The PHILCO Phorum

I am relatively new to Philco radios. I came across one of the 46-132 farm radios. It hasn't been restored but the unit looks incredible. If I didn't know any better I'd say it looks brand new. How much would you pay for one of these? As I said, it hasn't been restored and is still setup to work from batteries.

Honestly for me, it depends on a lot of variables. What's my budget looking like at the time? Does it really "do it" for me? or is it just another radio? I tend to buy radios that remind me of one that I'd seen in my childhood or was special for one reason or another. Guess my answer didn't help much...LOL

Yes, I guess I see where you're coming from. . . . . I guess I'm just trying to get an order of magnitude of what to expect to pay. Would it be < $100, $100 - $150, etc. etc. I overpaid on my last purchase and want to keep that from happening again. This unit looks fantastic cosmetically and all of the components seem to be there......however the working condition is unknown since it's a battery operated unit.

Non-working - under $100 is realistic. More like $50-60 max.

You will incur restoration costs as well:
Rotted wiring rubber-covered that will need replacing, all caps and some
resistors, tube(s) maybe, cost of repro batteries to run it, once restored, etc.....

Chuck

Thanks very much. That helps a lot.

NOW . . . . I am fairly knowledgeable about electronics . . . . from a theoretical standpoint. But I am no competent technician or restorer. How much would it cost to restore one of these and maybe convert it to a AC power? I understand that much of the cost would depend on the condition once someone gets into it. Assuming that none of the parts are missing, how much do people charge for restore this? The cosmetics are fine so it just requires work on the electronics. Again, just the order of magnitude would be helpful (e.g. $100 - $200, $200 - $300, etc).

Thanks for your feedback. Once I get an idea about this I suppose my next question will be who are some people who might be interested in doing this.

DANNO

Some repairmen/shops have an hourly rate, plus parts some give a ball park figure. To replace all the bad caps and check/replace resistors, any tubes that are bad/weak to replace, wiring, re-alignment, etc. at least $100-150 maybe.
Cost of restoration depends solely on the repairman's hourly rate doing the restoration and parts cost obviously.
Hard to guess.

Cost of converting it are far and away more expen$$ive than using an outboard power supply specially made for radios like this or using a repro Philco battery pack (AB type) that takes standard/rechargeable 9V and C cells. Operating the set as it was originally designed to do instead of permanently modifying an original antique. :-)

Email Bill the Batterymaker at: batterymaker@gmail.com
He makes battery reproductions of A, B batteries -- AB Packs with repro Philco wrappers
and sizes to fit into your set to plug right into the battery plug and harness in your set.

Here's a sample of his work:



This set takes three packs, but your set takes one A-B combo pack with one
4-pin socket to match your harness plug.


Chuck

As a collectible the set is probably not worth much. In pristine condition, maybe $50. However mine is priceless. It was the first appliance my folks bought when they got married after the war. I grew up listening to it and reception was great for what it was. After my Dad died, it was my first restoration. It had sat on a shelf at my Mom's since I blew the tube filaments trying to convert it to AC when I was a kid. It does take a good antenna and an earth ground, but I can clearly remember Dad picking up Hawaii from Central Texas when I was little. It proudly sits on my computer desk as I write.

As for repair, it is probably one of the easiest you will find. I am currently walking a newbie through restoring one in Missouri. A homemade battery pack for it costs $7 using "Just-A-$1.00" store batteries plus a few dollars worth of parts to connect them. It is perfectly safe for a first time repair since it does not connect to the AC line. The service data is readily available and I have some underside photos if you need them to locate the parts.

Edit: Oh, and since it has probably sat dormant for many years, it probably only needs a set of capacitors that cost less than $10 for all of them. The tube filaments are a little delicate, so you might need one or two. Again, less than $10 should cover that. It is an easy fix and anyone with reasonable intelligence and handy mechanical skills can restore it.