Show us your radios!

FStephenMasek · Jun 17, 2015

jamespowers said:
I am going to have to take a picture of my 1929 Balkeit lowboy radio that I have the cabinet restored on. The internals were too far gone for my guy to fix but he cleaned them up and it looks pretty darned good.

Please post the photo(s). I bought what I think is a 1929 Belkeit in a lowboy cabinet yesterday. Why do you think your radio is too far gone to fix? I strongly suspect it could be fixed. Here is my radio:

I finished this Zenith 7-S-449 chair-side a few days ago:

I'm also active on http://www.antiqueradios.com and am a http://www.radiomuseum.org model administrator, and suggest that people interested in radios also join those sites.

jamespowers · Jun 17, 2015

FStephenMasek said:
Please post the photo(s). I bought what I think is a 1929 Belkeit in a lowboy cabinet yesterday. Why do you think your radio is too far gone to fix? I strongly suspect it could be fixed. Here is my radio:

I finished this Zenith 7-S-449 chair-side a few days ago:

I'm also active on http://www.antiqueradios.com and am a http://www.radiomuseum.org model administrator, and suggest that people interested in radios also join those sites.

Yours looks almost exactly like mine! The guy I had work on it said that he couldn't get the parts needed. He just restored the case and cleaned up the chassis. At least it is presentable now.

AtomicEraTom · Jun 18, 2015

I apologize for the poor photo.

A friend gave me this Zenith.

jamespowers · Jun 18, 2015

AtomicEraTom said:
I apologize for the poor photo.

A friend gave me this Zenith.

A radio AND phonograph. Nice!

AtomicEraTom · Jun 20, 2015

I'm lucky enough that this one is in working order, too, except the tuning dial has a lot of slop in it, but that should be fairly easily fixable. I have enough radio projects at the moment, though lol

jamespowers said:
A radio AND phonograph. Nice!

LizzieMaine · Jun 20, 2015

AtomicEraTom said:
I'm lucky enough that this one is in working order, too, except the tuning dial has a lot of slop in it, but that should be fairly easily fixable. I have enough radio projects at the moment, though lol

A little bit of rosin on the tuning-dial cord might sort that out until you can get a new cord in there.

AtomicEraTom · Jun 26, 2015

I'm going to give that a try. Thanks!!

LizzieMaine said:
A little bit of rosin on the tuning-dial cord might sort that out until you can get a new cord in there.

fashion frank · Jun 26, 2015

AtomicEraTom said:
I apologize for the poor photo.

A friend gave me this Zenith.

I know this Thread is about radios , but just had to mention to you Tom that I have that same phone and love it .

All the Best,Fashion Frank

AtomicEraTom · Jun 27, 2015

I love candlestick phones! This one's a Repro, but gets the job done, and I do have an original one my parents bought me for Christmas.

fashion frank said:
I know this Thread is about radios , but just had to mention to you Tom that I have that same phone and love it .

All the Best,Fashion Frank

FStephenMasek · Sep 16, 2015

I'm focused on finishing the radios I have, so have only bought three this year.

The Balkeit F is finished. It works so well that I had to cut the antenna wire down to just over a foot, or it is too loud with the volume control all of the way down receiving my transmitter. I have a thread on it on Antiqueradios.com.

We bought this 1939 (the map shows Kaliningrad part of Germany, and Vilnius part of Poland) Sonora Globe Navigator last month. It plays, but not as strong as it should. I'll replace the electrolytic and paper&foil capacitors, out-of specification resistors, and check and replace the tubes as needed. It is supposed to have extra paper bands to glue in place at the equator inside, so I hope at least one is still there.

I just got this 1931 Philco 112 lowboy today, but the top will need to be re-veneered

FStephenMasek · Sep 16, 2015

jamespowers said:
Yours looks almost exactly like mine! The guy I had work on it said that he couldn't get the parts needed. He just restored the case and cleaned up the chassis. At least it is presentable now.

Do you have any idea what part(s) he said it needs? It should be possible to restore it. Where do you live? There may be a radio club in your area.

plain old dave · Apr 29, 2017

1949-50 vintage G-500 Zenith Transoceanic. Was a bit hesitant to plug it in, but I did. Plays ok on BC, and I got Brother Stair on 49m. It chirps at full volume, thinking the AF tube has gone microphonic. Recap, tubes as required, and alignment and we should be good. Not saying what I paid, but it was a great deal.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

LizzieMaine · Apr 29, 2017

I've got a very similar model, a couple of years older and using loctal tubes instead of miniatures. But you have the same bandswitch array as mine has, and that will be the root of a lot of problems. Be sure to clean *all* the contacts in the array with Deoxit, and work them back and forth many times to ensure that the contact surfaces get a good clean polish. I've owned two of these sets over the years -- the first one was stolen off my front porch one day when I wasn't paying attention -- and both have had problems with the bandswitch, especially in the middle shortwave bands. And in both cases, cleaning the bandswitch gave good solid reception on all bands before any other work was done.

Both sets I've owned were also very microphonic -- it's a design flaw in the types of tubes used.

plain old dave · Apr 29, 2017

OK, thanks. Not expecting PLL performance, but something other than Brother Stair might be good. Re-treated all positions in the bandswitch, worked through all of them for 10 evolutions or so, now to let it sit.

EDIT: Tried it a few minutes ago, booming on 49m, but BC is way down. Thinking the glop from the bandswitch assembly settled into the BC end of the thing, at the bottom as it is. Re-treating after dinner.

plain old dave · Apr 30, 2017

New update. BC is responding well to the cleaning.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

Dan Walker · Jun 26, 2017

Radio Dazed said:
Ended up making a cabinet for the 'DX shortwave set' with built in battery box. Cabinet is solid birch.

This is my best radio. It is a 1935 Rogers model 10-12.
It is the holy grail of Canadian radios.
It was Rogers 10th anniversary and it has 12 tubes, hence 10-12.
I had to restore the whole chassis with new caps and some wiring.
I also had to strip and restore the cabinet. There are not too many of these radios around.

HanauMan · Jun 27, 2017

I own this vintage German Telefunken Jubilate radio. It was bought new by my parents who were living in Germany at that time (early 1960s); there are two frequency indicators for AFN / AFN Munich on the front. It still works though it takes a minute for the valves to fire up.

View media item 1461

Warden · Aug 14, 2017

A little bit off tangent but saw this post online about the end of Radio Shack and the auction of vintage items
http://www.newstimes.com/business/article/RadioShack-vintage-items-auctioned-11271202.php

scotrace · Oct 23, 2017

This is a Trutone sitting in my brother's house. 1940s?

LizzieMaine · Oct 24, 2017

Yep. Early postwar, probably 1947-48. It has the "new FM band," which replaced the prewar FM channels in 1945, but the first FM-capable sets manufactured after the war had both the old and new FM bands just in case.

Show us your radios!

FStephenMasek

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AtomicEraTom

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