How to learn more about am tube radios?
 

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?

"newbieguy" wrote in message
...
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?

You might enjoy checking out this link-- there's a whole bunch of good stuff
here on old radios:

http://www.radioattic.com/

Jackie

newbieguy ) writes:
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?

rec.antiques.radio+phono is the newsgroup for you, a great place
to talk about old radios such as that.

Of course, for old shortwave or amateur radio receivers, there's
also rec.radio.amateur.boatanchors

Michael

Newbieguy,

Check out e-bay seller "areeko", who restores vintage radios.

His work is excellent.

I bought an AM tube radio that he restored - a Motorola - it looks and
performs like new.

www.devilfinder.com Antique Radios
cuhulin

"newbieguy" wrote in message
...
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?

Check out:

http://antiqueradio.org/

Also, consider visiting a Salvation Army type thrift store. Tube radios
show up from time to time. Around here, the small tabletop tube radios sell
around 5 or 10 bucks.

Frank Dresser

I get over to the Goodwill thrift store every day around noontime.There
are two other Goodwill thrift stores and a Salvation Army store and a
Rescue Mission thrift store in the metro Jackson area and a lot of other
junk shops and fleamarkets too,but I am not going to be out driving
around town everyday looking for bargains,I have too much junk here
anyway.Another good place to look for tube type radios is at the yard
sales and the classifieds in your local area newspapers and online
newspapers. www.kidon.com links to all of the online newspapes and
many other news sites,radio and tv around the World.The Goodwill thrift
store I go to every day (except when they are closed on Sunday's and
hollidays) is only seven tenths of a mile South of me and the radios
there sell from $2.00 to $4.00.You can also post notices on bulletin
boards for old radios.One of the local freebie classifieds physical
newspapers around here is www.americanclassifieds.com There used to be
another one called Thrifty Nickle but I haven't seen that one in my area
in a long while.They might have went out business.
cuhulin

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)

Thanks everybody for the helpful information. Whatever I do, I work
in electronics so will not do anything foolish.


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?

Frank Dresser wrote:


"newbieguy" wrote in message
...
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?

Check out:

http://antiqueradio.org/

Also, consider visiting a Salvation Army type thrift store. Tube radios
show up from time to time. Around here, the small tabletop tube radios sell
around 5 or 10 bucks.

I find that Salvation Army doesn't have much electronics, at least in my
area. If you have a Deseret Industries thrift store in your area (run by
the Mormons) they usually have lots of electronics. Local chains can
sometimes have electronics, too. I know that there's a local chain here
in California called Thrift Town that carries good stuff. But most of
these places don't have much in the way of tube gear anymore-there's too
much demand for it, and most of it goes to Ebay. The thrifts will
sometimes have cheap 50s tube radios, but those were of lower quality
than the pre-50 tube radios. You could try local antique stores, too.
They are usually pricey, but you might be able to find a good deal. Also
try Antique Radio Classified if they are still around. I remember them
as a monthly magazine full of ads for quality tube gear. You said in
another post that you are skilled in electronics, which is good because
prices for nonworking gear are much lower than for working gear. Often
only a couple capacitors or tubes need to be replaced.


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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)

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
.................................................. .............
Batteries do not have electricity inside of them.
.................................................. .............

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.

My $0.02 worth: The RadiolaGuy site has been the best place for buying
old restored sets, I mean the ones specially marked as having been
restored by him personally. He's getting on in age, and says he will
sell entire museum showroom over next few years.

Jackie,
thanks for the r"Radio Attic" link!

On Tue, 26 Jul 2005 22:17:44 -0500, "Buzzygirl"
wrote:


"newbieguy" wrote in message
.. .
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?

You might enjoy checking out this link-- there's a whole bunch of good stuff
here on old radios:

http://www.radioattic.com/

Jackie

"Ron" wrote in message
...
Jackie,
thanks for the r"Radio Attic" link!

Certainly... it's one of my favorite places to browse when I need an "old
radio fix." :-)

Jackie