[bill T]

Hi,With the usual amount of help from this site I got my 41-95 battery operated radio going. Sounds great and pulls in stuff up and down the dial.
Started to collect the tube data sheets from Franks tube data sheet web site.Got mostly RCA data Sheets for 1A7G ,1N5G,1A5G.The correct tubes for this radio .Except the one's in it are Philco . I noticed the RCA tubes are 1.5 v heaters.I had hooked up 3 volts and the Radio worked great.So I tired 1.5 volts .Elements glow dim but can't get anything out of the speaker.It works good with 3 volts and not at all with 1.5 volts. With out ripping it apart does anyone have one of these running correctly ?Are the
Philco tubes 3 volt ? Can't find that data
Also looking for tube replacements the GT tube are very cheap about 1/3 of the G tubes that are in it.Yet same tube data sheet for both .What is the difference ?I thought battery operated tube would be less expensive .Wow
the G style is up there in price !!! GT's really cheap.
Last question .What antenna does this use? I hooked a fine wire wave magnet type with a long lead of about 20' and it works good.
My cobb job continues. This is not a pretty sight. Looks like a wire
pile instead of an anntena.
So I feel I am about to run out of luck. I keep on as I am smoke will rise.I don't want to blow these tube but want to use the radio. So if anyone can speak with knowledge or authority one on this you are way ahead of me . I will turn it off till I am sure about the A voltage. .
And I appreciate any help I can get ! Thank you!

[Chuck Schwark]

Sounds like you may have a bad tube in there or maybe a wrong type?? The A-B battery pack (P-60D11L) is 1.5 volts for A and 90 volts for the B portion.

The tubes 1A7G, 1N5G, and the three 1H5Gs are 1.5 volt, 250 ma. filament tubes. Someone may have messed with the wiring in there.

Check the schematic against the A+ buss. Every tube filament is tied to the A+ buss and the other ends are all ground, like the A- lead on the battery plug on the schematic.

1.5 volt tubes BARELY have a glow in a dark room when operating normally.

You may have other component and/or wiring issues as well - I'd trace out the whole set to be sure of not popping any tubes. Running those tubes at twice filament voltage may have weakend or severly shortened their life time. Find the error(s) in the set before powering it up again.

Check all resistors for any out of tolerance (+/-20% max) values and replace. Replace all caps too, if you have not already.

[bill T]

Chuck , I suspected that was the feedback I would get .Was hoping for a
3 volt filiment. But I am sure you are right .I changed caps and check most resistors.I will check the wiring .At 1.5 volts the filiments are barley lit. So I am leaning towards a bad tube. I may have caused it by running 3 volts on the filiments .Or was just bad as found.
I will pull it out and check everthing! There is not much in this one to go through. I am glad I asked instead of running it ! Thanks for help !

Bill

[Chuck Schwark]

Ok Bill. FYI, there are some Philco battery sets that wire pairs of 1.5 volt tubes in series and have a 3.0 volt "A" battery connection, but yours is not one of them.

Good luck with the set - like you say there's not much "in there" to begin with.

[bill T]

Chuck , Once again thanks for the help /advice. Back up and runnning at 1.5 volts as should be ! Two bad or marginal tubes.I think I will invest in a tester .I have a few radios around here.I etheir need to lose a few or get a tester to sort things out.Every time I do one I invest in tubes for spares or aquire them as I find them.This was my only battery unit so no place to swap tubes. Anntena that works best is a long wire with a ground to water pipe. I think that was original setup for this, not a cage or wound wave magnet type anntena. Here in the middle of N.Y reception is not the
best .For A.M I am trying to listen to Canadian stations . This radio pulls in pretty decent . I am happy with ! I will take it to camp and put it to the test there! Thanks for the help 3 volts was lighting those heaters up !!!

[Chuck Schwark]

Glad you got it working! You are correct about the outdoor simple wire antenna. As you can see by the schematic, the set uses an external ANT and GND connection. No built-in anything.

[bill T]

Yes everthing worked out good in the end except my spelling of antenna !
I should wake up before posting !