polaraman's radio collection
 

I have about 30 others in my collection. I do not stick with one brand. They have to be funky and cheap to be in my collection. I have yet to pull one down and attempt a restoration. I mostly like working on televisions. My first radio restoration is going to be a multiband silvertone.(model 101849) I will have to keep ypu all posted on the progress.

polaraman

The Silvertone!!! SAMS number 63. I actually have that SAMS. Maybe that is why this will be the first attempt!

polaraman

Nice collection, Polaraman ! I gotta Zenith just like the one on the bottom row, next to the right end side-the offset bakelite.. I think mine was made in 1951. Zenith made about 3 jillion each of the 3 jillion variations on a theme of that model.-Sandy G.

Wow, I see two that my late FiL used every day. Came here too late to know enough to save them. :sigh:

The sleeper in the bunch is the Silvertone second row from the bottom fourth from the left. I've had a couple brown ones but I've never seen it in ivory. Nice find! It's also an excellent performer.

Lee

I got the white Silvertone for $5.00 at an estate sale. It works but has a hum. It is one of my favorite radios.

The multiband Silvertone can from a thrift store in Dothan, AL. I think I also paid $5.

polaraman

When you said multiband I expected one of those T-O knockoffs, made by Hallicrafters, but this is a set I've never seen or heard of before. A keeper! I've got oodles of radios but lately have been more interested in tv and have better luck fixing tv sets it seems.

Silvertone chassis. The cabinet has instructions in English, Spanish and Italian. Maybe it was for export? It works on one band and the folks are speaking Spanish. Go figure? It also has a phono jack and switch.

Tubes:

7H7
7Q7
7Y4
7A7
7C6
7C5

Four of the six tubes are Silvertone tubes.

polaraman

Bottom view.

What's in that little box on top of the power transformer? If the set was made for expord, maybe it can handle multiple voltages? :scratch2:

Brilliant! :banana: I pulled off the cap and it has the ability to switch voltages. 110V, 125v,145V, 200V, 225V and 245V. :yes: This radio is getting more interesting! :scratch2:


polaraman

For some reason seeing many radios on the wall, and your mention of taking one down, calls to mind the old song "99 beers on the wall". Edit: "99 radios on the wall, 99 radios on the wall, take one down, give it a recap all around, 98 radios on the wall........" :D

It seems like most of the German radios like Philips, Telefunken, etc. and also some Sony products like reel-to-reel's have the voltage change arrangement...I'll usually set it to 125 volts to lower the voltage stress on the tubes (as the line voltage is sometimes almost actually that high).

New additions to polaraman's collection. A Meteor, RCA and a Philco. :banana:

polaraman

I've got a war era GE that has some similarities to the Silvertone. Many bands, some of them with wide bandspread, & it has a transformer with multiple taps, the same style as yours but without the cover. I did not fully understand it until reading this-mine does not have the voltages printed on the socket. Maybe mine is on the wrong tap, as I have moved it around before. I could only get it to play weakly.