can anyone ID this old radio ?
 

trying to figure out what tubes it needs. . . .

thanks for any help :thmbsp:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/att...1&d=1188317705

Its the panel out of an Atwater kent model 20 Battery set. 1924 or so. Since there is no cabinet it is possible it came out of a custom console or other peice of furniture.

Steve

http://www.stevenjohnson.com/pics/atwater-kent20-1.jpg

SWEET !

actually, he does have the cabinet, we just removed it for pix

YOU ARE THE MAN ! !

thanks :thmbsp:

nice - now the hunt begins . . . .

got the voltages I need:

"This radio requires +90, +67.5, and +22.5 volts for the various stages"

looks like it's time to make a little power supply for it :yes:

should that faceplate be 'atwater kent' green ? I KNOW it shouldn't be RED :yikes:

Those have a satin black finish if i recall right. They do pretty good if set up right. I like the way they tune as it gives you a little more control. The missing knobs and nameplate come up often on Ebay. Theres loads of information on the net for these AK radio's also. Have fun and good luck!
-Tony

Woo hooo!! What a treasure! :sigh:

Sorry markus, I just can't get excited about that one. I am looking forward to seeing what you do with it, though. If it were in my house, it would just serve as ballast to keep the garage from blowing away in the next tornado...

yeah - I hear ya :D doing it as a favor for my neighbor - I've been borrowing his lawnmower for the last YEAR and this is a cool way to pay him back since it has sentimental value.

he actually does have all the little bits for it, except the tubes. the cabinet is in OK shape, but missing its lid. he's excited to make a lid for it. I have all but one tube it needs (01A's) so that'll be a something to hunt for too.

just told him the news (make / model / etc) and he really lit up.

You just blow me away the way you can come up with this stuff.. I'm imagining you've got a lot of old radios laying all over your place?

Looks wise, it doesn't do anything for me either, but what I find really cool about this kinda stuff is how simple they made everything back then, and it actually worked...

If I could get my hands on something like that, I'd for sure get it working again. Even if I had to pay someone to do it for me.. just to see how it worked, and what it sounded like... To me, seeing something electronic almost 100 years old actually do what it was designed to do is the coolest...

Your Atwater-Kent looks similar to my Stromberg-Carlson Neutrodyne from 1923. Clearly similar technology, although mine is near-mint, not a resto-job (sorry, I got lucky :D ). These are COOL old radios, well worth restoring, that still have a small but dedicated "cult-like" following.

These originally ran off batteries: that is, sets of wet cells that were big, heavy and a bit dangerous. Today transformers are the only way to go with them. Of course you can run these off of any transformers that give correct voltage, but If you want to spend the money, there is a specially-made transformer that is designed and made specifically to drive these old radios. It looks better, is fairly compact, is adjustable for a few different radios and has a few safety features built-in. I haven't got one yet, but I remember seeing them talked about online (and here!) when I first got my Neutrodyne, and plan to get one one day. You might want to look into that.

Congratulations on finding a rare early radio, and nice to know that another one will be saved and restored. :thmbsp: The very first commercial radio station broadcast was only made ca 1920, to give an indication of how early these are. Atwater-Kents were quite populat back then, and considered pretty good models. Tuning them is different - you have to experiment with each of the dials in sequence to dial in a station, and record the settings on the dials to find the station quickly the next time. Very different from modern tuning dials!

Oh, and try to find an early speaker to match it. One of those vertica; swan's-neck horns is best. More fun plus authentic sound that way! That said, if you use better-built but compatible headohones or speakers of more recent vintage (especially headphones), you'll find the sound quality on these is surprisingly good.


Here are some interesting related web links you might want to look at:

http://www.antiqueradios.com/forums/

http://reviews.ebay.com/1920s-Radios...00000001427481

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutrodyne

http://www.radioblvd.com/20sRadio.html

http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/LookAr..._techspot.html

I didn't even reply to your question!! It uses 201A tubes. Look for 01a, 201a, or 301a. I can give you a lot more information about this set but don't have time right now. I'll post again this evening.

Here is a pic of mine.
http://www.geocities.com/[email protected]/ak20.JPG

thanks Arkay :thmbsp:

actually, this is my neighbor's radio, which I plan on get singing again - he has a similar era Peerless speaker just like this:

http://members.aol.com/djadamson4/peerb.jpg

it'll be fun - I'll probably use my mountain of spare parts to make a little power supply for it . . . as a matter of fact, I DO have a Radiola / Victor power supply that uses a 80 rectifier . . . period correct too :D

Hey Markus,
"This radio requires +90, +67.5, and +22.5 volts for the various stages"
Where did you get that information from?

There are different versions of this radio however the one I have requires +90Volt DC, +20 volt DC (Really 22.5), and 6Volts DC. You can easily Run the B+ voltages off of a string of 9Volt Batteries. Theoretically a set of Duracell 9volts will last over 40hrs of playing time. The Filaments are 5volts but the radio has a rheostat and resistors to drop the voltage from a 6 volt battery. I do recommend using a 6 volt power supply rather than a batter only because the 5 tube will draw as much as 1 1/4 amps total.

Another note. The filaments in these tube must be run off of DC, and well filtered DC or you will get a tremendous amount of hum. Tubes that will run off of AC on the filaments had not even been invented when this radio was designed.

“should that faceplate be 'atwater kent' green ? I KNOW it shouldn't be RED ”
This radio faceplate should be Brown. Antique Electronics Supply used to sell a crinkle finish in Van Dyke Brown which is pretty close to the original. They probably still do.

“actually, this is my neighbor's radio, which I plan on get singing again - he has a similar era Peerless speaker just like this”
This would have originally been used with a Horn type speaker similar to this one.

http://i11.ebayimg.com/07/i/000/b1/64/b818_12.JPG

However, that Peerless is no too far off. If it has continuity it would work just fine. Take a 1 ½ volt battery and drag the lead across and see if you can get some noise out of it.

Also, this radio was designed to utilize a high impedance speaker. If you try and use a modern speaker you will need to add an output transformer to the circuit.

Now generally speaking this is a 5 tube TRF (tuned radio frequency) radio. Each of the RF coils is individually tuned by a separate knob and thus this type of radio is also known as a “3 dialer”. This was the most popular configuration of that time period and you have to tune them one at a time in general lock step to tune in a station. Before you spend a lot of effort on it get a ohm meter and check the audio transformers. They are notorious for being open. You can replace them but finding the original AK cylinder

Once you get it running you’ll probably be surprised how many stations you can pick up with it. AK actually made very functional, well performing, and affordable radios.

You can find the schematics here http://www.nostalgiaair.org/Resources/042/T0000042.htm

Should be enough for now. If you have any question feel free to ask. You should be able to easilily find the missing tube. If not drop me a PM as I have plenty of spares I'd be willing to part with.

Steve

I used to! At one time I had over 100 radios in the house and have probably had over 200 over the years. I got over the "hoarding phase" and lost interests in keeping so many. I only have 10 or so now and very seldom turn them on. I'm by no means an "expert" there are a lot guys that know a LOT more about this stuff than I do.

I'd love to see a pic of this radio. I don't think I've ever seen a Stromberg-Carlson that early.

Steve