My Philco 41-280 story. - Printable Version
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My Philco 41-280 story. - KD5ITM - 08-04-2023
Came across this forum yesterday and thought I’d make a post.
My dad bought this Philco 1941 41-280 back in 1961 at the age of 12 from a used furniture store for only $5, located in Richmond CA (SFO Bay Area). In 1996 at the age of 14, I started listening to Short Wave on it. At that time Dad and I pulled the Chassis and did a good cleaning. Checked all the wires and connections. It has 6 Philco tubes, which I assume are original. The other 2 tubes are a different brand and were installed before 1961, when dad bought it. The “cat gut” string used to move the needle when tuning had a few spots that were starting to fray, so dad and I went to a TV / Radio repair shop (remember those?) and robbed the cat gut string out of a couple of home stereo radios. Replaced the cat gut string. I also removed the speaker and grill. Cleaned the grill, found a good quality spray paint that was a close match to the original color of the speaker grill and gave it a repaint. The 12” speaker has a 2 - 2.5” hair line crack in the cone, but does not effect the audio sound.
I listened to short wave almost every night for 3 - 4 hours on this 41-280 from Spring of ‘96 to Christmas of ‘97 when I got a radio shack DX-375 portable Short Wave radio, which I still use today when traveling.
If it was not for my 1941 Philco 41-280, I never would have gotten my Ham Radio licenses December ‘99 at the age of 17. KD5ITM
Right now the Philco is in my home office. And yes, it still gets used a few times a month.
RE: My Philco 41-280 story. - klondike98 - 08-05-2023
Welcome to the Phorum!
Great story!
RE: My Philco 41-280 story. - GarySP - 08-05-2023
Welcome to the Phorum! Your last comment was that you listen to the console a few times a month ... Has the chassis been rebuilt? If not I would not play it until you do so. All capacitors and any out of tolerance resistors should be replaced, and special attention given to the condition of the rubber wiring. All of these could ruin your day if they fail.
I have a 41-280x that I bought years ago at an estate sale. The trim on the sides of the speaker on mine had been stripped of its' photo finish. The previous owner did a very good job of matching the new finish to the existing cabinet finish, and I left it that way.
Take care and BE HEALTHY! Gary