Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Found a Philco A801
#1

Had a message on my answering machine when I got home from work today from a gentleman and fellow collector I know in Canton, Ohio about a radio he wanted to know if I was interest in buying. When he told me that it was a Philco A801, I decided to get over being tired from work and went up for a look. He said he had brought the radio up on his variac, but all it did was light up and that was all the further he messed with it. Now I have both of Philco's converted car radio offerings from 1942!

   

I quickly found out the reason why this set had done nothing but light up, all the tubes had been pulled out! Now, I know the guy I got it from is not into yanking tubes out of any radios he sells, so why was this done?

   

Luckily, I had enough loctals to retube the radio, though they are not tested. Now, one other issue is the power transformer. All the wires have been spliced and taped together and there are two extra wires coming out that are just taped off. Possible replacement?

   

No matter where you go, there you are.
#2

(03-17-2016, 11:09 PM)Jayce Wrote:  Had a message on my answering machine when I got home from work today from a gentleman and fellow collector I know in Canton, Ohio about a radio he wanted to know if I was interest in buying. When he told me that it was a Philco A801, I decided to get over being tired from work and went up for a look. He said he had brought the radio up on his variac, but all it did was light up and that was all the further he messed with it. Now I have both of Philco's converted car radio offerings from 1942!



I quickly found out the reason why this set had done nothing but light up, all the tubes had been pulled out! Now, I know the guy I got it from is not into yanking tubes out of any radios he sells, so why was this done?



Luckily, I had enough loctals to retube the radio, though they are not tested. Now, one other issue is the power transformer. All the wires have been spliced and taped together and there are two extra wires coming out that are just taped off. Possible replacement?

Jayce;
  Strange as it seems that cloth friction tape and splicing may be original, these sets were literally converted car radios and as such they lacked room on the chassis for 120 volt AC mains  transformers as they were intended to use a 6 volt vibrator transformer. You also have to remeber that Philco assembled these radios after civilian radio production was discontinued, so they were using up spare parts they had left in inventory, much like the car radios themselves. If I remember correctly the Chrysler MoPar A801 radio chassis used a 7Y4 rectifier tube, so the extra unused wires on the transformer are probably for a 5 volt rectifier with a directly heated cathode which the A801 did not need.
Regards
Arran




Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)
[-]
Recent Posts
American Bosch Model 802 auto radio
Hello again;   I found a model 838 car radio on Nostalgia Air under United American Bosch, http://www.nostalgiaair.org/...Arran — 09:32 PM
New Philco Repair Bench
Morzh is correct. The repair bench on our website is an archived image of chuck’s original site. He no longer provides s...klondike98 — 05:32 PM
Made mistake & did not label connection
Excellent information. It is all starting to come together now and your explanation really helped since I noticed that ...georgetownjohn — 04:39 PM
Made mistake & did not label connection
Hi John, I don't have this radio, but I can supply some info: Based on your pic, pins 7,8 and 1 are used together, go...MrFixr55 — 02:02 PM
New Philco Repair Bench
As far as I know, the Repairbench does not work, and has not been working in a while. Chuck (we had that campaign looki...morzh — 01:33 PM
Radio city products 664 schematic request
Need a schematic or manual for the 664. The 663 may be similar.daveone23 — 12:38 PM
New Philco Repair Bench
Thanks Gary.dconant — 12:16 PM
New Philco Repair Bench
I tried accessing the site through our library and got the same response. It's reported to our tech gurus. GaryGarySP — 11:50 AM
New Philco Repair Bench
I am sure this is the archive, and not the Chuck's site.morzh — 09:50 PM
Made mistake & did not label connection
It's not like we are good friends with that wire and can tell it from other ptetty identical looking wires. Why'n't you...morzh — 09:49 PM

[-]
Who's Online
There are currently 4076 online users. [Complete List]
» 1 Member(s) | 4075 Guest(s)
Avatar

>