The PHILCO Phorum

I am trying to find someone who can fix my husbands, grandfathers, radio. I would love to get it working for my dear husband for Christmas. Does anybody know of a repair person near me? I can either go near Madison, Indiana or near Louisville, Ky. I see there are places that I could ship it to, but just world rather do it local, if I could.

Shirley, welcome and I'm certain someone in your area can supply a contact for you. These old radios are a wonderful part of family history. You should post the model number which is normally stamped on the back of the chassis or on a sticker on the inside of the cabinet. A picture would help if you can figure out how to post! I use photobucket to copy an img. format and just paste it in to your post.
Good luck. Jerry

Welcome to the Phorum
The Indiana Historical Radio Society web site might help you contact someone close to you. http://www.indianahistoricalradio.org/index.htm

There are two "repair/restoration" services that I saw with a quick look:
John and Jean Antique RAdio http://www.johnjeanantiqueradio.com/ and Camden Antique Radio http://www.camdenantiqueradioservice.com/ .

The first is about 3 hours from Madison, the second about 2 hours. I don't know anything about either although Ron (the founder of this Phorum) has John and Jean listed on his resources page also.

I personally know John & Jean. They restore tube radios the correct way! They are GREAT people and they care about the way the radio is when completed. Very,Very happy with the radio I purchased from them!

+1 on John and Jean, they are indeed great people.

But I can also tell you that they stay very busy, and I seriously doubt they would be able to get your set going in time for this Christmas.

Anyone who is any good at restoring radios stays booked for months, sometimes years, on end. Really, I am afraid that you won't be able to find anyone who would be able to do this for you in time for Christmas 2013. Now Christmas 2014, yes, that is probably doable.

I am not currently aware of anyone closer to you that is in the radio repair business. Well, I just had a thought...perhaps the Cincinnati Antique Radio Society could help you?

http://www.cincinnati-antique-radio.org/

Eliot Ness (John), do you know of anyone else?

I sometime restore sets for other people, but it would completely impractical to ship a chassis to where I am for restoration and return it before Christmas, it would take two weeks to get it here, and two to get it back. I think the regional radio club may be your best bet. The problem is that early 40s Philco sets usually need some amount of rewiring, and they also often need a new output transformer, this is on top of the usual stuff like capacitors, resistors, and weak tubes, so it would take more lead time then 60 days even if you were down the street from me.
Regards
Arran

I would be willing to restore the chassis but it would have to do it after Christmas and it would be a 3HR drive as I live in Kokomo.