The PHILCO Phorum

Just wondering what everyone thinks about the tombstone 630 model. Is it a good radio to get? Seems with the tuning eye, etc it might be nice..

All the 1936 "600" series sets are decent performers, once refurbished.

All the usual caveats on restoration, of course.

Chuck

I have one and it sound great and it has good s/w bands. No dead bands.

Pretty much the same as a Philco 620 but with a shadow meter, no Philco ever came with a magic eye.
Regards
Arran

yes, sorry... shadow meter. Thats what I meant.

Thanks all ... guess I will see if I can get it.

Just make sure you don't overpay for one, they didn't make as many 630s as 620s but they still made a lot of them. I would not pay over $100 even for a really nice example, much less if it needs knobs, tube shields, cabinet work, dial, etc.
Regards
Arran

Well, I know it could use a new dial, and refinished. Obviously at least recapped too. Are the dials hard to find?

Radio Daze has repros of the dial:

http://www.radiodaze.com/product/14198.aspx

Late to the party...but I can add my endorsement of the 630 to the many others posted here.

I had a 630B with a cabinet that turned out to be unsalvageable. I acquired a 610T "Big Bullet" cabinet a few years ago...I wrote about refinishing it here in the Phorum...and that cabinet now houses my restored 630 chassis.

In my case, the 630 chassis fit the 610 cabinet just fine, once I removed the shadowmeter. Since the 610 does not have a shadowmeter, now the set looks "stock" on the outside.

The 630 has a small chassis with components packed tightly. But if you don't mind working in tight quarters, the 630 will reward you with very good performance. It has an RF amplifier stage, so it will outperform the 610. As Arran mentioned, the 620 chassis is nearly identical, and performance is about the same.

Looks like I got this one for about $80.00. Maybe not real cheap but around here it is hard to find these. Now I have two radios waiting to be fixed up. Hopefully I will get more time soon. I will upload a picture soon for all that is interested.

Mondial, thanks for the link to the dial, I wan't sure which one it was, didn't know if I needed one that said 1936 630 like 36-630 or what, this helps.