Re: Some thing for Phill
Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2019 10:46 pm
its an RCA which means it is common my guess is about 1940 but if there is an ID tag we can look for the schematic sheet for it. it should be well documented.
wiring is a bit torn up . if you see a wire bundle a foot or two long that ends with a tube socket that would be for an eye tube . a 6U5 or similar. common to most radios of the time. its missing one tube not a big issue.
If I packed that thing in to a local radio club meeting I'd have a hard time giving it away because collectors don't get attracted to consoles unless they are fancy and the square boxes tend to be not collectable.
the transformer is huge, that's because it was probably designed for early power, 50 cycle, before they went to AC 120 V 60 cycle they needed big transformers.
the speaker might not be original if it is you will see 4 leads , two for the voice coil, two for the speaker's electrodynamic coil ( magnet) if it is there and original it's probably a fairly big speaker.
note that grey looking paper near the chassis is going to be asbestos and the pile of dust, so dont' breath it in. likely mice have been chewing around it.
I think the style of those tubes is called octals , they probably date to post war. note there are some glass ones and a metal one , the metal tubes are similar just not glass envelopes so you cant' see the metal tubes glow.
If the missing tube is 4 pins it is probably an 80 that was the most common rectifier tube.
If you were compelled to play with it you might be able to get it going it will need some wires replaced, and the capacitors. You'll see the cans above the chassis containing the electrolytic capacitors for the power supply and if you pull the chassis there will be a bunch of cardboard tube type caps, I'd replace all those and check wiring if you plan to power on. I see some cloth wiring there and that's often not so bad. so it might not be a case where all the wires in around the chassis are bad.
It might be fun for someone to play with , fix up and enjoy but I wouldn't get too invested in it because you won't sell this for much in the end. If you wanted to use the cabinet you could use it for a modern stereo or something fun. Its a bit upsetting when people destroy nice collectable antique radios for cabinets but with this I really wouldn't feel upset because its value and collectability is on the low side. maybe in time there will be more value. I often see higher prices asked for things like this on craigslist and you might try but my assumption is you won't get over 20 bucks or so if you sell it.
from a restoration point of view you'd be into it for maybe 100 for parts. If it were me I'd wait for one I liked more to invest restoration time in, but it might be ok for someone who just wanted to wet their hands and do a restoration and then move on to others with more value.
the phono cartridges in those radios do fail so that could be another issue or maybe a part that you'd want to keep should you part with it.
the turntable likely only plays 78's you can check the controls to see if there are other speeds.
the eye tubes might go for 30 bucks or so on craigslist. they are affected by sunlight , they are actually little cathode ray tubes like a TV and the phosphorous coating fades , it might still work, a new one would burn with a brighter green glow. Its used for tuning the stations as it gives you a visual indication of where the signal is strongest. the eye tube will be common to other radios of the time. if it's there it will sit behind the dial face and be mounted from behind.
the big antenna can be used with other radios. You can either use that or string a wire up outside to get more stations.
it will surely have short wave and the buttons are to be adjusted for local stations so you push a button and that flips the tuner to that station. the station number tags will probably still have the station numbers on them, that might give you an indication if it is local , probably is.
those notes are just from what my gut tells me. someone else might see more in it and restore it and feel it's really a cool piece and I wouldn't discourage that. If you need cash you might try just posting the tubes and antenna and eye tube, knobs together on ebay and you might get a few bucks. Hard to sell otherwise, but that's just one opinion.
because it doesn't look like a radio when closed up it might make a nice cabinet for dishes and whatnot or a more modern strerio.
If you did restore it it would be fine and you could listen to it and it's nice warm tube sound daily. from an economic standpoint it isn't yet worth the time of restoration restoration because it is hard to make money on stuff like this but a lot depends on timing and venue. Maybe that will change and others may disagree on value. It can be restored if you like it, most of it is the time to replace a bit of wiring and caps, rub some oil on the cabinet and wipe it clean and it'll look nice. there aren't too many radios that close right up and look like a sideboard or something so maybe that is an attractive aspect.
wiring is a bit torn up . if you see a wire bundle a foot or two long that ends with a tube socket that would be for an eye tube . a 6U5 or similar. common to most radios of the time. its missing one tube not a big issue.
