[MrFixr55]

Hi Susie,

I had a very long career providing technical support to clinical laboratory technologists on the use, maintenance and repair of complex laboratory instruments.  While these professionals, mostly women, were very intelligent, they were not auto mechanics or electronic engineers but were able to solve most of their problems over the phone without not needing a service call from a field engineer.  Don't sell yourself short.  Not only can your husband fix anything, so can you!
I am a lifelong  suburban New Yorker, living on Long Island in a town about 45 miles from Manhattan, the center of New York City.  However, I am very appreciative of Farm Radios, as they provided a very important service to the isolated rural farmer.

First, the good news:
There are many books, You Tube videos, etc. on repairing vintage radios, and most of all, there is the Philco Phorum.  We are happy to help you and your husband through this process!

Now, the bad news:
Early Philco sets were notorious for having bad RF, Converter and IF transformers.  This is easy enough to diagnose using a VOM (Volt-Ohm Meter) or DVM (Digital Volt Meter).  Having a DVM or VOM is a must for servicing electronics.  Fortunately, these can be found at reasonable prices.

In one way, Farm sets are more difficult to restore because of the battery power needed.  For the Philco Model 38, you need 2V DC for the "filament" (A) supply, 135V DC and 67.5 VDC for the "plate" (B) supplies, and 3VDC and 7.5VDC for the "grid bias" © supply.  On the other hand, they did not generate much heat, have more room for servicing, and, depending on where used, they may have been taken out of service while still fully functional upon the availability of electric power.

There are several antique radio power supplies, kits or instructions on building a power supply on the internet. The ARBE III (see arbeiii.com) is the absolute best on the market, but they are very expensive at approximately $160 plus shipping.  However, this is an outstanding power supply, with great documentation and great technical support.  If you are going to collect antique battery operated radios such as farm sets, old Atwater Kent, Grebe, or other battery operated radios from the 1920s or 1930s, this supply will be a good investment (I have about 15 radios that require this type of supply).  Antique Electronic Supply has a usable kit and there are other kits on the internet (eBay, Amazon, etc.)  There are also instructions for building power supplies on the internet, but this may not be for folks new to the hobby or with limited electronics experience.
If you don't want to spend a lot of money on a power supply until you determine the condition of this set, you can use modern batteries in the following manner:
5 AAA or AA batteries in a 2 battery holder and a 3 battery holder will handle the C supply.  For the B supply, for testing purposes, you can use 15 9V transistor batteries, if you can find a cheap supply.  The radio won't play long on these (maybe 5 hours or so, but you can at least use these for testing.  Tap between the 7th and 8th battery to get 63V which will suffice for the 67V supply.

The A supply will be the most difficult because you need the most current (500 mA 0r 0.5A) at 2.0V.  Since "D" size dry cells provide 1.5V and 2 in series provide 3V, you need to calculate the dropping resistor needed.  The good news, is that I am going to do that for you right now:
Below is a chart with each tube in your radio and the current it draws:

1A6   0.060A
32     0.060A
32     0.060A
30     0.060A
19     0.260A

Since these tubes are all connected in parallel, the total draw is 0.5A.  Since a resistor has to be added in series to the A Battery connection to the radio to drop the voltage to 2.0V, and current is constant in a series circuit, we need to calculate the resistance needed to drop 1V at 0.5A.  So if E=IR then R= E/I.  So, if the voltage drop is 1V and the current is 0.5A, then R = 1/0.5 or 2 Ohm.  Since the current is constant, in theory a 2 Ohm 1/2 watt resistor is sufficient, use a 2 Ohm resistor at 2 Watt or higher rating.

Since a D Cell delivers only about 1.5Amp Hours, 2 D Cells in series will last 3 hours or less running this radio.  3V 1000 MA "Wall Wart" power supplies can be found for $15.00 or less on the internet.  This and the 2 Ohm 2 Watt resistor will power your filaments.

Good luck, don't give up and keep us posted with your progress.  Please don't hesitate to ask questions; we are all happy to help!