A big Philco cathedral

[decojoe67]

I just acquired this 1935 Philco 144B cathedral radio and, I must say, not all Philco cathedrals are alike! This one is about 19"H X 16"W. It's only a 6-tube chassis, but it has 4 bands, 4 tone levels, weathervane-like "Shadowmeter" tuning meter, and sounds like a console model with a mellow rich tone. Superb. The dark cabinet has beautiful raised panels in a contrasting tone making for an elegant look. By the way, when you click bands, the pilot light moves to the proper area of the dial. By 1935 the cathedral style was becoming passé, so mid-year Philco used the new tombstone style for this chassis. As a collectors item, this cathedral model wins hands down.

[old_tv_nut]

Nice.

Could you explain what a "weathervane" tuning meter is?

[Titan1a]

He's talking about a shadowgraph meter. When the shadow is at it's minimum you're tuned in. I have them on two Philco "baby grand" radios and a Zenith (soon to be) tombstone unit. They don't burn out like the CRT type tubes.

[decojoe67]

Originally Posted by Titan1a

He's talking about a shadowgraph meter. When the shadow is at it's minimum you're tuned in. I have them on two Philco "baby grand" radios and a Zenith (soon to be) tombstone unit. They don't burn out like the CRT type tubes.

Yes. I call it "weathervane" because it a thin metal strip that gently tilts on a pin giving a wide-bar silhouette when the the signal is weak, and a thin one when tuned in optimally. Very clever.
An example from the Net.

[old_tv_nut]

Thanks

[vortalexfan]

Check out this link below:

https://philcoradio.com/gallery2/1935a/#Model_144B

The Philco Radio website, has lots of information on almost all of the Philco Models ever made including Philco Factory Service Manuals for almost every single model of Philco Radio ever made.

The Model 144B Cathedral Radio sold for $65 in 1935, which is the equivalent of about $1,228.70 in todays money, which means these radios were a huge investment during the depression, almost as much as a used car back then.

[decojoe67]

Originally Posted by vortalexfan

Check out this link below:

https://philcoradio.com/gallery2/1935a/#Model_144B

The Philco Radio website, has lots of information on almost all of the Philco Models ever made including Philco Factory Service Manuals for almost every single model of Philco Radio ever made.

The Model 144B Cathedral Radio sold for $65 in 1935, which is the equivalent of about $1,228.70 in todays money, which means these radios were a huge investment during the depression, almost as much as a used car back then.

Thanks so much for the link. I have used that site many times before and it's excellent. On ARF I did a thread on the variations of the 144B model. Typically they are like the one pictured on the Philco website. Black slightly wedged bezel with black acorn style knobs. So far I have come across 3 others like mine with the chocolate brown "stretched octagon" beaded bezel and chocolate brown rosette knobs. My conclusion is that at some point in the run, as with many Philco sets, whatever parts were available were used to complete a production run. I was not able to debunk that it's the way it came from the factory.

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by decojoe67

Thanks so much for the link. I have used that site many times before and it's excellent. On ARF I did a thread on the variations of the 144B model. Typically they are like the one pictured on the Philco website. Black slightly wedged bezel with black acorn style knobs. So far I have come across 3 others like mine with the chocolate brown "stretched octagon" beaded bezel and chocolate brown rosette knobs. My conclusion is that at some point in the run, as with many Philco sets, whatever parts were available were used to complete a production run. I was not able to debunk that it's the way it came from the factory.

I've got your radio's big brother the 116B, and that thing is a pain in the butt to align.
The cabinet on mine was stripped at one point in time so I need to figure out how to properly refinish the cabinet so it has the contrasting tones like it originally did.

[Titan1a]

I own a specially modified 116-122 in a 116B cabinet. It's still under reconstruction.

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by Titan1a

I own a specially modified 116-122 in a 116B cabinet. It's still under reconstruction.

Nice! What's it sound like compared to the original 116?

[Titan1a]

15 watts of American bass power! No acoustic clarifiers and no inclined speaker board. She'll rattle the walls!

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by Titan1a

15 watts of American bass power! No acoustic clarifiers and no inclined speaker board. She'll rattle the walls!

Noice! I'm really looking forward to getting my 116B going, which is P-P 42 output tubes and before the speaker got damaged, sounded really nice.

[Titan1a]

This was the very best table radio PERIOD. Nothing else was bigger or had better reception. The "B" unit only had 10 watts and a different speaker with standard cone. Maybe today she comes home to stay.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Titan1a

This was the very best table radio PERIOD. Nothing else was bigger or had better reception. The "B" unit only had 10 watts and a different speaker with standard cone. Maybe today she comes home to stay.

Getting back to the Philco 144, the radio has six tubes and uses two 78's, in two stages of IF, instead of a RF stage. It uses three IF transformers like a Communications receiver.