This is OT, but may be of interest to C+F’ers since it’s about sound + tradition.
I’m a big fan of radio. Public radio on FM, shortwave, ham, even CB (gag).
We’re blessed with a few really independent radio staions around here. By that I mean not funded by commercials OR ARCHER-DANIELS MIDLAND!!!
Lots of oldies,swing, folk, I-trad etc, etc.
Now to the point.
I picked up 2 sixties vintage table radios this weekend. Big German tube types. They sound Soooooo nice. Warm and relaxing. For the type of music I listen to, they’re pefect. They have a nice, retro, just like Grandpa’s Telefunken, kinda of appeal too.
And to top it all off, they’re dirt cheap (i paid $30 and $40 respectively). Easy to repair, swap out tubes until it starts humming again. Readily available on e-bay, tag sales, swap meets etc.
If you ever see one at a tag sale or something, i urge you to try one out.
for more info, you can check out
http://www.antiqueradio.com
Regards,
jb
Now you need that gismo that hooks up to your sound card (I think) and broadcasts over AM and listen to one of my favorites, OTRNow.
This is just toooooooo weird. This afternoon, my husband brought home a PHILCO TRANSITONE radio- got plenty of tubes in the thing- The construction crew he’s working with found it in the building they are renovating. I don’t know if the thing works, haven’t plugged it in. I’m guessing the body is bakelite. It has a square dial.
Thanks for the link on old radios- I’ll check it out.
Philco Transitone, that was my first radio. This was back in the early 70’s, bought it for $4 at a small misc. store.
Whenever you power up an old tube set that has been off for a long time, you need a special capacitor restoring procedure:
Two methods:
-
Using a Variac, Slowly bring voltage up half-way (60 Volts US) for 30 minutes. Then up can increase it.
-
Without a Variac, wire a light bulb socket on a power cord so that it is in series with the radio (not parallel).
a. Use a 100 watt bulb for 10 minutes
b. Then switch to a 60 watt bulb for about 20 minutes.
c. Then remove the lamp socket and go full power.
The bulb acts as a current limiter.
In either case, these procedures allow the dieelectric chemicals in capactors to adjust properly after being off for such a long time.
If you don’t do this, the capacitors might decide to explode and metal can capacitor fragments can hurt you and the radio.
I was alerted to this post by a friend who is here frequently and wanted to add some comments and clarification.
I’m a collector and restorer of vintage tube radios and am delighted to see this thread. They are wonderful indeed - I have about 50 at last count.
If an old radio hums, it is almost always due to the filter capactitors being bad. One post here gave some excellent advice for first powering up a radio via the ‘dim bulb’ method. (I use a metered variac, but the bulb in series works as well). However, filter capacitors rarely, if ever, reform to the point where they will be reliable. They must ALWAYS be replaced if the radio will be used on a regular basis.
Re changing tubes till the hum disappears - it’s a myth that tubes frequently go bad. Sure, they do, but mostly they get weak over time. New tubes have a virtually unlimited shelf life - indeed I have quite a few radios which are working merrily along on 60+ year old tubes. (Try that with your Sony…) Ninety five percent of problems in tube radios can be traced to shorted, open, or leaky capacitors. This is why it’s highly advisable to replace ALL paper capacitors after changing the filters. In general, tubes are NOT the cause of hum problems!
NEVER plug an old radio in straight away unless it has been checked over or you have a means to monitor its voltage and current draw. Otherwise you may cause major damage to transfomers, tubes or any number of other components.
The Antique Radios site was listed above - correct URL is:
http://www.antiqueradios.com
There is an outstanding forum there with many helpful and knowledgeable folks who can provide guidance.
I would also be happy to email outside this forum to give advice.
Re the German radios, I have 3 and they do sound great plus they have the addition of the modern FM band which 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s radios do not have. They typically use a bridge rectifier which should be replaced as well for safe operation.
Cheers
Crawfish