The PHILCO Phorum

Hi! I have recently volunteered to restore the chassis, with the help of a radio engineer of my acquaintance, of a Philco Model 38-8. This radio belonged to my grandfather, whom I never met and who died over 60 years ago (I am told the family actually listened to Hitler on the SW, on this thing, but that could be urban legend... they were very small at the time, and they just could have been listening to the news! ). The chassis was pretty shot and awfully dirty (!) when I got my hands on it, but we'll spiff it up, nicely.

I intend to replace all the caps and resistors, power transformer, tubes, and those lovely rotting wires. This doesn't seem too daunting, plus I have help, and all necessary schemos and service docs from the very handy Chuck.

But not having ever had my hands on a unit like this, before, I will need to know certain things germain to it, from time to time, so I'm happy to be here! And here comes my first question (it's pretty basic):

On the immediate left of the antenna terminals is a hole thru the chassis. Coming thru that hole on this particular unit was a cloth-covered, dual-conductor wire (cut off). Sadly, it wasn't attached to anything inside the radio, and the whole thing came right out!

We can't figure out if that wire was "for" anything, or if it was just the state of how the radio got stored, maybe 50+ years ago! Any clues?

Thanks in advance! Back again soon!


Russ!
NYC

Russ, most likely your power transformer will be fine, as will most of the tubes. You will need to test the resistors as they sometimes tend to drift high. But I wouldn't replace them indiscrimiately. You will definitely want to replace all the capacitors except the micas.
Steve

Thanks, Steve... hope you're right about the power transformer! It's been a pain, trying to find what the values on this thing are, and the schemo does not appear to list them. All research says these things can run very hot on modern AC voltage, and if the transformer itself is not bad, I'm still going to limit the incoming via a small mod. If, however, the transformer is fried, for some reason, where do I find a decent replacement?

(Also... no clue about the Mystery Wire??)

I did previous research which yielded the info you gave me about the micas and the caps. Here's one for you, speaking of resistors: several resistors are listed in the parts lists as, e.g., "10,000 mmf"...??? I have spent the last hour, trying to find what the ohm value of a resistor is, when it's listed in terms of "mmf". Can you advide?

Thanks again!

R!

Hello Russ.
Congrats on efforts of full- elec restoration of your vintage family Philco!! Plenty of good help here! The item you mentioned on the schematic that reads in mmf, or mmfds,? isnt a resistor!!!, it is a "small mica capacitor", and most probably still a good orig part! Resistors are rated in "ohms"& wattage individually within the schematic.
Are you sure the 2-wires you mentioned (previously cut thru your chassis) werent the orig ac line cord wires?
If possible, post chassis only photos here for future help in restoring your set! Photos definately help! Best of luck on your restoration!