Philips AM-FM-shortwave radio

[Jon A.]

This was just given to me. I haven't been able to find one like it on eBay so I'm hoping someone can get a fix on the model.

[Findm-Keepm]

Have you tried the search feature over at Radiomuseum? You can search on the tube lineup, number of tubes, etc. It might give some clues.

Cheers,

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Jon A.

This was just given to me. I haven't been able to find one like it on eBay so I'm hoping someone can get a fix on the model.

Too bad, it's in that condition! Looks like a real nice set to have.
It's Canadian built, but the cabinet styling is rather European.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by Findm-Keepm

Have you tried the search feature over at Radiomuseum? You can search on the tube lineup, number of tubes, etc. It might give some clues.

I didn't think of that, I'll give it a try. The missing tubes may present a problem though.

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

Too bad, it's in that condition! Looks like a real nice set to have.
It's Canadian built, but the cabinet styling is rather European.

Yeah, but I've seen worse on here. I still have to clean it up.

[Jon A.]

Here we go: Philips Canada model 818.

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/philips_818.html

[Sandy G]

Kinda ruff, but its AMAZING what an hour or 2 spent w/cleaner, a few rags, polish, etc can do..

[Sr.Radtastic]

Nice radio! I personally don't have any Phillips in my collection yet so I should also get one myself. I hope you can get the radio working if it already doesn't.

[Jon A.]

It should be a fairly easy restoration. Even if it worked after putting in the missing tubes, I wouldn't expect it to work for long. The worst part is that I don't have the back. Fortunately the tubes that are still there are the only ones supposed to have shields from what I saw on the Radio Museum site.

I recently realized that this radio doesn't actually have FM. The "Mc" on the dial threw me off until I actually looked at the numbers. The last time I had a shortwave radio was a couple of decades ago. Not sure what the scale marked "m" is for; Marine Band maybe?

[JBL GUY]

Your radio is a nice acquisition. Thank you for the pictures.

Your radio covers the short wave frequency range of about 4.5 million cycles per second to about 16 million cycles per second. Currently the term used for cycles per second is Hertz, named for Heinrich Hertz. This started around 1930 and became more formalized around 1960.



On your radio the "M" stands for million and the "c" stands for cycles per second. Today it would be M for million and Hz for cycles per second.

Your radio covers, in general, the shortwave bands from 49 meters to 16 meters. Back in the day and still today, shortwave bands (ranges of frequencies) may be referred to by there generic wavelength.

With in the frequency range above along with commercial broadcast stations, there were aeronautical, maritime, military, time and frequency standard stations and commercial communications point to point both fixed and mobile stations.

And then there were the ubiquitous and mysterious so called numbers stations that just broadcast stings of numbers.

Ah, the good old days of shortwave radio.

[Jon A.]

My pleasure. I knew Megacycles and MegaHertz are one and the same, but never knew the significance of the name change. Ah, so the "m" on the center scale stands for meters, gotcha.

[Jon A.]

Here it is after a quick initial clean-up. I used a spray cleaner, none of which give me great results on much of anything, so imagine what a thorough cleaning could do.

[Dave A]

I have had much luck with plastic using Novus #2 plastic polish...even on wood finishes. Just like a auto polishing compound. And if you are brave, I have cleaned cloth with bathroom spray mildew remover. If you are brave.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by Dave A

I have had much luck with plastic using Novus #2 plastic polish...even on wood finishes. Just like a auto polishing compound. And if you are brave, I have cleaned cloth with bathroom spray mildew remover. If you are brave.

Thanks for the tips. I've heard of Novus, I just didn't know exactly what it was for. I have some mildew remover left, I'll give it a shot. Similarly, I have used lacquer thinner to remove carpet stains. If anyone else wants to try that, make sure to use gloves because the stuff dries skin something fierce.

[Jon A.]

As Borat would say, great success! I'll give credit when I put this on Flickr.

I haven't yet bothered to clean the spray residue off the Bakelite.