Starting on an RCA140 - Printable Version

Starting on an RCA140 - Printable Version

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Starting on an RCA140 - morzh - 05-25-2026

This one I bought Sep 2025 in Kutztown.

I have two of them, one bought a few years ago and the cabinet restored by Fred Taylor. It need some things, and this one is whole.
Even the knobs are original.

I also have a GE K-80. So I will hopefully gain the experience, and then atke on the rest of them.

This radio was repaired, to which this and another Japanese cap are the evidence. Or the earlier repairs with some black beauties.

The other radio is missing the RF cover.

I thought of manufacturing one, but it is a little involved, as I had realized after removing it from this radio.

Good news are:

The speaker has nice cone, good FC and good transformer.
The reactor choke in the Audio driver is good.

All of that was shot in the R73, which was teh first of this similar RCAs I restored.

The radio is about double the weight of any Philco of a comparable size. I was really nervous when carrying it today. Meaning the back.
As usual, the huge cap block. I thhink it is steel, and, as the last time, I simply track the wires and replace the cap at the point of destination. Removing this block was nearly impossible in R73. Let alone opening it.
I suspect, this will be the case also.

The tubular caps are ugly and have uncovered lumpy black tar at the sides.
Something oozed on the bottom cover, and I was not sure it was not a speck of mouse poop, but then it was very tarry, and only was removed by min spirits, so it is tar.

This is the chassis.

RE: Starting on an RCA140 - Arran - 05-25-2026

Mike
I think that I remember reading this article before https://mcclellans.com/GE_K-80RestorationNEW.htm
It may be of help.
Regards
Arran

RE: Starting on an RCA140 - morzh - 05-25-2026

Arran

Thanks.

Yep, I know this article.
I even used it some 2 or more years ago to show to July McCall for her to see what the real knobs looked like, and she said she knew the McLellan guy and would ask him. I was looking for the knobs for that #1 RCA140 I have that is missing the knobs, as well as the rails and the RF cover.

But then life happened.

RE: Starting on an RCA140 - radiorich - 05-25-2026

Hello Mike,
What great looking radio and the cabinet is really nice .
it looks like my late friend Jerry worked on that set in his youth Jerry Rigged everything he touched it seemed like it .

Sincerely Richard

RE: Starting on an RCA140 - Arran - 05-26-2026

Mike:
Assuming you can't find another RF shield assembly from a parts chassis (the same chassis was also used in consoles) I don't think it would be impossible to make as you at least have one or more originals to use as a pattern. I would try making patterns from cardboard, or stiff plastic first, but I think that what you mainly need is someone with a brake to bend up the partitions, though using a vice and angle iron will work. Is the RF shield steel or aluminum? In the pictures the bottom portion looks like aluminum. I think that the chassis rails may be as the R7 Nipperette/G.E S-22 chassis, though the length may be different, I picked up some steel channel somewhere to make some for my J-82, but never got any further then that, I have the ones from my G.E S-42A to use as a pattern, if I can find the channel again.
I don't have one of these sets but I have one of it's younger siblings, the M-81, it also has eight tubes, but doesn't have the extra RF amplifier stage, however I don't think it's much easier to work on, lots of rock hard rubber/gutta percha covered wire, and it has a dead audio interstage transformer too, but it's a more normal one. They are nice sets, but the parts quality suffered with age, almost all of the resistors like to drift.
Regards
Arran

RE: Starting on an RCA140 - morzh - 05-26-2026

Arran

All parts are steel.
Yes, I can possibly to it. It is 3 parts. And I do not think I have to bend the edges of the main part. The parts can be riveted together, which is what they are.
Of course, aluminum will develop the oxide and become less of a shield over time, but if riveted well, maybe it is not much of a problem. Or at least during what I have left of my lifetime.

I actually think, the vertical parts are more important as they separate the partitions from influencing each other, whereas the horizontal one is simply the carrier of them, as there is nothing that needs to be shielded from the underneath space.

And, yes, I possess the skills and can use our workshop to drill the holes (I do not have a good drill press at home), it's just I am not a big fan of this type of jobs. Oh well, first I will have to deal with that first radio. And maybe the GE. Then I will take on the last 140.

