Westinghouse9 ?

[newsong]

Does anyone have information on this radio? Is 9 the correct designation?
I beleive it was manufactured in 1953. I was 1 at that time, but remember it as I grew up as a kid. I would like to see if I can find one in brown color.

Thanks all.
John

[toxcrusadr]

Those plastic and Bakelite sets show up on ebay by the thousands. If you don't have an account, sign up, and set up an automated search that will email you, or just go to the antique radio section when you feel like it and search Westinghouse. Prices are down these days.

This is probably a 5-tube (All-American 5: 12BA6, 12BE6, one other 12V mini, 35W4, 50L6), AM-only set. When you find one it will need capacitors.

[newsong]

Thanks,
This model has both AM and FM. I remember in the early 60's we could only get 1 FM station.

[titanstats]

Here's a couple of links from other members that helped me out a bit:

http://www.nostalgiaair.org/

http://radioatticarchives.com

A bit of hunting should be able to find you the model -- lots easier to track one down when you know the correct name. Looks like a cool little radio.

[Hemingray]

Originally Posted by toxcrusadr

Those plastic and Bakelite sets show up on ebay by the thousands. If you don't have an account, sign up, and set up an automated search that will email you, or just go to the antique radio section when you feel like it and search Westinghouse. Prices are down these days.

This is probably a 5-tube (All-American 5: 12BA6, 12BE6, one other 12V mini, 35W4, 50L6), AM-only set. When you find one it will need capacitors.

Perhaps you mean 12AV6, or 12AT6. both are common in AA5s. usually a 12AV6.

[Jeffhs]

I found a Westinghouse AM/FM radio on eBay last night that was in a darker bakelite cabinet than the one being discussed here, different style of tuning indicator and dial scale, but basically the same set. The eBay item number is 230313497586. You should find it, as the auction was still in progress the last time I looked, just before beginning to write this.

Good luck. These old radios are great, and a real pleasure to get going after 45-50 years of standing idle in someone's garage, attic, basement, etc., often given up for dead by their former owners when they go silent. They also represent a standard of build and sound quality we will never see again, no thanks to outsourcing and the closing of once-proud American firms such as Admiral, RCA, Zenith, Magnavox, Westinghouse, et al. I collect older Zenith radios, and have found that they can outperform most if not all modern stuff coming off the lines from Korea and elsewhere. Many of my sets can receive AM and FM stations my other radios cannot hear; this is due to the extra-sensitive signal circuits in older Zeniths. These radios were built on solid metal chassis with point-to-point wiring (no printed circuits or other production shortcuts, although my 1965 Zenith MJ1035 stereo FM radio does have, under the chassis, at least three component combination units with four leads extending from the base; I don't know, however, whether or not these are printed circuits) as well, with many of their better table models housed in solid wood cabinets (before injection-molded plastic cabinets became the norm for table radios). I am personally very surprised to see so many smaller Zenith radios on eBay, as most people will hold on to a Zenith as long as it works. Many of the sets for auction are in fact still working, or have at best small, easily repaired problems such as dry-rotted line cords, defective filter capacitors, broken or loose dial cords, to name three.

[newsong]

Thanks to Titanstats

Here is what I found so far. After exhaustive searching, the correct model number is: Westinghouse H389T7 AM/FM radio

Year of manufacture: 1952

Super-Heterodyne (Super in general)Superhet - normally without a preamplification stage (as far as known).

Wave bands Broadcast (BC) and FM.

Power type and voltage Alternating Current supply (AC) / 115 VoltAC set plus voltage range.

Loudspeaker (moving coil)Permanent magnet type moving coil speaker (principle by Rice-www.radiomuseum.org Model: H389T7 Ch= V-2180-1

Material Bakelite caseBakelite case, shape horizontal or not known.

Shape Tablemodel, Mantle/Midget/Compact but not a Portable (Mains only).

Dimensions (WHD) 355 x 210 x 200 mm / 14 x 8.3 x 7.9 inch

Valves / Tubes 7: 12AT7 6,3V 0,3A (more for members)
Net weight (2.2 lb = 1 kg) 2.4 kg / 5.3 lb

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by newsong

Thanks,
This model has both AM and FM. I remember in the early 60's we could only get 1 FM station.

Hmmm. Interesting. I looked up Albion, NY on Google a few minutes ago and found that the town is 41 miles from Rochester. Unless the latter only had one or two FM stations in the time frame you mention, I would think you would be getting far more than just one FM radio station; in fact, I'd think you would hear every local station in Rochester, unless the stations were so weak (as were many FM stations in the early sixties) they could not reach much beyond the city or its immediate suburbs.

The geography of your area could be a factor as well. If there are mountains or other obstructions, natural or man-made, between Rochester and Albion, that could explain why you could hear only one station. Were you able to hear more with an external antenna? Again, I would think, being only 41 miles from Rochester, you would be getting most if not all the city's major FMs. (How many FM stations were in Rochester in the early 1960s?) I live about 35 miles east of Cleveland and can receive every one of the city's FM stations, despite the fact that the village in which I live is only 610 feet above sea level, and the city of Cleveland itself is just 660 feet ASL. (Ironically, television reception here is awful, with only one station coming in on an antenna well enough to watch; almost everyone in town, myself included, has cable or satellite.) I don't know Albion's elevation, but if the city is only a few hundred feet ASL or, worse, in a valley, that could also explain why your FM reception was so bad in those days. How many stations can you receive these days? I would think, as I mentioned above, you would be hearing almost every major FM in Rochester now, since most commercial FM stations run far more power these days and have better antenna systems, and the technology has improved greatly since the early sixties as well.

[newsong]

I grew up in Meadville Pennsylvania during the time we had this table model.