My First Full Restoration of an Antique Radio! - Videokarma.org TV - Video

vortalexfan · #1 07-31-2019, 08:17 PM

Hello Everyone a few years ago I was given a 1932 U. S. Gloritone Model 99A Cathedral Radio which was made in Marion, Indiana by the United States Radio and Television Company which that Company's base of Operations was about 2 hours south of where I live and it had some parts sourced from CTS which is an Electronic Components Manufacturer based out of Elkhart, Indiana which is my hometown, and CTS is still in business to this day making electronic components.

So when I first got this radio someone had already done the electrical restoration to it, so I didn't have to worry about that, but what happened was that when they tried picking it up to move it they carried it by the front of the radio and accidentally put their fingers through the original grille cloth and through the original speaker, and the original finish on the cabinet was shot as well.

So I repaired the original speaker using brown coffee filter paper and diluted Elmer's Glue, which worked perfectly.

And then I completely stripped the old varnish and stain off the cabinet using citri-strip which took several sessions to get the old varnish and stain completely off the cabinet.

I finally took some Minwax #224 Special Walnut Stain and put 2 coats of that on the cabinet and then I applied 2 coats of Minwax Fast-Drying Polyurethane with some light sanding using 220 grit sand paper in between coats of polyurethane.

I also had my dad glue in the new grille cloth for me using spray glue after I had used the original torn up grille cloth as a template to trace out the and cut out the new grille cloth piece.

I then finally put the radio back together and tried out the radio and it works perfectly, I was able to find an oldies station locally on the AM Band (as this is an AM Only radio) and listened to some oldies on it a little bit.

Below I will post some before shots and some after shots so you can see the transformation, the first two pictures are what it looked like when I first got it (minus the damaged grille cloth which I took out of the cabinet right away so I could look for some suitable replacement grille cloth on eBay) and the last four photos are the after shots.

This project took me 5 years to do because I kept running into snags that made it so this project kept getting put on the back burner and also I kept getting other projects that were easier to do than this was so finally after 5 years I got this radio done!

Sandy G · #2 07-31-2019, 09:22 PM

Methinks you done a WONDERFUL job... Some would say you likely have way more money invested in it than its worth... Maybe so, but SO WHAT ?!? You turned a sow's ear into the proverbial Silk Purse, & likely saved a rare old set from the trash pile. Looks like you have a knack for this, I'd imagine it gives you pleasure at some level, THAT'S worth a LOT in my book, right there...

vortalexfan · #3 07-31-2019, 11:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Methinks you done a WONDERFUL job... Some would say you likely have way more money invested in it than its worth... Maybe so, but SO WHAT ?!? You turned a sow's ear into the proverbial Silk Purse, & likely saved a rare old set from the trash pile. Looks like you have a knack for this, I'd imagine it gives you pleasure at some level, THAT'S worth a LOT in my book, right there...

Thanks, and actually I didn't put that much money into it, I actually have more time into it than money (5 years to be exact) and considering that I got the radio for free and the electrical work was already done on it when I got it (including a period correct cloth cord and Bakelite plug end) so all I have into it money wise was what I paid for the grille cloth and the Elmer's Glue and Brown Coffee Filters and the stain and varnish and stripper (which all of those things individually were under $20 a piece).

And yes I was very happy when I finally got it done, as it was a project that was a long time coming as far as finishing it goes.

Titan1a · #4 08-01-2019, 05:08 PM

Your radio is a, somewhat, rare bird. They don't make them like anymore. :-(

Sandy G · #5 08-01-2019, 07:02 PM

Yeah, I never heard of that brand, but THAT, in & of itself, don't really mean much..

vortalexfan · #6 08-02-2019, 01:33 AM

This radio is actually covered in Rider's surprisingly enough. I believe Beitman's also covered it as well, so it must of been a somewhat common radio at one time.

fixmeplease · #7 08-02-2019, 06:50 AM

So many people want to do just the electric repairs and not the wood. I am getting where I enjoy them both. Nice work!

vortalexfan · #8 08-02-2019, 10:59 AM

OK so now I seem to have developed a problem with my radio.

