RCA Radio

[wds]

I've had my eye on a couple old radios for a while, but just haven't pulled trigger until now.  I don't have any plans starting a radio collection anywhere close to my telephone collection, but there are a couple radios that I've got to have.  Here's my first - RCA - not sure of dates yet, but I thought this one was a keeper.

[AE_Collector]

Dave:

I moved you here to "Off Topic". Not that "Off Topic" is a bad thing around here but most of the Radio's and Clocks hang out on the "Off Topic" Board. I have ofter wondered if we shouldn't have a "Radio's, Clocks and Fan's" Board here but I guess that opens up a whole new can of worms.

COOL RADIO, I have never seen one quite like that. Years ago back when I was a kid I had some radios too. I sort of wish that I had kept some of them.

Terry

[twocvbloke]

Very nice radio, though I can't help but wonder why they went to home depot to buy a central air vent to act as a speaker grille....

(I'm sounding more american every day!!! )

You could build a small AM transmitter for that, so you can play suitably vintage music through the radio, just as they have FM transmitters for MP3 players and them ipod things, they're pretty simple affairs to build too...

Instructables; Build a very simple AM transmitter:
http://tinyurl.com/cw54sw9

[wds]

It is from 1950 - I guess a one year model.  It has a phono jack in the back, so now I need a matching record player.  The sound quality of the speaker is actually quite good. 

[canuckphoneguy]

Beautiful radio! Does it work? I would imagine this was before FM radio, right?

I bet this will be the first of MANY radios for you.  They're on my list of things to collect too.

[LarryInMichigan]

WARNING! Old radios, clock, fans, and various other things can be as addictive as phones! 

Larry (an non-recovering addict)

[AE_Collector]

WARNING! Old radios, clock, fans, and various other things can be as addictive as phones! 

Hoovers too, right twocv?

Terry

[twocvbloke]

Hoovers too, right twocv?

Terry

I only own two Hoovers... 

(though I do have 15.5 vacuum cleaners in total... )

[MyDodgeDip]

I have one of those at work, just not as nice.     Good score!

[Doug Rose]

That is one beautiful radio! I love speaker. Is the radio bakelite or wood. Great find!!...Doug

[wds]

It's wood grained bakelite on the front, and plain bakelite on the top and sides.  The speaker grille is what attracted me to this radio.  It has 3 tone settings on the radio and the phono and the speaker has a nice mellow tone to it.  I'm anxious to listen to Rush on it next week. 

[jsowers]

RCA Victors from the 1950s do have very good sound. They called it "Golden Throat Tone" and it is a cut above a lot of other manufacturers.  Their TVs also had Golden Throat Tone and a 3-point tone control. Around 1950 they started making radio and TV cabinets with almost flush knobs on the side like that, which made for a much cleaner appearance.

As far as FM, the FM band we use today came along just after WWII in 1946 or thereabouts. I have a 1955 RCA Victor AM/FM Bakelite case radio that has very good sound. The side of the case was broken off when I got it, but that didn't harm the radio at all.

The phono jack on the back was meant for an RCA Victor 45 turntable. You can still find them, but they're kind of high. Most of them need a new or rebuilt cartridge and idler wheel.

I have an aunt who got married in 1949 and my uncle bought an RCA Victor AM-FM radio-phonograph console as a wedding present to her. I was fascinated by it as a kid. It had one large turntable for 33s and 78s and another smaller turntable for 45s. They were both concealed behind separate doors on either side of the console.

[twocvbloke]

As far as FM, the FM band we use today came along just after WWII in 1946 or thereabouts.

Yep, it was invented by Edwin H. Armstrong, who also developed the Superhet circuit for AM radio, with plenty of disagreements between him and RCA over the FM technology...

And the scary thing is, he looked a lot like one of my brothers, but then we are of the same bloodline...

[LarryInMichigan]

I have a Sonora WEU-262 which is supposed to be a 1948 model.  It works well on both AM and FM bands.



Larry

[LarryInMichigan]

Dave,

Have the capacitors in your radio been replaced?  If not, you should replace them before playing the radio.  The old paper capacitors can short, which can result in components being damaged and/or a fire.

Larry

(Here's one of my favorite radios (Delco R1231A:)