[NostalgiaRadioTime]

Some of you probably saw this set on eBay recently, listed as a model 54-C....the one with the beautifully intact photo finish cabinet. Well...and apologies to anyone I may have bid against...I am now the proud owner. Much to my surprise, it was not the 5 tube 54-C, but the 4 tube model 58-C. Both use the same cabinet, from what I can see.

My question concerns the OSC coil

   
   

Not sure if that’s factory correct, but I’m attaching a pic of the underside of the chassis, and then a close up looking up into the can housing the coil. The outer winding is with a green coated wire. I’m wondering if someone attempted to rewind that coil at some point or if in fact it came that way from the factory? In my limited experience with sets of this era (model 84 & model 89) the wire they used for windings seemed to be copper, and then the whole coil coated with wax. That green colored wire almost looks too new.

This is what I found in the preliminary check over. The antenna coil seems to be working, inasmuch as  there is a response when touching the antenna clip (and my long antenna wire attached to it) the signal gets stronger. I'm getting a signal through to the grid caps of both of the 77 tubes as well. Audio output is there. Volume changes as it should with the control, but I'm not able to receive any semblance of a station.

   

This model doesn't appear to have the band switch on the left side of the back of the chassis either, to switch from broadcast to police band. I suspect only the 5 tube model 54-C used that. What does the little trimmer control just below and to the left of the opening for the power cord that protrudes from the chassis? It’s hex shaped with a screw slot on the end. Adjusting it does improve the volume, and audio output, but nothing in the way of receiving a station.

Has anyone had any experience with the OSC coils on these little "cigar box" sets, and if so, did anyone save their notes as far as which winding is primary & secondary, number of turns for each, wire gauge, etc.?

[NostalgiaRadioTime]

Here's a link to the Schematic: http://www.philcoradio.com/tech/images/57.jpg

[Ron Ramirez]

Greg

If it does not have the band switch, the chassis is Model 59. Both 57 and 58 had the band switch.

Is this the one you purchased?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/351202111582

It was discussed here when it was for sale:

http://www.philcoradio.com/phorum/showth...?tid=10815

Anyway - Congratulations, that looks like a beautiful, well-preserved photofinish. I did notice some wear on the grillebars which you should be able to easily correct.

Now about your radio. The 58C cabinet is identical to an early 59C cabinet as well as the photofinished 54C cabinet. The difference is in the band switch - the 58C will have one; the 59C does not. (The 57C also has a band switch.)

So you have a 59C.

I've never owned a 54C, 58C or 59C because they always sell for about double what I want to pay for one. I don't know who these sets are so popular and so expensive, but they do seem to be. Anyway, I have had a few coil sets from these cross my bench from back when I was rewinding coils for folks. I cannot recall whether the 59C ever used green silk covered magnet wire on its coils, but I am inclined to think not because it would be very unusual for Philco to go to a different supplier of magnet wire just for one radio model, and one of their cheapest models at that. I could be wrong, but for now, I'll stick with that thought.

One more thing. I don't know if you meant to do this or not, but your first post in this thread contained a lot of very small type. I changed it back to normal to make it easier to read.

[Ron Ramirez]

The trimmer condenser next to the AC cord entry point is the regeneration control.

[Radioroslyn]

I'd do it the easy way. Just verify that the LO is working by listening for it in another receiver. If you can't hear it it isn't working. Listen for it a both ends of the band if it's working at the high end and not at the low end chances are that the coil was repaired but didn't have enough turns rewound on the feedback winding. Don't know how many it had but I would think 20-25 should be enough.
GL
Terry

[NostalgiaRadioTime]

Thanks so much for the information and clarification, Ron. Yes, that is indeed the radio I purchased. Yeah a hundred smackers is on the high end...and was actually my maximum bid (could it be a shill at work to bid it up to exactly that amount?). But I've never seen one with such a beautiful original photo finish before, and I know once restored I could easily recover my investment (not that I have intentions of selling it, just to justify the cost). Plus I was always kind of curious about these little pee-wee / cigar box sets. This one was also desirable to me because it has a dial light. The 1933 models, while having a very similar cabinet, seem too much of a plain Jane to me without the photo finish and dial light.

Well, silly me, I did a dumb thing. I actually assumed an eBay seller knew what they were talking about, as the model number seemed like it was correct (based on what I saw in the gallery here). So I went ahead and ordered a schematic from Chuck Schwark upon realizing I won the auction. My theory being, the schematic and radio should arrive around the same time, and I'd cut down on the waiting time. Lo and behold, once it arrived, I found out this had 4 tubes instead of 5.

Gulp.

So I then realized this probably was a 58 C because of the 4 tubes and photo finish, using the photo gallery portion of this website (one of my favorite places to visit here, and one of the most useful I might add). Now, thanks to your kind help, I realize because it has no band switch, it's actually a 59 C.

Poor Chuck. I've been bothering him the last 2 days and keep changing the model number on him. He kindly offered to send another envelope with schematics for the 57 / 58 C's at no charge, but now that I have to change it again, for sure he will be getting another $7.00 check in the mail. I guess half the battle is trying to figure out exactly what you have. I pulled out the schematic Chuck sent me for my model 84 because I recognized the tubes used for both are the same and was surprised to find it is VERY close to the one for the model 57 I linked to above.

So now on to the OSC coil. Chuck also agrees that the green wire was more than likely redone, as the solder lugs look touched at either end of the dogbone and cap as well. Now the fun will be trying to figure out how many winds, what gauge of wire, and which direction it was originally and supposed to be wound. And which lugs the ends were supposed to be soldered to. I’ve learned long ago never assume that any obvious and visible repairs done to a radio are done correctly. Especially if the set isn’t working!

It seems the cans around the Antenna & OSC coils are spot welded together. You can't just remove the OSC can and leave the ANT can attached to the chassis. So it looks like some major unsoldering needs to be done to remove just the OSC coil. Once they are both unscrewed from the chassis, you can't tilt it up enough to get to the little screw that attaches the coil to the can.

That said, I would think, based solely on how similar the schematics are, that the OSC coil for the model 84 and this model 59C should be very close as far as windings, number of turns, direction, etc. goes. So, if no one has rewound an OSC coil for a 54, 57, 58, or 59 C, has anyone done so for a model 84 and saved their notes?

I got lucky on my 84. The coils were all fine. Thinking out loud, I'm not sure if this would work, but I guess I could pull the chassis on mine and see if I can tell which lugs the winding ends are soldered to. But that still won't answer which direction it's wound. I might be able to carefully count the number of turns, but it sure would save a lot of work if someone may have rewound one of these and documented what they did.

Sorry about the small type. I was writing to Chuck and posting here simultaneously and did a cut & paste from the e-mail to here. I didn't notice the font was different, but in hindsight, should've.

One more question...

There is a little stub of a wire hanging off of the plate of the #42 tube:
   

It almost looks, based on the schematic for the 57C, that it would be connected to bakelite block #31. I'm holding it over to where I think it broke off of here:
   

OR is this one of those gimmick capacitors? I'm thinking not, as ususally those are two wires wound together.

I'm having flashbacks with this set to my model 89 and having to bake the coil, and all of the trouble I had winding that OSC coil. Hopefully this one won't be as bad

[NostalgiaRadioTime]

Just changed the topic of this thread to model 1935 59-C to avoid even further confusion!