Brought home some goodies! - Videokarma.org TV - Video

Charlie · #1 05-17-2005, 11:12 AM

Yesterday, I brought home a few radios that I got from a local friend. There are 3 radios, a Philco 84, Philco 84b, and a Silvertone 1955. These are all from the mid-30's. One of the Philco cathedrals is for me to keep for myself. The other Philco and the Silvertone are for a friend of mine in Houston. He'll come to get his sets next week.

All three radios play. The speaker in the Silvertone needs a minor patch job. Also, the Silvertone will only tune in AM stations. Haven't been able to get shortwave out of it. I'll dig around and see if I can figure out why. Runs on 9 tubes.

The two Philcos are 4-tube sets. They tune in stations pretty strong and have good volume, but a noticeable hum in the speaker. All the filters have already been changed with modern units. However, it seems I have always heard a very slight hum in electromagnetic speakers. The hum in these is a little more apparent than what I've normally experienced. Is there something else other than filters that would cause the hum? I notice that the hum in these two Philcos is identical. Perhaps it's just a characteristic of the set?

Cosmetically, they are all great! The two Philcos have been refinished with new like original speaker cloths. I'm glad to see they used a dull finish on them. It seems the Silvertone has the original finish and cloth. It has a minor wear in the finish from use. Someone took really good care of it.

Charlie · #2 05-17-2005, 11:13 AM

The Silvertone has a really nice looking dial on it.

SPL db · #3 05-17-2005, 12:59 PM

Those are some really nice looking radios ya got there Charlie!

I've always wanted to get a nice floor model radio some day, but figured
I'd have to wait until my seven year old daughter gets a little older... I
wouldn't want it to get damaged...

Neatest thing I've ever seen was at an antique mall... they had the front
panel from an original shipping crate for an antique RCA floor model radio...
had a full-size picture of the radio and model number... almost bought it for
the $75 asking price, but then tried to figure out what the heck I would do
with it!

Scott

ekimetsok · #4 05-17-2005, 02:58 PM

Nice stuff Charlie. The two Philcos both appear to be 84-B's: The early version (1934-35) on the left, and the later version (1935-36) on the right. Both use identical four tube chassis. Love the Silvertone too.

Mike Koste
Gobs of Knobs
Ambler, PA

bgadow · #5 05-17-2005, 10:07 PM

I've got a similiar Silvertone but its in pretty rough shape, some guys would just part it out...but seeing yours, well, someday I'm going to have to sharpen up my woodworking/refinishing skills & go to it! The dial is still in good shape so thats a start!

Great finds!

Charlie · #6 05-17-2005, 10:26 PM

Yeah... the Silvertone is a pretty cool set. It will be going to my friend in Houston. Actually, I'm pretty jealous!

I took it apart a few hours ago to see what was in it. Come to find out, it still had all of the original capacitors in it! Being that it played, I was expecting to find at least a few replacements in there. I replaced all the caps, and just got it back together a few minutes ago. Plays much better now. The AM dial pulls in more stations, and the shortwave gets stations all across the dial (shortwave didn't work at first). I'm very pleased with the way it came out.

I still need to do a patch job on the speaker. I'll probably use either hot glue or silicon caulk. I would guess the silicon might be better since it can move more freely after it dries than hot glue would.