Help identify radio - Videokarma.org TV - Video

bandersen · #1 08-08-2010, 06:28 PM

Does anyone recognize this old tombstone radio ?

Thanks.

capbuster · #2 08-08-2010, 06:38 PM

I have been searching every where for a pic of a crosley 03cq looks like a crosley i came
across. This set 03cq seem to elude me .

Sandy G · #3 08-08-2010, 07:35 PM

Is it yours, or just hopefully, "Could be" ? Kinda rough, perhaps, but still a likely candidate for a resto job...Winter's just around the corner, after all.

bandersen · #4 08-08-2010, 07:50 PM

It could be for $25. I figure if it's got some nice old globe tubes and a good speaker it's worth it.

Reece · #5 08-09-2010, 07:10 AM

It might be a little early for a magic eye: I wonder if somebody added that later. Should be able to tell pretty easily. At any rate, it's a nice looking radio and wants some TLC. I like it.

bandersen · #6 08-09-2010, 01:37 PM

Yeah, that what I was thinking. It's on the southside of the city so can't be too long of a drive. Outside of radio swapmeets, tombstones rarely show up around here. Lots of consoles though.

bandersen · #7 08-09-2010, 02:04 PM

Aw nuts! Someone just beat me to it

I guess the mystery may never be solved.

bandersen · #8 08-10-2010, 06:46 PM

The initial buyer backed out when he realized he'd need to drive all the way from Rockford, IL to the south side of Chicago. I just picked it up this evening

It's a C.A. Earl.

Sandy G · #9 08-10-2010, 08:48 PM

Awrite !! Maybe there'll be some markings or something on the inside that'll give us another clue...

leadlike · #10 08-10-2010, 09:55 PM

If that magic eye is an st coke bottle shape, it likely came from a conversion kit, as I think they only produced those for a couple of years early in magic eye tube production. It is a pretty, and pretty obscure set as well. Can't wait to see your post on it...

bandersen · #11 08-10-2010, 10:50 PM

I'll stick with this thread because I'm still not sure what I've got. According to the seller, the radio was in the basement when she bought the house. That's the same story as for all the best stuff I've gotten in the heart of the city. Wealthy neighborhoods went into decline as owners moved to the suburbs. Stuff was left behind and sat in basements for decades. A new owner buys the place and clears it all out. That's how I also got my RCA 630TS, Sparton 931 and Philco 15DX.

Anyway, here are some pictures I took. Maybe you guys can solve the puzzle ?

Here's the front of the radio. The escutcheon says C.A. Earl radio, but they only made a few '20s console TRF radios as far as I know

Here's a closeup.

It sure looks like the eye tube is after market.

Here's a closeup of the finish. The wood is in very condition under that flaking finish.

I know I've seen this cloth pattern before somewhere.

Here's the backside where it gets more confusing. Rola speaker with what looks like an RCA chassis to me. The old rubber power cord is in excellent condition.

All the 2.5 volt (57, 58, 55, 2A5) tubes have been replaced with 6.3 volt ones (6C6, 6D6, 78, 42). They're also all RCA tubes. Maybe the power transformer is a replacement ?

I'll pull the chassis and take a closer look.

bandersen · #12 08-10-2010, 11:53 PM

Here's the chassis after a quick cleaning.

Someone probably swapped out a 2.5 VAC tranny for a 6.3 VAC so had to change the tube lineup.

I wonder what those two huge coils are for on the left ? I figured one for the antenna maybe. They do seem to go to a switch so maybe two bands? The dial only has AM on it though.
I think this will be a pain to try to restore without a schematic given all the modifications. Perhaps it'd be best to just replace whatever is there with exactly the same value capacitor.

I think the clincher is only two of the chassis holes line up. The two towards the front and center don't line up with anything.

Whoever cobbled this set together did a good job I must say. Every thing lines up quite nicely with no hacks, shims extra holes etc. The accessory power plug is a nice touch too.

Sandy G · #13 08-11-2010, 06:33 AM

Curioser 'n' curioser...If only these old sets could "talk"...I bet THAT one has a REAL story to tell...The 2 I've always wondered about are my R-389, & my 1955 contract Collins R-390A...389s are rare in any case, this one had taken a helluva whack on the back, sometime early in its life, & apparently spent most of its life as a "Hangar Queen" someplace...The 390A, genuine Collins-built sets are scarce, you only see them in the 1st early contract numbers, they actually made very few...I bought this one-Stole it, actually- from Phil Sellati, the big dawg at Fair Radio. Sent it to Rick Mish, he told me I had a REAL honey-We figured it might have belonged to some big-shot at Wright-Pat AFB, 'cause Fair got it locally, they told me. It bore no signs of ever having been depot-repaired, all the modules were Collins made, & it has some sort of super-precise VFO-Rick said I didn't have a radio as much as I had a frequency counter. He offered me $5K for it, or 2 of his "Museum-Grade" restorations..I politely demurred. But yeah, if only these old things could talk...

Reece · #14 08-11-2010, 07:30 AM

I love a mystery! Like the shelf between the chassis and the speaker: just for stiffening the cabinet? Maybe the "bandswitch" is really for local/distant? Three gang tuning condensor but where's the RF tube on a five tube set? 175Kc IF stamped on one of the xfrmrs.

If you wanted to ditch the tuning eye as not being "authentic" (whoa: what IS authentic on this one?) it would take reveneering the front panel. OTOH somebody "updated" this set so it's part of its history.

I think what I would do first is to trace out the wiring and draw the schematic, see if it makes sense, while getting familiar with it.

leadlike · #15 08-11-2010, 08:26 AM

Someone really built a hot rod radio there. The cabinet is probably a battery farm radio, hence the shelf for the cabinet.

Zenith sometimes used Rola speakers like that (or so I've been told) and that grill cloth is the same as what I've seen on some of my other Zeniths-it's possible this had a reed-type speaker when it was a battery set, which was lost during the AC upgrade.

It's possible this was converted to shortwave operation at some point, and when the maker just decided to log the stations off of the am dial.

The eye tube is also a later addition. Looks like every mod that a kid would make to a table radio circa 1936-8. Looking in depression era magazines, you'll note that almost all of the reader-submitted photographs showing off their dx rigs were almost always lower quality sets that had been modified. This is one such set.