News:

"The phone is a remarkably complex, simple device,
and very rarely ever needs repairs, once you fix them." - Dan/Panther

Main Menu

Anyone else here into tube electronics?

Started by Holtzer-Cabot, March 19, 2017, 08:07:31 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Holtzer-Cabot

Hi! How is everyone doing? I haven't posted here is awhile, so I thought I'd ask if anyone liked vintage electronics, mostly tube radios/TVs like I do.  :) I am only 15, yet I collect telephones, and repair radios! Ha!  :P I just love vacuum tubes in general, and am always looking for more tubes and test equipment! Nothing is built like it used to be! I have two tube testers, I wish I had a mutual conductance one, but those are expensive! Anyone remember the self service ones found in the stores back in the day? I wish I was around to use one back then! I am currently working on a Hallicrafters model S-40A receiver for one of my school teachers. I had to restring the fine tuning string and improvise a spring on the pulley, and lubricate the bearings on the tuning capacitor shafts and knob shafts. All I have to do now is order some capacitors for it, I don't have any around! I never ordered any before. I also just love anything electrical or mechanical such as electric motors. I want to find one of the old cast iron ones with a brass tag on it! The one piece (or two) of test equipment I am still looking for are a tube oscilloscope, and a capacitor/condenser checker capable of testing for leakage. I mostly need the cap checker, just to have around to test the paper capacitors after I replace them in my radios just for the fun of it! I wish I could find more equipment around..ha! Here is my shop in the picture. (older photo, not the same radio that I am currently working on) Also, read more about me here, more details! http://antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=309519 Take care everyone and thanks for reading!  ;)  ;D
Western Electric - A unit of the Bell System and main supplier of AT&T since 1882! -15 year old phone collector!

Fabius

Like several members here I collect tube radios. Mostly 1930s era. Show us pictures of your "stuff".

After you replace the wax paper condensers on the S-40A check your resisters for still being in tolerance.

Pictured is one of my Zeniths.
Tom Vaughn
La Porte, Indiana
ATCA Past President
ATCA #765
C*NET 1+ 821-9905

Dan/Panther

Yes sir. Old Televisions, radios, record players. One record cutter. Old Drugstore tester.
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

TelePlay

And while this site charges a one time fee of $25 that has to be sent by check to Europe, it is THE best source I've found for information and schematics on most every radio every made.

     http://www.radiomuseum.org/

This is one of many but it was my first and is still my daily driver (I mainly prefer the art deco era Bakelite pre-war AM, FM and/or SW types). Being an RCA with a mono RCA jack on the back and front switchable, I can plug an mp3 player into the back and play 40s era Old Time Radio shows on the radio - AM is a bit low on content these days.



There are a few other members who I think now have more radios that phones . . .   ;)

Holtzer-Cabot

Quote from: Dan/Panther on March 24, 2017, 10:55:15 PM
Yes sir. Old Televisions, radios, record players. One record cutter. Old Drugstore tester.
D/P
Wow! Yes I am glad we are similar! I hope to someday get an all tube TV (hopefully a pre-war set, or any 40's/50's set) With a good CRT to restore.I always liked the drugstore testers! I have a few tube testers, but they aren't the drugstore type ones. I also listen to records for my main music collection, mostly 60's and 70's era rock! I am currently restoring a Hallicrafters model S-40A tube radio/general coverage receiver. There is just something about tube electronics and telephones that I love!
Western Electric - A unit of the Bell System and main supplier of AT&T since 1882! -15 year old phone collector!

Holtzer-Cabot

Wow! Those are so beautiful radios you guys have!! I have a few nice ones, but not that many, but I will be getting more in the near future to restore after I am done with mine. I have 3 consoles that I hope to restore and keep one and sell the other two. I got them all for free. I also have some table sets that I will keep I think. One of the consoles is a Zenith chassis mounted in a modified cabinet that was originally a TV. It has (had) a 6X5 rectifier tube (tube is missing) so I hope the transformer is good..
Western Electric - A unit of the Bell System and main supplier of AT&T since 1882! -15 year old phone collector!

Holtzer-Cabot

Quote from: TelePlay on March 25, 2017, 04:37:03 AM
And while this site charges a one time fee of $25 that has to be sent by check to Europe, it is THE best source I've found for information and schematics on most every radio every made.

     http://www.radiomuseum.org/

This is one of many but it was my first and is still my daily driver (I mainly prefer the art deco era Bakelite pre-war AM, FM and/or SW types). Being an RCA with a mono RCA jack on the back and front switchable, I can plug an mp3 player into the back and play 40s era Old Time Radio shows on the radio - AM is a bit low on content these days.



There are a few other members who I think now have more radios that phones . . .   ;)
Oh and thanks for the link, I use that to look up specs on radios.  :)
Western Electric - A unit of the Bell System and main supplier of AT&T since 1882! -15 year old phone collector!

Dan/Panther

Quote from: Holtzer-Cabot on March 27, 2017, 11:13:36 PM
Wow! Yes I am glad we are similar! I hope to someday get an all tube TV (hopefully a pre-war set, or any 40's/50's set) With a good CRT to restore.I always liked the drugstore testers! I have a few tube testers, but they aren't the drugstore type ones. I also listen to records for my main music collection, mostly 60's and 70's era rock! I am currently restoring a Hallicrafters model S-40A tube radio/general coverage receiver. There is just something about tube electronics and telephones that I love!

