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#1
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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? |
#2
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"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 |
#3
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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 |
#4
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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. |
#6
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"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 |
#7
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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 |
#8
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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. |
#9
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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) |
#10
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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? |
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