Need help IDing this

[mbates14]

I found at a yardsale, for 15bux this little radio. I know nothing about this radio, except for what it looks like. Ive restored alot of TVs. and I have restored 1 radio, but nothing near this old.

There is no back, or model number, so maybe you can figure it out by looking at the pictures. Its a philco shortwave / AM radio, and looks like from the 30s or 40s? someone give me a lot of insight, because I need to get the sams to restore it, and I am no where near gonna try to "just plug it in" I also need a new speaker, anywhere I can get one?

[mbates14]

2nd pic:

[mbates14]

last pic:

[mbates14]

NO PAPER CAPS???

the old filters are still there, but i looked at the bottom of the medal one, its gone. I can tell. its dried up, because you can see black crusty stuff that oozed out of the bottom holes

[Charlie]

Already got you a new project since the motorola is finished?

Is there anything identifying the brand? GE, philco, RCA? You're not goin to find a Sams for that... it will have to be a Riders I bet. I would guess it to be 1940-ish?

I have a good book showing tons of photos of these sets, but it's at home and I'm at camp right now. If you don't find any other clues by the time I get home, I'll look thru my book.

Looks like someone has repaired it in the past. That orange drop and those round disc capacitors definately arent OEM. But look at how simple things look in there. Shouldn't be too hard to fix up. Your speaker is probably electro-magnetic, so it will have to be plugged in for things to work once you try firing it up.

[Charlie]

You may be able to get that speaker re-coned if there is someone in your area that specializes in it. Check with places that sell guitar amps.... they sometimes re-cone them. If not, they may be able to tell you of someone nearby that does.

[mbates14]

yea, its got one of those blasted speaker fields.

the cone is torn all to heck and back. im not sure if it sounds right or not, I might be able to repair the cone, but I dunno.

anyway, its VERY old, its a philco FM/SW/AM radio.

id say about '47 because of the tubes.

its got XXL tubes and other weird looking ones, and its got a couple of 41s for the final.

[mbates14]

BTW. Id say this filter looks kinda toasty.

anyway, I bet this thing works. the filter is just bad, and a replacing will prolly fix it.

[Charlie]

If you can, give us a list of the rest of the tubes. Seems like 41's are much earlier than 1947.

I've contacted a local friend of mine that deals with radios of this sort and sent him a link. He'll take a look and maybe can give some insight.

It appears that in your second photo, there is a name at the very bottom edge of the photo. Can you tell what it says?

[Charlie]

Nevermind... it's a Philco... I can see the name on a transformer under the chassis.

Also, it looks like someone made some notes in pencil on the inside of the chassis? What's that say? Anything useful?

[Sandy G]

I MAY have found it in this "Pre-War Consoles" book I have. Think it's a model 390X, circa 1942. Sez here 8 tubes, & 3 bands. The pic I have looks like its the double-first-cousin, anyway. Hope this helps. -Sandy G.

"That orange drop and those round disc capacitors definately arent OEM. "

That "orange drop" is likely no less original than that round disk capacitor. By that I mean that disc capacitors ( AKA ceramics ) and paper/foil caps coated in opaque orange wax [?] were not unheard of in radios of that vintage, ( admittedly caps coated in transparent yellow wax were much more common in that era ).

Interestingly that orange coating on the very old caps tended to be very much more brittle than the yellow wax coating. I can't honestly say whether the coating on those orange caps was simply a brittle type of wax or perhaps some early sort of thermoplastic.

I can't say when ceramic caps were first used but can say that as a kid butchering old radios in the early to late 50's I saw them often enough so as not to take any particular notice.....Unfortunately I then was literally nothing more than an enthusiastic but utterly uneducated/unintended vandal for the most part and often cringe now about all the very early Atwater-Kents etc. that I destroyed while attempting to become the next DeForest or Marconi

If I had known then what I know now I wouldn't be schlepping back and forth to my city job every day. On the other hand I may still wind up getting my 15 minutes for being the oldest computer tech in Calgary to drop dead on the job.

[Kamakiri]

Originally posted by Sandy G
I MAY have found it in this "Pre-War Consoles" book I have. Think it's a model 390X, circa 1942. Sez here 8 tubes, & 3 bands. The pic I have looks like its the double-first-cousin, anyway. Hope this helps. -Sandy G.

Just caught this thread now.....it's definitely a '42 Philco. The weird phenolic brown dial bezel is a dead giveaway.....Philco only used them in '42. And they always cracked.......

[Tom Bavis]

Nice find! Another BIG clue - it has the old FM band. You can listen to baby monitors and your neighbor's cordless phones, maybe some fire departments still on the low band...

There are Philco service bulletins on my web page - look at model 42-390.

http://www.audiophool.cjb.net/Philco.html

PUT A FUSE in this sucker! The 6X5 rectifier is infamous for shorting and taking out the power transformer!

[mbates14]

I hope my power transformer isnt bad.

because I did test the rectifier, and it tested fine with no shorts on my knight.

it does infact have 8 tubes. Does anyone have a schematic theyd like to send me through email or something? these caps are IN FACT not oem. I can tell that the leads were clipped and new caps soldered in at one time. prolly the 50s or 60s.


I cant read the notes, it looks like doctors writing to me.