Westinghouse H-104

[Tubejunke]

This is my latest acquisition with which I am pretty pleased and a bit amazed. I got it from praybay and managed to get it to my door in only 3 pieces. It's a darned shame that courier services these days have to throw everything around like boxes of rags! When it came, just moving the box I heard glass & was really worried. The seller seemed to have done an excellent job of packing for outside protection. Unfortunately one missing and another loose of three chassis bolts allowed movement of the chassis which is like a small TV chassis and the dial glass got cracked!

But the sound I heard was one of the two paralleled audio tubes (5Y4 I think) that jarred out of it's socket. I have read that these were fairly high end radios when they were made. I had seen one or two on praybay, but not many; nor in the real world. Westinghouse did a top drawer job I have to say as the thing is just built like a tank. If it were a TV I would call it DuMont! LOL!

Anyway, standard broadcast is very sensitive across the dial. Shortwave is working, but so far not really pulling in a lot of stations. With absolutely no capacitor changes that I can find the thing plays clear and VERY loud. I love it! It looks almost like they were trying to throw a fist back in the face of the Germans who were making radios like the Lowe Opta Venus to name one that sorta made most anything we were producing look like a joke to an extent. Hard to say really what they were thinking, but it works and works well.

If anyone here has parts I can use the inner dial glass, a back cover and a single push-button.

[davet753]

I have one from that era, which is several steps below yours in the line, but it is a pretty good performer (for that time). I have seen a couple of H104's sell on ebay, but none as nice as yours. I hope maybe you will be able to pick a junker to snatch the dial glass from.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Tubejunke

This is my latest acquisition with which I am pretty pleased and a bit amazed. I got it from praybay and managed to get it to my door in only 3 pieces. It's a darned shame that courier services these days have to throw everything around like boxes of rags! When it came, just moving the box I heard glass & was really worried. The seller seemed to have done an excellent job of packing for outside protection. Unfortunately one missing and another loose of three chassis bolts allowed movement of the chassis which is like a small TV chassis and the dial glass got cracked!

But the sound I heard was one of the two paralleled audio tubes (5Y4 I think) that jarred out of it's socket. I have read that these were fairly high end radios when they were made. I had seen one or two on praybay, but not many; nor in the real world. Westinghouse did a top drawer job I have to say as the thing is just built like a tank. If it were a TV I would call it DuMont! LOL!

Anyway, standard broadcast is very sensitive across the dial. Shortwave is working, but so far not really pulling in a lot of stations. With absolutely no capacitor changes that I can find the thing plays clear and VERY loud. I love it! It looks almost like they were trying to throw a fist back in the face of the Germans who were making radios like the Lowe Opta Venus to name one that sorta made most anything we were producing look like a joke to an extent. Hard to say really what they were thinking, but it works and works well.

If anyone here has parts I can use the inner dial glass, a back cover and a single push-button.

You were right about the paralleled output tubes, but they're 6Y6G's. I always thought it was push-pull, until I looked at the schematic.
Too bad, about the dial glass, Some other VK'ers had new dial glasses made. Maybe that person will chime in!
I don't remember that radio having a back cover. Is there holes where it looked like it had one?

[jr_tech]

Seller on the 'bay is apparently selling laser cut reproduction backs:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Replacement-...853A_3C79ghHlQ

not affiliated,
jr

[init4fun]

Gotta love a good westy , 5U4 and a pair of 6Y6's ... too cool .

I got an FM console version here , the Westinghouse H114 , 14 tubes including the tuning eye , the 6Y6's are in push pull , and not one but two of my all time favorite tube , the 6H6 dual diode (the tube that the 7 pin 6AL5 is based on) . With 14 tubes you just about could heat the room with it , and just for grins , look up the heater current of the 6Y6 , it's higher than any of the 6L6 6F6 6V6 output tubes , 1.25 amps VS the 6V6's .45 amp ! This explains the rather large power transformer and 175 watt input power rating for the H114 .

[Tubejunke]

Wow! I didn't know that Westinghouse was indeed sort of like a DuMont as far as building higher end stuff with a bit of really cool electronic overkill. I'm glad now that I started this thread. I personally never owned much by them in a radio. I've seen more 50s TVs and the same period and later kitchen appliances. I do have this older model Standard/Shortwave with the all mighty "magic eye" that to me is really cool with most of that periods bells and whistles. It only needs a dial string.

So both of these are in very good playing condition without restoration. I love that phenomenon in electronics. The total survivor one might say. Heck, when any piece of electronic from the 1930s can stand working today with only a piece of string as needed repair; you can safely call it a survivor and a well made product.

