flea market pick ups

Scored a custom wood box full of 50 blues cds today at the flea market. The girl selling them said they were from her fathers collection, whom had past away. She had a dollar per cd price but if I bought the whole box, 3 bucks. Call me a fool, I handed over the 3 bucks and off  I went.

Ran into a man who had an old RCA tube display rack for sale, he wanted too much than I would have paid, but struck up a conversation with him and he told me he had boxes of old tubes at his house and a tube tester. He asked me if I was into old tube radios, I replied more into amps. Gave me his phone number to set up a time to go and check them out, he isn't much interested in the tubes and would sell them. He didn't know what they were but said they are little and larges tubes. No idea what they are but worth the time go look one evening. Never know what one may find.

TM

He stores the tubes in a couple old amps ...



... probably give you those for free if you ask him nice ...

Skizo......so if you could run just one output tube type it would be.........................?......KT120
if so the KT150 must be the way to go.....................................NO?







thanks for the site Bob...................................

You'll never realize the full output of the KT120 in these amps ... at best, you'll see maybe a 10% increase in output over a KT88. Not shabby at all, but an amp would need to be designed specifically for the KT120 to get the rated power.

Same thing with the KT150, but they cost twice as much. Output would be about the same in our amps, so about all you get out of the deal is a KT120 with a different bottle. I like the shape, but I don't like it an extra $200 worth, ok.

Where the KT120 makes sense is that they DO sound good, and they're not working hard at all in the ST120 or monoblocks, so they should last forever. Once again, make sure your amp can drive them properly. They're also cheaper than some of the KT88 options ... I paid more for the TAD KT88STR's I picked up for variety. Those sound quite nice as well, but for now, the KT120's are edging them out as my favorites. Both are far more musical than my Psvane HiFi's ...

Latest "junk" acquisition ... purty lil thang, ain't it?



Good looking radio, dual band 7 tube dual IF ... also has killer tone and bass boost. Was playing when I found it, so no worries about dim bulbs and such. I'll still rip it down to take a quick peek around, test the tubes, clean the controls and maybe replace some of the old carbon resistors to get it back to spec, but it's real clean inside as well. I expect I'll eventually refinish the cabinet as well as replace the grill cloth, and touch up the dial a bit where some of the background paint is peeling.  

Just got done listening to an episode of Hopalong Cassidy on the Nostalgia Hour on CBC out of Canada. Fasten your seatbelt, trays in the upright positions ...  I feel a flashback comin' on!  

looks like new..................an works..................I know your a wood guy....but I wood  leave it as is
hehe........................................................at least for ....50 more years...but I like stock!
thanks for your input on the kt120s-150....I like the 6550 sound so much better than the kt88s with my ribbon speakers....I don't feel the need for a biger 88 sound..................
I got about 10 old radios from the fle my self.....have fun





thanks for the site Bob.................

One man's junk, right?

I like old wood and the patina that only comes with years, but in some cases it's almost a necessity to get into some refinishing work. The top of this one is real decent, but the burlwood on the bottom is nasty with a lot of cracking in the varnish. I can use dry transfer stencil letters to replace the original markings for the controls. Wouldn't be exact, but I don't do this for some finicky collector, I do it for ME!

Here's another one I'm working on. A mid '40's RCA 55x (A5).



Real nasty looking when I got it. Glued a couple cracks and replaced some missing internal blocking, so it's real solid now. I also got another roadkill special that had a nice faceplate, better grills, and antenna that I needed to make it right. Replaced all the cracked wiring and a couple leaky caps, as well as a couple of the old resistors that had drifted way off. AM only, but the dual speakers will fill a room nicely. Only caution here is the old A5 "hot chassis" designs are always live, so careful what ya touch!

Stripped the old finish, toned it with a light touch of thinned walnut to match the original shade, and a couple coats of Watco wipe on satin is all. Good for another 50 years now.

some finicky collector, I do it for ME!..................me me me..................
I get that!....................
hell put some kt120s on the top...an sides.....just for looks...
have more fun.....with tubes in 2015...



thanks for the site Bob................................................................................................

sKiZo wrote:Latest "junk" acquisition ... purty lil thang, ain't it?