I also belong to the Antique radio Forum.

D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

Holtzer-Cabot

Quote from: Dan/Panther on March 28, 2017, 12:30:10 PM
I also belong to the Antique radio Forum.

D/P
I do too! I am on there a lot, just like on here. The ARF and CRPF are like my home haha! People actually know what I am talking about. My user name on there is CrankTelephone101, you might of seen some of my posts before, I don't know. What's yours?
Western Electric - A unit of the Bell System and main supplier of AT&T since 1882! -15 year old phone collector!

Fabius

Tom Vaughn
La Porte, Indiana
ATCA Past President
ATCA #765
C*NET 1+ 821-9905


jsowers

I read ARF too. It's a very busy forum and easy to get behind reading posts. I much prefer the less busy nature of the Rotary Phone Forum to be honest.

Like you, Dylan, I started collecting old radios at a very early age. About 1970, so that would make me 12 when I started. I still have that first $5 radio, a Silvertone radio-phono console, in my bedroom in a place of honor. It worked when I got it and I didn't know about old caps then, so I powered it up and it worked with no hum for many years. I took it to junior high school once and even took it with me to college. My landlady thought the house was going to burn down when she saw that old thing!

My parents were big auction goers and mom collected and refinished antique furniture. So they would sometimes get a radio cheaply and that was lots of fun. I still have all those radios and several I bought myself in my travels. I have a 1936 Silvertone console in my kitchen and a 1941 Philco table model like the one my grandparents had during WWII and long afterward. It was still working when I was a kid in the 1960s and may have been why I got into the hobby.

I have my aunt and uncle's 1958 Grundig-Majestic console (one of their wedding presents) that I always enjoyed listening to when I visited their house. It still works, but it needs filter caps, so I don't play it often. Elvis playing on the Grundig is a thrilling experience, like it was made to play that music. Those German radio-phonos are a different animal entirely. Full of pushbuttons, thumbwheels and odd mechanisms. I'll never forget stopping by a house where they had a Telefunken console, or what was left of it, in the ditch in front of their house. The man said I could have it free and it had worked fine, but nobody wanted it at his yard sale. He saved the tubes in a bag and gave me the tubes too. They were exactly what I needed to fix up the Grundig. Two pictures of the Grundig are below.
Jonathan

Holtzer-Cabot

I'm glad to know that you guys are also on the ARF.  ;D
Western Electric - A unit of the Bell System and main supplier of AT&T since 1882! -15 year old phone collector!

Holtzer-Cabot

Quote from: jsowers on March 28, 2017, 09:31:31 PM
I read ARF too. It's a very busy forum and easy to get behind reading posts. I much prefer the less busy nature of the Rotary Phone Forum to be honest.

Like you, Dylan, I started collecting old radios at a very early age. About 1970, so that would make me 12 when I started. I still have that first $5 radio, a Silvertone radio-phono console, in my bedroom in a place of honor. It worked when I got it and I didn't know about old caps then, so I powered it up and it worked with no hum for many years. I took it to junior high school once and even took it with me to college. My landlady thought the house was going to burn down when she saw that old thing!

My parents were big auction goers and mom collected and refinished antique furniture. So they would sometimes get a radio cheaply and that was lots of fun. I still have all those radios and several I bought myself in my travels. I have a 1936 Silvertone console in my kitchen and a 1941 Philco table model like the one my grandparents had during WWII and long afterward. It was still working when I was a kid in the 1960s and may have been why I got into the hobby.

I have my aunt and uncle's 1958 Grundig-Majestic console (one of their wedding presents) that I always enjoyed listening to when I visited their house. It still works, but it needs filter caps, so I don't play it often. Elvis playing on the Grundig is a thrilling experience, like it was made to play that music. Those German radio-phonos are a different animal entirely. Full of pushbuttons, thumbwheels and odd mechanisms. I'll never forget stopping by a house where they had a Telefunken console, or what was left of it, in the ditch in front of their house. The man said I could have it free and it had worked fine, but nobody wanted it at his yard sale. He saved the tubes in a bag and gave me the tubes too. They were exactly what I needed to fix up the Grundig. Two pictures of the Grundig are below.
It sure is! And wow, great story, thanks for sharing! My first tube radio was a Silvertone! And I have seen those odd mechanisms in the German sets. That is a beautiful Grundig, you should treat it to some new filter caps.  :)
Western Electric - A unit of the Bell System and main supplier of AT&T since 1882! -15 year old phone collector!

Bill

I'm an old radio guy as well. Member of NEARC (New England Antique Radio Club) and AzARC (Arizona). You can see some of my radios at Radio Attic Archives ( http://radioatticarchives.com/contributor.htm?code=81 ). I used to get on ARF regularly, but got behind. A couple years ago I decided to ease out of my antique radio hobby - I had become a hoarder and it was discouraging. So I got rid of most of my radios, most of my tubes, and most of my test equipment. And guess what? I miss it! I'm slowly getting back into it, and enjoy keeping up with the radio-collecting folks here at CPRF. I'll hope to run into you folks on both forums.

Bill