If I packed that thing in to a local radio club meeting I'd have a hard time giving it away because collectors don't get attracted to consoles unless they are fancy and the square boxes tend to be not collectable.
the transformer is huge, that's because it was probably designed for early power, 50 cycle, before they went to AC 120 V 60 cycle they needed big transformers.
the speaker might not be original if it is you will see 4 leads , two for the voice coil, two for the speaker's electrodynamic coil ( magnet) if it is there and original it's probably a fairly big speaker.
note that grey looking paper near the chassis is going to be asbestos and the pile of dust, so dont' breath it in. likely mice have been chewing around it.
I think the style of those tubes is called octals , they probably date to post war. note there are some glass ones and a metal one , the metal tubes are similar just not glass envelopes so you cant' see the metal tubes glow.
If the missing tube is 4 pins it is probably an 80 that was the most common rectifier tube.
If you were compelled to play with it you might be able to get it going it will need some wires replaced, and the capacitors. You'll see the cans above the chassis containing the electrolytic capacitors for the power supply and if you pull the chassis there will be a bunch of cardboard tube type caps, I'd replace all those and check wiring if you plan to power on. I see some cloth wiring there and that's often not so bad. so it might not be a case where all the wires in around the chassis are bad.
It might be fun for someone to play with , fix up and enjoy but I wouldn't get too invested in it because you won't sell this for much in the end. If you wanted to use the cabinet you could use it for a modern stereo or something fun. Its a bit upsetting when people destroy nice collectable antique radios for cabinets but with this I really wouldn't feel upset because its value and collectability is on the low side. maybe in time there will be more value. I often see higher prices asked for things like this on craigslist and you might try but my assumption is you won't get over 20 bucks or so if you sell it.
from a restoration point of view you'd be into it for maybe 100 for parts. If it were me I'd wait for one I liked more to invest restoration time in, but it might be ok for someone who just wanted to wet their hands and do a restoration and then move on to others with more value.
the phono cartridges in those radios do fail so that could be another issue or maybe a part that you'd want to keep should you part with it.
the turntable likely only plays 78's you can check the controls to see if there are other speeds.
the eye tubes might go for 30 bucks or so on craigslist. they are affected by sunlight , they are actually little cathode ray tubes like a TV and the phosphorous coating fades , it might still work, a new one would burn with a brighter green glow. Its used for tuning the stations as it gives you a visual indication of where the signal is strongest. the eye tube will be common to other radios of the time. if it's there it will sit behind the dial face and be mounted from behind.
the big antenna can be used with other radios. You can either use that or string a wire up outside to get more stations.
it will surely have short wave and the buttons are to be adjusted for local stations so you push a button and that flips the tuner to that station. the station number tags will probably still have the station numbers on them, that might give you an indication if it is local , probably is.
those notes are just from what my gut tells me. someone else might see more in it and restore it and feel it's really a cool piece and I wouldn't discourage that. If you need cash you might try just posting the tubes and antenna and eye tube, knobs together on ebay and you might get a few bucks. Hard to sell otherwise, but that's just one opinion.
because it doesn't look like a radio when closed up it might make a nice cabinet for dishes and whatnot or a more modern strerio.
If you did restore it it would be fine and you could listen to it and it's nice warm tube sound daily. from an economic standpoint it isn't yet worth the time of restoration restoration because it is hard to make money on stuff like this but a lot depends on timing and venue. Maybe that will change and others may disagree on value. It can be restored if you like it, most of it is the time to replace a bit of wiring and caps, rub some oil on the cabinet and wipe it clean and it'll look nice. there aren't too many radios that close right up and look like a sideboard or something so maybe that is an attractive aspect.