This post could apply to any radio not only Philcos. After finishing up chassis restoration of my Philco 37-116 it occurred to me that I really don't have any place to string a suitable long wire antenna to try it out on. So it came to me that the phone wire coming into my home has 4 wires in it of which only 2 wires, the red and green were used for the phone. The other 2, the yellow and black were dead as proved out by my meter not measuring any kind of voltage on them. So I thought these wires could be used as an outdoor antenna for my radio. This wire is probably 60' in length outside my house before reaching a pole. That is 60' of high and straight possibly good outside antenna material just hanging there. I connected my radio to it and it works rather well. It is a good alternative for me as I would have no real way of erecting such an antenna.
Ron
When I lived in Evansville, once I cut the landline and switched to a cellphone, I discovered that the old, disconnected telephone drop made a great outdoor antenna.
I used a small capacitor in series with the red wire. No harm since the line was not connected. I would not use the red or green wires on a line that is still in service - it may affect your phone(s). But yes, if the yellow is actually part of the service drop from the pole, then use it by all means. I think I would still attach a small capacitor in series with the yellow wire, just in case...
You certainly need a cap. Make sure it is a Y-cap, as the voltage on a phone line can be 110V even though it is decoupled via a transformer, but then as usual you want to be sure that if it fails you are safe.
Some sort of a surge protection would not hurt, although I think phone lines use something like maybe gas discharge tubes arrestors.
Yes Ron I does make a good antenna, and I am using the yellow wire which I checked and is dead but I will install a Y cap in series with it as Morzh suggested just to be safe. There is a block there with a ground wire on it that I assume is a surge or lightning protector.
Ron
Great idea, I too have a disconnected land line and the junction box is just a few feet from my workshop.
Keith