08-13-2023, 06:24 PM
This will be a pretty nice radio. The 5Z4 likely has similar specs to a 5Y3, with the advantage of having a cathode sleeve, making for a more rugged tube. Years ago I had a philco console (Can't remember the year, it had a 10 or 12" Speaker (think it was a 12), Octal and Loctail tubes, pull out grille for the phono, AM and SW (I can't remember if it had the old Armstrong FM Band). Well, I was not in my room where the radio was, the radio was on and the 5Y3 developed a plate to cathode short, burning the transformer. My sister and mother screamed (My little hobby caused them to do that a lot), and Dad's intervention meant nothing. The radio had to go out to the curb, chassis, cabinet, speaker and all (I snuck the tubes and replacement Jensen PM speaker back).
So a transformer for 5 300mA tubes, 2 700 mA tubes and a 2A 5V rectifier is what you need. Unfortunately, the B winding AC voltages are not given, but one from a Philco 16, 116, a similar RCA or Zenith console will do. (Sometimes, I think that all circuits came from RCA engineers, as there are so many similarities among the manufacturers. ) Of course, take it from a hopelessly unrestorable radio.
I am guessing that this radio is ca 1936-1937 which was one of the first couple of years after 1930 that GE built radios instead of sourcing them from RCA. GE sold RCA designed and built radios as late as the 1935 season. (Prior to 1930, RCA sold radios built by GE, Westinghouse and Wireless Specialty Apparatus, as RCA had no manufacturing facilities. In 1929-1930, RCA bought the Victor Talking Machine Company who had just started building radios in addition to phonos. In 1930, an antitrust suit settlement caused the breakup of the GE-Westinghouse-RCA consortium, and part of the deal was that GE and Westinghouse were not to build their own radios for a few years, buying RCA made sets for resale and totally reversing the previous operation.) In addition, GE was an early proponent of metal tubes. I do not know whether GE or RCA actually invented the metal tube. RCA may have claimed that they invented the metal tube but, as one Phorum member said, RCA claimed to invent the electron!
So a transformer for 5 300mA tubes, 2 700 mA tubes and a 2A 5V rectifier is what you need. Unfortunately, the B winding AC voltages are not given, but one from a Philco 16, 116, a similar RCA or Zenith console will do. (Sometimes, I think that all circuits came from RCA engineers, as there are so many similarities among the manufacturers. ) Of course, take it from a hopelessly unrestorable radio.
I am guessing that this radio is ca 1936-1937 which was one of the first couple of years after 1930 that GE built radios instead of sourcing them from RCA. GE sold RCA designed and built radios as late as the 1935 season. (Prior to 1930, RCA sold radios built by GE, Westinghouse and Wireless Specialty Apparatus, as RCA had no manufacturing facilities. In 1929-1930, RCA bought the Victor Talking Machine Company who had just started building radios in addition to phonos. In 1930, an antitrust suit settlement caused the breakup of the GE-Westinghouse-RCA consortium, and part of the deal was that GE and Westinghouse were not to build their own radios for a few years, buying RCA made sets for resale and totally reversing the previous operation.) In addition, GE was an early proponent of metal tubes. I do not know whether GE or RCA actually invented the metal tube. RCA may have claimed that they invented the metal tube but, as one Phorum member said, RCA claimed to invent the electron!
"Do Justly, love Mercy and walk humbly with your God"- Micah 6:8
Best Regards,
MrFixr55
