[Guest]

Hi,
I'm a newbie to this forum but not to antique radio restoration. I have a question that is more about history and aesthetics than the actual repair.

My uncle recently passed and I got my grandparents 38-7. The radio is in good shape; I remember listening to it as a kid - and playing with the tuner but it is missing the band switch. I asked my dad about this and he told me that, after the war broke out, all the Italians in the area had to turn in or disable any short wave radios they had. I guess the War Department thought Italians on the West Coast were a security risk. Anyway, my grandfather called the Philco dealer who came out an removed the band switch, trimmed back the leads and installed a nickle or chrome chassis plug in the hole.

Now that I have the radio, should I attempt to locate a switch and knob to restore the short wave or should I leave it as it is - a bit of little known history?

Would the value of the radio change substantially if I "fixed" the radio?

I have two Trans Oceanics and a restored SIlvertone - so Short Wave Listening is not a problem.

What do you folks think?