The oscillator circuit on my radio has become intermittent and it has a lot of background noise that wasn't there before and also it has an issue where two local stations that are both within a few miles of me are inconsistent with their reception.
The one station which its broadcast towers are less than 2 miles up the road from me is barely coming in, and a station that its broadcast towers which are about 7 miles up the road from me is blasting through loud and clear with no issues and the two stations are 70 kHz apart from each other on the radio dial, so I don't know what's going on.

Its acting almost like its got some weak tubes in it (it has two 24A tubes and a 35/51 Tube controlling the 2 IF and the oscillator circuits) The Oscillator is driven by one of the 24A tubes and I think one of those 24A tubes is either weak or bad but I have no way to check them as I don't have a tube tester that can check the older 4, 5, and 6 pin tubes, anyone have any ideas as to what could be wrong with my radio?

Another bizarre thing is that when I touch the grid cap on top of the 1st IF/Oscillator tube (a 24A Tube) the audio gets really loud and the reception improves greatly, but when I remove my finger from the 1st IF/Oscillator tube the audio gets quiet and the reception diminishes back to its previously degraded state.

Any help in this issue would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Electronic M · #9 08-02-2019, 12:17 PM

Sounds like an antenna or osc coil might be open... I've done a LOT of Philco 60 chassis cathedrals where those single layer coils corrode open... single layer coils are easy to fix or rewind. Check continuity of the coils.

vortalexfan · #10 08-02-2019, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Sounds like an antenna or osc coil might be open... I've done a LOT of Philco 60 chassis cathedrals where those single layer coils corrode open... single layer coils are easy to fix or rewind. Check continuity of the coils.

OK Will Do.

old_coot88 · #11 08-02-2019, 07:06 PM

Have you tried swapping the two 24As? Sometimes tapping tubes gingerly will show up intermittents.

vortalexfan · #12 08-03-2019, 02:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by old_coot88

Have you tried swapping the two 24As? Sometimes tapping tubes gingerly will show up intermittents.

yes I have and it made a little difference but not much and tapping the tubes does cause the radio to start working correcting again but then once I stop tapping the tubes then the radio stops working correctly again. it also affects the radio's performance when I tap the 1st IF/Oscillator Can but like I said the effect is only temporary.

vortalexfan · #13 08-04-2019, 11:25 PM

I figured out what the problem was, it was my 35/51 tube that was screwing things up, apparently the anode connection on my 35/51 tube which was supposed to be a NOS Sylvania tube was intermittent because whenever I monkeyed with the anode connection on that tube the radio would work fine for a while before cutting out again. So I put the old Majestic Branded 35/51 tube back into the radio and sure enough the radio started working again as it should.

The only problem is that I still seem to have a volume inconsistency between two of the local AM stations near me.
One of the local AM stations which is an Oldies station comes in loud and clear, in fact its so loud that even with the volume control turned all the way down the audio still is really loud.
The other station which is a Southern Gospel Station comes in probably pretty close to the normal volume level, maybe quieter because when I turn the volume knob all the way down with this station you don't hear anything at all audio wise which is the way its supposed to be.

Any ideas as to what might be causing this volume inconsistency?

Electronic M · #14 08-05-2019, 08:33 AM

Does your radio have an AVC stage and is it working? AVC stands for automatic volume control. It's job is to reduce RF gain on strong to moderate stations to reduce volume difference between stations... many early and or cheaper sets skipped it .

Solder joints can go bad on NOS stuff... might be worth reflowing the top cap with a high wattage iron.

vortalexfan · #15 08-05-2019, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Does your radio have an AVC stage and is it working? AVC stands for automatic volume control. It's job is to reduce RF gain on strong to moderate stations to reduce volume difference between stations... many early and or cheaper sets skipped it .

Solder joints can go bad on NOS stuff... might be worth reflowing the top cap with a high wattage iron.

I don't think this radio has Automatic volume control as its only a 5 tube radio and it doesn't even have an RF Stage like my WR-10 radio does and its from 1932 which was during the depression so it was meant to be cheap but still a decent unit.

I have a feeling that perhaps this Radio may need an alignment or something like that, which I tried to adjust the adjustment screws on the tuning capacitor but it didn't make much difference.