difference between Canadian & American sets - Printable Version

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difference between Canadian & American sets - SteveinAlaska - 07-09-2016

Sort of a beginner's question here. Simply this, what differences are there between American made sets and their Canadian counterparts??
Living in Fairbanks Alaska I think I may run across this issue......
Back in high school in the 1960s I first experienced this in the auto shop class with a couple of cars assembled in Canada.
Thanks for the help.

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RE: difference between Canadian & American sets - Arran - 07-09-2016

 Are you referring to Philco radios in particular or U.S and Canadian made sets in general? Well aside from the fact that there were manufacturers that were entirely Canadian, who produced sets for the Canadian market, Like Rogers, Marconi, or Grimes-Phonola/Electrohome, the Canadian subsidiaries of companies like Philco, RCA, or G.E made models that were unique to the Canadian market and not simply clones of U.S models. There were some that were exactly like their U.S counterparts, some that were almost exactly like their U.S counterparts but with some minor differences in the cabinet or changes in the tube lineup like substituting a 5Y4 for an #80, and in the case of Philco sets that used the same chassis but had a different model number, or some like my Philco 3118 that used an identical chassis to a U.S 118 but used a different cabinet.
 One common feature to many Canadian built sets, regardless of brand, was the use of 25 cycle power transformers, as there were quite a few areas that had 115 volt 25 cycle power grids, even into the late 1950s. This makes absolutely no difference  in terms of operation today, a 25 cycle equipped set will work perfectly fine on 120 volts 60 cycles per second, in fact the transformer should run cooler as there is more iron. Where you may run into trouble is if you find something that has a 25 cycle motor in it like a clock or a phonograph, most were converted before the switchovers in the late 1950s but the odd one slipped by.
Regards
Arran

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RE: difference between Canadian & American sets - Nathan Slingerland - 07-09-2016

If your question is specifically about Philcos, Ron has a page on Canadian Philco sets here:

http://www.philcoradio.com/world/canada.htm

[moderator edit: The new link to the Candian sets is now http://philcoradio.com/phorum/showthread.php?tid=15021 ]

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RE: difference between Canadian & American sets - Paul Philco322 - 07-10-2016

I thought they liked Molson and smoked meat sandwiches,

Paul 

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RE: difference between Canadian & American sets - Nathan Slingerland - 07-10-2016

Somehow that info was missed.

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RE: difference between Canadian & American sets - Art Hoch - 07-18-2016

Nathan's page gets me a 404 Error.

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RE: difference between Canadian & American sets - klondike98 - 07-18-2016

Art, that's because most of what was on the Philcoradio.com website has now been moved into the Phorum. The Canadian set link is now http://www.philcoradio.com/phorum/showthread.php?tid=15021 Nathan's link pointed to the old website.

The explanation is posted as a Forum Announcement: http://www.philcoradio.com/phorum/announcements.php?aid=32

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