farm radios.

[transmaster]

Originally Posted by wa2ise

Do you still have it and looking to give it another home? I don't have any farm radios.

If you want to get a radio very much like a "farm radio" with same 5 tube setup. Take a look at the many Zenith Universals. They differ in that that have a AC power supply, but will still run on batteries. I have one such example in the Zenith Royal G503 Tip Top (see my avatar). They are very easy to repair, it does have a selenium rectifier which is easy to bypass with a diode and resistor. They do use the 1L6 tube, but should it be bad Surplus Sales of Nebraska has them in quantity. Yes there is the 1R5 but this is not everyday use radio so the 1L6 stays. NSS has all the other tubes these radios have. The 1L6 in my Tip Top was good had it not been I would have replaced it with the solid state version, less money and it works better. I did have to replace all of the other tubes in it but $20 whole dollars, no complaints. What is really interesting to me is I also have tube type Trans-Oceanics.They use the same basic 5 tube setup with a 50A1 ballast tube, and a problematical band switch hanging off of one side of the chassis. if you have a tube type ZTO do yourself a huge favor and replace the 50A1 with a sold state voltage regulator, there are a couple of outfits that make a direct plug in replacement. they get the most out of your 1L6 and at the same time are very gentle with it.

[Tubejunke]

Originally Posted by wa2ise

Do you still have it and looking to give it another home? I don't have any farm radios.

I sure do. PM me if you want to talk about it and perhaps I can send you a picture to your email.

Thanks

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by Tubejunke

I sure do. PM me if you want to talk about it and perhaps I can send you a picture to your email.

Thanks

On 2nd thought, I have no room, so I'm gonna take a pass, sorry...