1929 Model 86? You tell me. - Printable Version
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1929 Model 86? You tell me. - TubeNewb - 12-07-2010
Hi guys,
This past weekend I purchased my first Philco cabinet radio. I believe it to be a 1929 model 86? This is just a guess and I could use your help in making a legitimate I.D. On it.
It has a cap or plug in the faceplate opposite the on/off switch where in an earlier model a ¼ phono jack
was installed. Someday I would like to wire in a new ¼ jack so I can play electric guitar through it. But that's a whole 'nother story
I bought this from a woman who's deceased husband collected and as a hobby repaired and re-sold old tube radios. There were over 50 to chose from. I settled on this one because it looked like a good restore able project for me and my 9 yr. old son i.e. all the pieces seemed to be there.
Upon getting it home we removed the chassis and cleaned it up tested all the tubes (I got a tube tester with the purchase of the radio) They all test at the low end of good. I pulled the bottom cover off the chassis to check for bad connections or other suspect issues. Everything looked to be in order. With the only modifications being 2 new capacitors or resistors(I don't even know the difference yet) soldered to the underside of two of the tube bases then wired in series and soldered(grounded?) to the chassis.
Several coils were visible on the underside and although the wires looked patina'ed they did not appear to have any breaks in them.
After my examination I decided things looked good enough to give it a try powering it up.
It hummed to life, with all the tubes glowing and dial light working. But no reception. I can make the hum go away with what I am calling a hum reducer, the thing you turn with a screwdriver. But no reception still.
You can see in the picture there is a blue wire attached to the ANT. terminal , it's about 3-4' long. I have no idea how long of an antennae this radio requires, so don't know if this is sufficient, it just happened to be on there when I purchased it. Also wondering what the LOC. And GRND terminals are for.
I assume the left dial on the front of the cabinet is volume, what is the right dial for? Does it switch between a.m. and s.w. Or does this model not do shortwave?
Anyhow there is a brief rundown, I know I have a lot of learning to do and probably will have to replace/rebuild numerous parts to get it working correctly.
Oh and as a side note, I am on solar power here and have a modified sine wave inverter, does anyone know if this will cause reception issues for me? I do all right with fm on my solid state equipment but unsure of the am band.
Thanks for looking!
TubeNewb
Note from site admin: Sorry, but the photo which was attached to this post is no longer available.
Re: 1929 Model 86? You tell me. - Radioroslyn - 12-07-2010
Here's the quick rundown. Your model 86 is a TRF receiver which means that it is not a superhetrodyne. It uses several stages of radio frequency amplification, Detects the signal (converts the rf signal to an audio signal), and then it is fed in to the audio amplifier.
As I remember to knob on the left is connected to the antenna and will tune the antenna circuit a bit. Knob on the right is the volume control.
The LOC connection can be used for an antenna by connecting a jumper from the LOC to the ANT posts. Note the LOC post is connected though a condenser straight to the AC cord. If this condenser is bad you may get a nasty shock or damage the antenna circuit
This set covers the AM broadcast band (1929) which goes up to 1500kc. No shortwave. The hum adjust balances the filament current on the three rf amplifier tube (#26's) Should be set for minimum hum. Diagram can be found here:
http://www.nostalgiaair.org/PagesByModel/653/M0029653.pdf
Suspect parts would be #'s 22,26,12,17,7. Replace #33
Terry
ps forget the guitar thing.