On Wed, 27 Jul 2005 03:14:50 GMT, newbieguy
wrote:

When I was a kid, I used to listen to my grandfather's AM tube radio.
It was a breadbox sized Philco, I believe vintage 1940s. It had
excellent reception and excellent sound due to a big old 6x9 inch
speaker on the bottom. I would like to get me a am tube radio. I see
lots on ebay in various conditions, many pretty cheap. But I know
nothing about them, what is good and what is not. Where can I learn
more?
Take plastic knob off the tuner, stand in a puddle, change channels.

In article ,
David wrote:
On Wed, 27 Jul 2005 03:14:50 GMT, newbieguy
wrote:

When I was a kid, I used to listen to my grandfather's AM tube radio.
It was a breadbox sized Philco, I believe vintage 1940s. It had
excellent reception and excellent sound due to a big old 6x9 inch
speaker on the bottom. I would like to get me a am tube radio. I see
lots on ebay in various conditions, many pretty cheap. But I know
nothing about them, what is good and what is not. Where can I learn
more?
Take plastic knob off the tuner, stand in a puddle, change channels.

The old brown bakelite case with Octal tubes, (RCA, I think), we had in
the kitchen was even better than that. It had a metal set screw on the
volume control. Ouch.

For the OP, there was a low cost design called the "All American 5"
that was the guts to most of the tabletop AM Broadcast band radios
(in North America) from after WW-II through the mid 1960s. It was low
cost because it didn't use a power transformer and the power line was
connected to the chassis. If you had the power plug in the wrong way,
line voltage was present on any metal parts that the user could
accidentally contact.

This is where all the movie scenes came from that show people electrocuted
in the bathtub. It really happened, too. Most radio nuts knew at least
a friend of a friend who got killed. (In my case, a friend of my high
school electronics shop teacher).

Some shortwaves used this design, too. National SW-54, Knight
Star Roamer(?) , Hallicrafters S-38, and the cheapest Heathkit.

And the audio output tube (50C5 or 50L6) was always good for a couple
of burned fingers if you didn't let it cool down before you tried to
take it out of the socket.

A good place to start is to find an affordable copy of the _RCA
Receiving Tube Handbook_.

Mark Zenier
Googleproofaddress(account:mzenier provider:eskimo domain:com)

An All American five is so so for reception.
We had a table model Sears Silvertone - circa 1961 -- it featured a tunable
RF amplifier and wow did it pull in the stations across country at night in
the winter.

So maybe look for a vacuum tube set with an RF amp

BTW many vacuum tube Auto radios had RF amps and they really worked well.

--
CL -- I doubt, therefore I might be !






"Mark Zenier" wrote in message
...
In article ,
David wrote:
On Wed, 27 Jul 2005 03:14:50 GMT, newbieguy
wrote:

When I was a kid, I used to listen to my grandfather's AM tube radio.
It was a breadbox sized Philco, I believe vintage 1940s. It had
excellent reception and excellent sound due to a big old 6x9 inch
speaker on the bottom. I would like to get me a am tube radio. I see
lots on ebay in various conditions, many pretty cheap. But I know
nothing about them, what is good and what is not. Where can I learn
more?
Take plastic knob off the tuner, stand in a puddle, change channels.

The old brown bakelite case with Octal tubes, (RCA, I think), we had in
the kitchen was even better than that. It had a metal set screw on the
volume control. Ouch.

For the OP, there was a low cost design called the "All American 5"
that was the guts to most of the tabletop AM Broadcast band radios
(in North America) from after WW-II through the mid 1960s. It was low
cost because it didn't use a power transformer and the power line was
connected to the chassis. If you had the power plug in the wrong way,
line voltage was present on any metal parts that the user could
accidentally contact.

This is where all the movie scenes came from that show people electrocuted
in the bathtub. It really happened, too. Most radio nuts knew at least
a friend of a friend who got killed. (In my case, a friend of my high
school electronics shop teacher).

Some shortwaves used this design, too. National SW-54, Knight
Star Roamer(?) , Hallicrafters S-38, and the cheapest Heathkit.

And the audio output tube (50C5 or 50L6) was always good for a couple
of burned fingers if you didn't let it cool down before you tried to
take it out of the socket.

A good place to start is to find an affordable copy of the _RCA
Receiving Tube Handbook_.

Mark Zenier
Googleproofaddress(account:mzenier provider:eskimo domain:com)

On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 09:31:52 -0700, "Caveat Lector"
wrote:


An All American five is so so for reception.
We had a table model Sears Silvertone - circa 1961 -- it featured a tunable
RF amplifier and wow did it pull in the stations across country at night in
the winter.

So maybe look for a vacuum tube set with an RF amp

BTW many vacuum tube Auto radios had RF amps and they really worked well.

I strongly disagree. I spent many a pre-teen evening DXing like crazy
with one of those hideous little boxes. One time I logged WBZ Boston
(I was in Scottsdale) right after Sunset. I could get just about
every L.A. station.

Even new radios,if plugged into a wall outlet and thrown into a bathtub
of water,if somebody is in that bathtub,it can kill them.Those
capacitors (for instance,working on things that have capacitors in them)
can zap you too if you are not carefull.Capacitors are suppose to be
properly drained of electricity first to avoid a shock.
cuhulin
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Batteries do not have electricity inside of them.
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