Good looking radio, dual band 7 tube dual IF ... also has killer tone and bass boost. Was playing when I found it, so no worries about dim bulbs and such. I'll still rip it down to take a quick peek around, test the tubes, clean the controls and maybe replace some of the old carbon resistors to get it back to spec, but it's real clean inside as well. I expect I'll eventually refinish the cabinet as well as replace the grill cloth, and touch up the dial a bit where some of the background paint is peeling.  

Just got done listening to an episode of Hopalong Cassidy on the Nostalgia Hour on CBC out of Canada. Fasten your seatbelt, trays in the upright positions ...  I feel a flashback comin' on!  

Nice radio. I am new to this forum, but have many years with antique radios. That "burl" on the bottom is photofinish. Do not go near it with stripper unless you are up to veneering it. I think it is pretty nice as is but the electrolytics are wet or were wet and will need replacing and the AC coupling caps are wax and paper and will also need replacing with modern film caps. Since it is a Philco, there might be the dreaded bakelite blocks to restuff. And there might also be the dreaded disintegrating rubber wire.

It is fun listening to OTR - old time radio - on a piece that might have played it originally. I set up a 1936 radio in my father in law's living room on June 6th to play the original D-Day CBS radio broadcast. When he walked out of his bedroom to hear that broadcast, the look on his face was priceless. Dec 7th, Oct 30th, its all good. Enjoy.

Took a quick peek and wiring looks good - no flaking insulation anyway. I do have a few colors of the old style cloth covered wire that are handy if I find any questionable leads when I rip into it. And ya ... the electrolytics will always need to be replaced, all solder repointed, and the values tested on the old carbon resistors, but I usually leave the paper caps alone if there's no obvious signs of failure.

Case is in excellent shape with no cracking or dry joints, so I expect I'll leave that well enough alone. I did find a nice set of knobs to match the originals - those are dry and brittle - what's left of them.

And thanx for the tip on the bakelite blocks. First Philco in the family, so I'll have to research those.

I've been tempted to put together a low watt AM transmitter and attach that to the computer to feed the old time radio into these things. FCC allows a 100mW with a maximum 200 foot transmission radius for hobbyists. I've got a lot of the older stuff, mostly sci fi (remember Space Patrol and Planet X?) as well as mystery theater. Also have a bunch of 78rpm rips of ethnic music (any klesmer fans out there?) that would sound killer on the old tubers.

Of course, I'd also want to build a DSP "static and fading enhancer" for late night listening ...

Fun fact: FCC also allows what's called a "carrier current" AM broadcast. You inject your signal into a power line, and you get effective transmission along that line all the way to the first transformer. For rural service, that's still limited to your home as each service has it's own transformer on the pole, but for city dwellers on a local distribution grid, that could cover a lot of area.

Oh ... and if my 100mW signal just happens to go parasitic and bounce on the big antennas, well ... shift happens ...  ;-}

Hiya skizo.

Sounds like a plan. I would think about the coupling caps because, if they get leaky, they can red plate the output tube and or burn up an IF coil or OPT which are pretty much unobtanium. For the philco bakelite blocks, they are really a piece of cake. The blocks can usually be retrofitted with new cap or caps without removing them from the radio if you have a heat gun and some aluminum foil.


There is a guy named Chuck Schwark that can provide factory documentation for Philco radios. You get a nice large schematic in the mail plus parts list, and any production changes. Philco uses some non standard color codes on their resistors which make a schematic a necessity. These colors were designed to be more visible under the mercury vapor lights used in the 1930's. About $7 for a table radio. A little more for the big twenty tube consoles.

http://www.philcorepairbench.com/

SSTRANS makes a really nice SS AM transmitter kit - the 3000 - the 5000 is also nice, real nice, but $$$$.

Or you can build one of these for a few dollars.

http://antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=193042

It takes the audio and drives the VCC pin of a 1 MHz crystal oscillator - voila amplitude modulation. It works surprisingly well.

There is a guy that sells a nice tube AM transmitter on ebay for a couple of hundred but I personally have never used it. Just mentioned it because some people are allergic to sand.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/130928527412?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I, of course, have no affiliation with any of the products mentioned in this post.

Thanx!

I grabbed what Radio Museum had on the model, but the pickings were mighty slim ... decent schematic, but not much else. Just placed an order with the Philco repair bench - sounds like the package should cover a lot more territory.

Good info on the transmitters too ... that's definitely a rainy day project, somewhere behind a bunch of other such.

I also restauré a junior Philco.