[init4fun]

Very nice ! One thing I want to call to your attention is , both my H114 and your H104 have resistors and capacitors built into the IF cans , and those gave me a bit of grief when I restored mine . I had replaced all the under chassis caps , checked and replaced all out of spec resistors and the performance was still only marginal in my opinion . A closer look at the schematic revealed the components inside the cans and when they were replaced the set came alive . With only it's internal antenna there were literally hundreds of standard AM broadcast and Shortwave stations to be heard . The FM works mostly OK , the stations it gets are plenty good enough sounding , it just don't receive as many of em as other tube FM radios I own , like my Zenith 8 tube table model for instance .

So , looking at your H104 , I see the RF transformer contains resistor R26 inside it , your second IF transformer contains R25 and C39 and C40 . These components are in addition to the usual two coils and two capacitors regularly found in RF/IF cans and can be easily missed , as I did , when troubleshooting lackluster performance .

[Tubejunke]

OK, that's great information and thanks. Now this radio had incredible sensitivity on the standard broadcast band, but the shortwave is a bit lackluster, but is working. I would have to do what I call letting an old set "cook" for a few hours before I would do much of anything replacement wise.

I say that based on the fact that I have and always do bought the radio up to line potential slowly and it has already played well for a number of hours continuous with a cool electrolytic can and transformer. Or at least as cool as the two can be with a honking 5U4GB sitting between them which by the way may be replaced by a 5U4G that I have been saving for just the right set.

Anyway, It is safe to say that the radio's power supply is in good and safe condition and the rest of the circuitry pulling in Standard Broadcast through the AF stage are in working order. As far as "cooking" I am basically reforming caps on the fly. Most sets saw way more SB station selection than Shortwave. It may never have been used. I have found many times that simply letting it play at reduced current for two hours or more for a number of consecutive days can do the trick.

I have found this to work on very old TV sets too. There is a guy who sells what he calls restored radios on praybay. I think I have a 40s Radiola that came from him and it plays so good and was so clean that I still haven't pulled the chassis to see his work. Point being is that he claims to let a set play for days in his shop and then for a few days more in his living room (or something like that). It made me feel good about the purchase and the Radiola 6 tuber is a real treat to own. Perhaps common, the 40s RCA typical Bakelite table radios are very well built, good performing, but perhaps more utilitarian than our beloved Westinghouse models.

[Kamakiri]

Beautiful radio, great performer! I've had a couple of those over the years myself.

[Tubejunke]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

Beautiful radio, great performer! I've had a couple of those over the years myself.

Thanks a lot! That's a stock photo, but in very similar condition as mine. The main difference is that mine has one mismatched push-button which I mentioned in a previous post. I still need that if one pops up.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by init4fun

Gotta love a good westy , 5U4 and a pair of 6Y6's ... too cool .

I got an FM console version here , the Westinghouse H114 , 14 tubes including the tuning eye , the 6Y6's are in push pull , and not one but two of my all time favorite tube , the 6H6 dual diode (the tube that the 7 pin 6AL5 is based on) . With 14 tubes you just about could heat the room with it , and just for grins , look up the heater current of the 6Y6 , it's higher than any of the 6L6 6F6 6V6 output tubes , 1.25 amps VS the 6V6's .45 amp ! This explains the rather large power transformer and 175 watt input power rating for the H114 .

The 6Y6G, 6Y6GA is a low B+ beam power penthode, that is in the same family as the 6W6GT, 6DG6GT and a few others like the 25L6 and the 50C6G.
GE used them in a few models of pre-war radios in push-pull configuration. They can only take a maximum of 200 volts or so, plate and screen.
I really don't know the advantages or disadvantages or this type tube. I leave that to the engineers.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Tubejunke

I have found this to work on very old TV sets too. There is a guy who sells what he calls restored radios on praybay. I think I have a 40s Radiola that came from him and it plays so good and was so clean that I still haven't pulled the chassis to see his work. Point being is that he claims to let a set play for days in his shop and then for a few days more in his living room (or something like that). It made me feel good about the purchase and the Radiola 6 tuber is a real treat to own. Perhaps common, the 40s RCA typical Bakelite table radios are very well built, good performing, but perhaps more utilitarian than our beloved Westinghouse models.

Odds are he recaps them before burn in. It was a somewhat common practice among service techs back in the day as a way to make sure the problem was really gone and give any new ones waiting in the wings a chance to shake out before returning it to the customer. When I recap a TV for someone I like to let it burn in before I give it back to them so that if any 50+ year old resistors, etc are about to bite it I can change them before they become my client's problem.