an actual antique radio

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phil
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an actual antique radio

Post by phil »

Yesterday I bought a "loose coupler" radio. Most radios are not true antiques if you use the 100 year old definition. I'd estimate this one to actually be about 100 years old. I haven't' taken a picture yet but it looks just exactly like this "Arlington" one.

It's more a piece of history that a thing of beauty or a useful radio. they were actually set up to receive a longer wavelength than the common AM band and those stations didn't exist at that point. It still may receive some stations if i get to playing with it.

http://www.sparkmuseum.com/COUPLERS.HTM

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Neighmond
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Re: an actual antique radio

Post by Neighmond »

Really! One of those " false starts" before the superhet became the law of the land? I have a Paulson cil that looks something like that.

phil
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Re: an actual antique radio

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Its from before radio tubes were invented. Not really a false start but part of early development of radio. The AM band didn't' exist and there were only a few spark gap transmitters. There was a lot of development between this and a superhetrodyne, regenerative radios using WD11 tubes and peanut tubes and ones like UV199 were in the early sets. the westinghouse radiola 3 was pretty common and used two tubes. most of the early sets were used with headphones or early horn speakers. eventually amplifiers and speakers got better. radios weren't used for music back then they were more for communications and more like test equipment than luxuries for the home. at first it was an extension of telegraphy but instead of needing to be hard wired in the radios could receive Morse code signals over the air. that was a major advancement as before that Morse code was sent via telegraph lines and they weren't cheap to install so they didn't go everywhere.

They built lots of TRF (tuned radio frequency) around 1927 to 1930 or so. at first there were three knobs that had to be individually tuned, you will often see three knob radios and collectors often refer to them as dog coffins due to the size of the box. then they figured out how to gang the tuners together and that made them easier to operate. at first with a chain to couple them mechanically and then to a common shaft for the tuning condenser. the superhetrodyne was patented and lots of companies were experimenting with circuits around the early 30's. superhetrodynes eventually became pretty standard. in the early 30's even though the depression hit, radios went mainstram and to this day there are plenty of radios from 1929. many couldn't keep up with production and the stock market crash killed off a lot of manufacturers. in the early days it was against the law to play records over the air because it would hurt the performers and record companies so all music was live. some of the radio stations also owned concert halls for them to broadcast from. when you listen to shows like "the shadow" you can hear them making all the noises in the studio they weren't' prerecorded.

I often relate the explosion of radio into peoples homes to the way we all went crazy about the internet and bought home computers in the 1980's everyone wanted one and without one you were left out of the loop. Many around this time were very fancy showpieces made to display in the living room and they were a status symbol. It was also cheap entertainment once you got one and people needed that with the economy in the dumps. those who couldn't afford them might go to other peoples houses to listen in. a new radio might be a hundred or two and tubes were another hundred , those were large expenditures for people facing the dirty 30's. when war hit the radio manufacturers were mostly converted to the war effort and tubes were scarce. sometimes one can find places they cobbled together workarounds for tubes they could get. in some cases the radios didnt' follow the schematics because the manufacturers were struggling to get parts. after about 1936 or so there was a gap in production eand after the war they all had table top radios. most of those followed the superhetrodyne circuit they were cheap to produce. a lot had the same tube lineup and basic circuit. these are often referred to as "all American 5 radios" they usually had 5 tubes. The war made money for development of tube technology move ahead.

some of the frequencies may actually be still used and it may have quite a wide range but mostly its designed for long wave. Perhaps used for ship radios. I am not a ham operator but one who was would know more about the different bands used today for ham radio. If I tune most of my short wave radios around I can find a few stations and some frequencies have marker frequencies where they may broadcast the time or a signal perhaps used for ships to navigate. since time accuracy is important in navigation I think they used these time marker frequencies. I have some radios that will receive short wave and long wave signals but there isn't a lot to listen to without appropriate equipment like a decent antenna.

speaking of false starts the Armstrong FM band was like that. I have radios that will only receive that band and since it doesn't exist you won't see many restored ones. it went the way of the beta VCR.

I don't know what a "Paulson cil" is ?

Phil

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Neighmond
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Re: an actual antique radio

Post by Neighmond »

SHould have said "Paulson Coil", just a large coil with a rack and pinion traversing the top to change the resistance.

I have my old Hallicrafters s20r and sx-25 that were wartime sets, makes you wonder how many tense nights were spent before them listening to what went on over there. The s20r used to be called the cat catcher in our place-if the cat was awol you turned the set on and left the volume low-he would creep out from wherever he was stashed and lay atop of the metal lid for the warmth.

phil
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Re: an actual antique radio

Post by phil »

maybe that coil is a rheostat? if you see this web page.
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/r ... ry-coil-no

I hate that "worthpoint" website but the thing looks very old and kind of similar except the coils are so heavy. I'd bet it dates around the same era.

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