RCA Radio Model 6-XD-5A
 

I found this nice old RCA table radio yesterday. It was dirty and dusty, but it plays well, and I cleaned it up a bit. I still need to detail the grille. I don't know why but it looks like a car grille to me. anyway, here are a few pics.

I think it's from 1951 or 52. 5 tubes. Two 4 inch speakers.

https://i.imgur.com/zd7lOzU.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/kK21Pb3.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/tAWEjnb.jpg?1
https://i.imgur.com/afNecJr.jpg?1

Nice! :yes:

The set is either a 55 or 56 model. It has the Conelrad symbols at 640 and 1240 KC. :scratch2:

We are from France! :D

Ok now...WHAT is the trick to get the back off? What are these little black tabs? I don't want to pry on them if they might break.

Ahhhh….thanks. A nice slow turn and lift with a pair of needle nose pliers did the trick.

I always just pried them out with a small screwdriver.
My biggest problem wasn't breaking them, It was losing them.
I have a RCA radio that looks almost alike, but mine has 6 tubes with a tuned RF and a three gang tuner.

CONELRAD (Control of Electromagnetic Radiation) was a method of emergency broadcasting to the public of the United States in the event of enemy attack during the Cold War. It was intended to allow continuous broadcast of civil defense information to the public using radio or TV stations, while rapidly switching the transmitter stations to make the broadcasts unsuitable for Soviet bombers that might attempt to home in on the signals (as was done during World War II, when German radio stations, based in or near cities, were used as beacons by pilots of bombers).

U.S. president Harry S. Truman established CONELRAD in 1951. After the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles reduced the likelihood of a bomber attack, CONELRAD was replaced by the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) on August 5, 1963, which was later replaced by the Emergency Alert System (EAS) on January 1, 1997; all have been administered by the Federal Communications Commission

I got it back from my tech yesterday. All recapped and adjusted. Its like a new radio now. Decent sound from the two 4 inch speakers.

Standard type AA5 non-transformer radio.

Meaning.....???

The market was filled with them. They were made inexpensive and touching the chassis will stand your hair on end. With modifications, they can really good radios otherwise a dime a dozen.

RCA radios, such as that one have a floating B- line where the line isn't directly tied to the chassis, but though a .047 capacitor.
Touching the chassis and a good ground might give you a tickle. :scratch2:

The most common circuit ever used in radio design. :thmbsp:

Interesting....

I have never seen one before finding this one.

It's a tube radio.

It sounds good and picks up plenty of stations.

I can plug a record player or an iPod or a Bluetooth receiver into it

This one looks like the day it was made. SIXTY THREE years ago.

Maybe a quarter a dozen. Certainly NOT a dime.

:smoke:

That was one of RCA's higher priced radios. Twin speakers, phono jack, lighted slide rule dial!
Even though, it's only a five tube superhet, there's less of those around because of the higher initial cost.

So maybe .50 cents a dozen. :banana:

Actually, $5.00 would be a good price for a restorable example of that set.
That's if you could find them. Not that easy anymore. :scratch2:

OK, $5 a dozen.

This one is museum quality. It could pass for new. So on second thought, $6 a dozen.

Pretty much ~90% of all AM and AM/SW table radios from the mid-1930's till the end of tubes used the same circuit...There were around 4 different generations of tube styles used (and some variations within those generations), plenty of subtle circuit variations that usually were more flash than substance, heck there were deluxe AA6 and AA7 sets that added an RF amp and or push-pull audio (p-p audio is mostly found in radio/phono combos) for better performance as well as AA4 sets which deleted an IF amp and were only good if you were close to the transmitters or had a long wire antenna and were VERY cheap/poor.

Some AA5s had great audio and reception (RCA and other major brands), but most were average or poor. Three or more knobs (or a built-in phono or input for one) usually means a better set...The 2 knob radio only jobs were usually the cheapest radio the brand sold (unless they had an AA4 on the market). Many of the cheapies had really cool looking plastic cabinets to lure in customers.

Anyone with a decent collection of table sets bought on the basis of looks has several AA5s.

Zombie has a great eye for old radios. :thmbsp:

I have a few AA5/6 style hot chassis sets around here, and I put polarized plugs on them or use an isolation transformer to float em, cuz no one likes a tingle.:no:

What do I need to touch to get the tingle?

Metallic object directly connected to the chassis. By the time your set was made most AA5 were made to UL standards...Which dictated the chassis not be directly wired to the line (instead a current limiting 'safety resistor' would be placed in between), and that no metal objects with a conductive path to chassis be placed on the outside of the cabinet...Chassis bolts on these sets usually threaded into plastic fittings on the chassis or were contained in the cabinet.

Pre-1950 is where most non-UL sets were made, but there were some non-UL cheapies made after that...
I have a 1940's Sonora AA5 radio/phono that has electrically hot toggle switches for the motor and the radio/phono mode...The pickup arm is hot too.
Metal cabinet hot chassis TVs were subject to the same rules, and analyzing the effectiveness of the compliance measures can be interesting.

I believe the RCA model number "decodes" like this : 6= model year, 1956, X= AC/DC, no power transformer, D= cabinet style (?) Number is cabinet color.

:D Oy Vey Prunella , could I have fun with this one ...... !:D

;) But seriously , like the other posters have said , you want the metal chassis (If it uses one , and not a circuit board) of a Hot chassis set to be at electrical Neutral . If your lacking an AC voltmeter a handy test has always been to have a known good 120V light bulb in a socket with two wires about 3 feet long and stripped of insulation maybe 1/4" on each end . Test the bulb first by sticking the bared ends of the wires into the Hot and Neutral , and then into the Hot and Ground of the wall outlet you intend to plug the device into , and observe that the bulb lights . Now stick the wires into the Ground and Neutral and observe that the bulb does NOT light . This checks both the bulb AND the outlet , making sure that the Ground is in fact present and that the outlet is wired properly (no mixed up connections in the outlet , this does happen occasionally) Now plug and turn on the radio (or TV or whatever "hot chassis" device your working with) and touch one wire to the metal chassis and the other to the Ground terminal of the outlet you've got the device plugged into . Bulb doesn't light ? Your good , and plugged into the outlet in the correct orientation . Bulb does light ? Unplug the device (leave the device's power switch in the on position) and turn the plug 180 degrees and plug it back in and repeat the test , the bulb darned well shouldn't light and your chassis is now "safe" at Neutral potential . I have made it a point to install polarized plugs on every Hot chassis device in my collection and have verified all the outlets in my house are correctly polarized , just to ensure no one gets to feel the tingle from any piece in my collection .

The circuit is most likely this:
http://www.wa2ise.com/aa5diaa.jpg

May also want to check for AC leakage with the radio switched off...Some hot-chassis sets are wired such that if the chassis is cold with the set switched on it will be hot with the set switched off (a damned if you do damned if you don't scenario).