09-19-2024, 06:14 PM
Hi Chaz,
You may want to post the tubes used in your radio.
From Radio Museum, it seems that the set uses some standard USA tubes and one non-US tube. The 3 Tube + Rectifier models listed in Radio Museum use an 80 rectifier, 6A7 Pentagrid Convertor, 78 remote Cutoff Pentode IF (pretty normal so far) and the wierdo PenDD61 dual diode detector and very high gain pentode output stage tube.
The following link the Vacuum Tube Archive magazine has an article on "Philco and the PenDD61"
V7_3.pdf (vacuumtubearchive.com)
It may be that in a later run they either switched to this circuit from a 5 tube circuit due to patent issues or switched from the 4 tube to the 5 tube circuit.
I will hazard a guess that the 5 tube circuit uses the 80, 6A7, 78 and some sort of dual diode / triode detector / 1st AF tube such as a 75 or 6Q7 and an output tube such as a 41 or 42 or equivalent. Therefore it may be similar to many 5 tube AC Philco US radios.
I think that the term "People's Radio" may be a little misleading. This radio, ca 1936, received the then typical "Medium Wave" (equivalent to the US Broadcast Band) and "Long Wave" bands. This radio may have been called the People's Radio because this radio was much less expensive than radios produced by British companies, and may have been controversial in a manner similar to the Philco 80 Jr. and the ruckus that radio caused in the US market, as the 80 Jr sold for only $14.95 including tubes, as opposed to the RCA loss leader, the R28, which sold for$28.50 before the 80Jr was introduced. RCA was forced to drop the price of the R28 precipitously to $19.95. During WWII, GB radios were made with only MW band, as LW stations included those from Germany.
The following discussion is not meant to be political but meant to shed light on radio history and the large difference between this People's Radio and the next, much more controversial, "People's Radio". If this part of the discussion does not meet our standards of non-partisanship, then I fully agree with the Moderator's deleting it.
Nazi Germany produced a radio known as the "Volksemfanger VE301", translated literally as "People's Radio" which could only receive politically "acceptable" (i.e. "Propaganda") stations. These radios were bare bones circuitry by the standards of the day, bare bones materials, less expensive than the radios of the day from German manufacturers but possibly more expensive than US radios, especially the Philco 80 Jr. or its successors. The Volksemfanger was a concept of Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda Minister. The tuning knob on this radio had the head and beak of an eagle. This, and the advertising of this radio as allowing all of Germany to hear the wisdom (???) of the "Fuhrer" caused the radio to be known as "Goebbel's Snout".
You may want to post the tubes used in your radio.
From Radio Museum, it seems that the set uses some standard USA tubes and one non-US tube. The 3 Tube + Rectifier models listed in Radio Museum use an 80 rectifier, 6A7 Pentagrid Convertor, 78 remote Cutoff Pentode IF (pretty normal so far) and the wierdo PenDD61 dual diode detector and very high gain pentode output stage tube.
The following link the Vacuum Tube Archive magazine has an article on "Philco and the PenDD61"
V7_3.pdf (vacuumtubearchive.com)
It may be that in a later run they either switched to this circuit from a 5 tube circuit due to patent issues or switched from the 4 tube to the 5 tube circuit.
I will hazard a guess that the 5 tube circuit uses the 80, 6A7, 78 and some sort of dual diode / triode detector / 1st AF tube such as a 75 or 6Q7 and an output tube such as a 41 or 42 or equivalent. Therefore it may be similar to many 5 tube AC Philco US radios.
I think that the term "People's Radio" may be a little misleading. This radio, ca 1936, received the then typical "Medium Wave" (equivalent to the US Broadcast Band) and "Long Wave" bands. This radio may have been called the People's Radio because this radio was much less expensive than radios produced by British companies, and may have been controversial in a manner similar to the Philco 80 Jr. and the ruckus that radio caused in the US market, as the 80 Jr sold for only $14.95 including tubes, as opposed to the RCA loss leader, the R28, which sold for$28.50 before the 80Jr was introduced. RCA was forced to drop the price of the R28 precipitously to $19.95. During WWII, GB radios were made with only MW band, as LW stations included those from Germany.
The following discussion is not meant to be political but meant to shed light on radio history and the large difference between this People's Radio and the next, much more controversial, "People's Radio". If this part of the discussion does not meet our standards of non-partisanship, then I fully agree with the Moderator's deleting it.
Nazi Germany produced a radio known as the "Volksemfanger VE301", translated literally as "People's Radio" which could only receive politically "acceptable" (i.e. "Propaganda") stations. These radios were bare bones circuitry by the standards of the day, bare bones materials, less expensive than the radios of the day from German manufacturers but possibly more expensive than US radios, especially the Philco 80 Jr. or its successors. The Volksemfanger was a concept of Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda Minister. The tuning knob on this radio had the head and beak of an eagle. This, and the advertising of this radio as allowing all of Germany to hear the wisdom (???) of the "Fuhrer" caused the radio to be known as "Goebbel's Snout".
"Do Justly, love Mercy and walk humbly with your God"- Micah 6:8
Best Regards,
MrFixr55