RE: Starting on an RCA140 - morzh - 05-27-2026

As I probably wrote in another thread (probably when I bought this 9/2025) the RCA140 has special meaning as this was the radio the Soviets stole to make their first superhet SVD, eventually having to acquire the license from RCA.

SVD stands for "Supergeterodin Vsevolnovoy s Dinamikom" - "All-wave Superheterodyne with a Dynamic speaker."

This is the first licensed model, SVD-1.
https://rem-tv.net/stuff/svd-1?srsltid=AfmBOoo99_Z40gxrxw0SdVnwnzMETEiJDEO7IszZdHQKp4Y8AD8q3onV

SVD, the very first prototype and small batch production radio photos practically do not exist.

SVD-1.pdf Size: 3.16 MB Downloads: 178

BTW, The Soviet 6A8 and the American 6A8 (both are pentagrid converters) are not the same tube. Icon_lol

RE: Starting on an RCA140 - Arran - 05-28-2026

Mike;
I noticed that the later revisions, if that was what they were, used metal octal tubes. Lots of other interesting Soviet receivers on that website, including what I assume was the original "Moscvich" model, and another one that mentioned "Komsomol", or "Komsomolich" https://rem-tv.net/stuff/30-1-0-5166 which I believe was the acronym for the communist party's youth organization. It looks like a TRF of some fashion.
Regards
Arran

RE: Starting on an RCA140 - morzh - 05-28-2026

Yes, ""Komsomol"" in English is YCL (Young Communist League).
It was a TRF with 1-V-1 designation (not sure if the same is used here, it is a TRF with 1 RF amp and 1 audio amp).

RE: Starting on an RCA140 - radiorich - 05-28-2026

Hello mike,
thank you for posting that website it was intresting to see those radios .
Sincerely richard

RE: Starting on an RCA140 - Arran - 05-28-2026

It looks like a four tube unit, unless one is hiding behind one of the cans. When that Komsomol (or is it Komsomolets?) set was made it looks like they were following a more European design, where they had separate sub chassis for the front end and the power supply. I don't know if it had tube types listed on there or not, but they look like they may have been similar to the per war British tubes with offset pins. But then again this tube pin layout was fairly popular in European sets of the 1920s and 30s anyhow, at least before Phillips came out with their side contact "P" style tubes in 1936.
Regards
Arran

RE: Starting on an RCA140 - Joe Rossi - 05-29-2026

Mike, This is a fine looking radio. Icon_thumbup

That chassis looks huge. Should be lots of room in there, but looks can be deceiving. Joe

RE: Starting on an RCA140 - morzh - 05-29-2026

Joe,

While there is room, RCA chassis are pretty packed and, on top of that, wired in a very inconvenient way. Kinda like the Philco 45's phenolic board on steroids Icon_lol

RE: Starting on an RCA140 - Arran - 05-29-2026

Joe;
These chassis are not that large by length, or width, but they are quite deep, I have a feeling that these were a carry over from the RCA R7 "Nipperette" style chassis, which were a carry over from the 1931 model year. The main difference being is that the tuning condensers on those are under the chassis, as is the B.C band oscillator coil, antenna coil is on top. These have five bands, and the bandswitch/coil assembly is under the chassis, to renovate one of these radios properly you have to remove that coil assembly/catacomb to access the bottom of a number of the tube sockets. I really don't think that servicing was what RCA had in mind, just convenience of assembly by building the set with basically "modules", so I'm guessing that not much went wrong with these over their anticipated service life other then maybe filter cap changes.
Then again it could have been an offshoot of the 1930s trend towards miniaturization, packing the maximum amount of radio in the minimum number of square feet. My Echophone S5 certainly fits that bill, eight full sized tubes stuffed into a chassis the size of a average 1940s AC/DC set.
I remember reading in an old industry magazine that surveys indicated that these sets were typically kept for between 10 - 15 years before being traded in on a newer models. In reality the Austrian painted and the Empire of Japan had a hand in extending the service life of many of our sets, between production being halted in the spring of 1942, and tube shortages, it does explain why so many early AC sets are still around. It was easier to get tubes for your RCA Radiola 18, and your Philco 95, then it was for an early 40s AC/DC set.