Philco 620 Antenna - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: Philco 620 Antenna (/showthread.php?tid=920)

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Philco 620 Antenna - David B - 01-12-2008

Hello:

Have a Philco 620, but don't know what to put on it for an antenna. I see that there are two clip like things on the top side of the chase apparently to hook antennas to. Further, there are two screws on the back out side of the chase on a piece of bakelite, one says red the other black. What are they for. Any help you could offer to make a good antenna for this radio and what the two screws are for is greatly appreciated. Thank you for your help.

Dave

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- Ron Ramirez - 01-12-2008

Hi Dave

There are two Fahnestock clips on top of the chassis. Look carefully at these - you will see ANT stamped on the chassis next to one of them, GND stamped next to the other.

The clip with ANT stamped next to it is for a simple longwire antenna. 20 feet of wire connected to this clip and run along the baseboard of the room the radio is in will bring in stations. A longer wire run outdoors, as high as possible and away from trees and power lines, will make the radio perform much better.

The two screws on the back of the chassis, labelled RED and BLK, are for the Philco High Efficiency Aerial, a half-wave dipole sold by Philco during the mid to late 1930s and designed to be connected at the set's RED and BLK terminals. When the High Efficiency Aerial was used, nothing was connected to the ANT clip.

Finally, the clip with GND stamped next to it is for chassis ground. You can usually get away with not connecting this to anything if you live in an area with good AM signal strength. Connecting the GND clip through a wire to a cold (METAL) water pipe* or copper ground rod driven into the ground outside the home may improve performance.

* If a cold water pipe is used, it must be metal! PVC pipe is plastic and, therefore, is useless as a ground since plastic is an insulating material. If your cold water pipe is metal, a simple radiator hose clamp may be used to clamp the stripped, exposed copper of your ground wire to the metal pipe. DO NOT DO ANYTHING to the pipe that may damage it or cause it to leak! And BE SURE that is the cold water pipe you are messing with, and NOT the gas line!

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- 49Stude63 - 01-12-2008

If you are looking for the Philco antennas they pop up on ebay from time to time or you can go with a long wire as Ron mentions. If you can and can run a lead to your ground stake outside your house (most have one) or you can drive one in an area of your yard next to your house and there is a lot of info out there on how to make one. Make sure you use some type of lightning arrestor if you go with an outside antenna to protect your radio and your home.

Here is a common design that should work if you can't find a Philco antenna on ebay! http://members.aol.com/djadamson7/articles/antenna1.html

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Philco 620 - David B - 01-12-2008

Thanks guys, that was great information, I trully appreciate it.

Dave

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