Hello everyone. This is my first post and it concerns the identification of this Philco radio.
Could I tap into your knowledge and have you identify this radio. I would like to know the model number and years it was produced. I think it's from the mid-1930's but am not sure. Can anyone tell me how many tubes it had and give me an idea of its short wave capabilities as well as the frequencies it received.
If you take a look at Ron's gallery link to 1938 Philcos (introduced in June 1937) you'll see a number of models that used this cabinet (38-9K, 38-38K, 38-39K, 38-40K, 38-89K, 38-623K, 38-624K, 38-630K & 38-2630K) http://www.philcoradio.com/gallery/1938a.htm
Thank you for responding and thank you for your kind "welcomes."
Now that I got your attention, here is the story behind this picture. According to the woman whose arm you see pictured, she heard Amelia Earhart broadcast over her radio. I am assuming this is the radio she heard that broadcast. From some of your answers, the radio must have been recently purchased. The date she said she heard the broadcast was July 3, 1937 at about 1400 Eastern Standard Time. (her local time) or approximately 1900 hours GMT. The time in the Pacific where the broadcast allegedly originated was approximately 0600 or just about sunrise. I have only superficial knowledge of these old radios, but I have been told numerous radio technicians that the best time to hear a distant broadcast is right around sunrise at the transmitting location.
At the moment, I am not sure if she had an outdoor antenna rigged to her radio (Was that common in 1937? and what time of antenna would she have used?) It is unknown what frequency she heard the broadcast. Earhart was told to transmit by voice on 3105 kHz during the night and 6210 kHz during the day time. There is confusion whether she actually followed those directions. However, it appears most of the possible legitimate radio signals that were heard following her crash were heard on the harmonics associated with 3105kHz. Amelia was using a 50-watt WE-13C transmitter. She would have had to have the right engine running on her Lockheed Electra in order to power the generator.
There appears to have been several radio listeners in the United States, Canada, and Australia that picked up legitimate transmissions from Earhart following her disappearance. What they heard was a lot of garble with a sporadic word or two. None were able to hear the location from which Earhart transmitted except the woman whose radio you see pictured in this post.
I have lots of questions, the first being, do any of you know who might own this particular model and is it still in good operating condition? As I mentioned in my original post, how many tubes does it have?
I would like to hear all of your thoughts.
As mentioned, it's hard to say for certain which Philco model that is without more information because Philco used the identical cabinet for a number of models.
But.. we can say that based on the list of possible models it had 6 tubes (different tubes depending on the exact model).
Would the woman pictured know if the radio ran off of batteries or was plugged into the wall?
AC and AC/DC sets include 38-9K, 38-23K, 38-40K, 38-89K.
The rest are battery operated sets.
38-9K
AC
6 tubes
Two bands: AM and shortwave from 5.7-18.2 MHz
38-23K
AC/DC
6 tubes
Two bands: AM and shortwave from 5.7 to 18 MHz
38-38K
Batteries
6 tubes
Two bands: AM and shortwave from 5.7 to 18 MHz
38-39K
Batteries
6 tubes
Two bands: AM and shortwave from 5.7 to 18 MHz
38-40K
AC or batteries
6 tubes
Two bands: AM and shortwave from 5.7 to 18 MHz
38-89K
AC
6 tubes
Two bands: AM and shortwave from 1.5-3.7 MHz
38-623K
Batteries
6 tubes
Three bands: AM and two shortwave bands (2.3-7.4 and 7.35-22 MHz)
38-624K
Batteries
6 tubes
Three bands: AM and two shortwave bands (2.3-7.4 and 7.35-22 MHz)
The above information comes from the gallery link posted earlier and a summary of tube layout information for Philco models of that year summarized here: http://www.philcorepairbench.com/tube/tcomp5.htm
It would not have been a 38-623K or 38-624K - the knobs are spaced differently on those. So that leaves the 38-89K.
July 1937...yes, the 1938 Philco models were introduced in June 1937, so that was still basically a spankin' new model, one of the first 1938 Philcos produced.
As for whether that particular set is still functional and if so who owns it...... good question. You may be in a better position to track that down if you know the identity of the lady in the photo and her family. Perhaps someone knows what happened to it. Many of the set of this vintage were discarded or if not discarded, put in the basement, barn or garage and left to decay.
There's also some chatter about AE being heard on a National SW-3 in the Howland Island too. Before the crash.
When my pals were reading comic books
I was down in the basement in my dad's
workshop. Perusing his Sam's Photofoacts
Vol 1-50 admiring the old set and trying to
figure out what all those squiggly meant.
Circa 1966
Now I think I've got!
It was similar with how automobiles used to be - new cars used to be introduced in September of the previous calendar year. Back in ye olden days, the manufacturers' new line of radios came out in June of the previous calendar year.
As for whether that particular set is still functional and if so who owns it...... good question. You may be in a better position to track that down if you know the identity of the lady in the photo and her family. Perhaps someone knows what happened to it. Many of the set of this vintage were discarded or if not discarded, put in the basement, barn or garage and left to decay.
Thanks for responding.
The lady in the picture who owned this radio died in 1970. I am trying to locate an almost identical radio or at least a radio with identical properties, not necessarily the same cabinet.
(07-24-2016, 07:58 PM)Ron Ramirez Wrote: It would not have been a 38-623K or 38-624K - the knobs are spaced differently on those. So that leaves the 38-89K.
July 1937...yes, the 1938 Philco models were introduced in June 1937, so that was still basically a spankin' new model, one of the first 1938 Philcos produced.
Thanks
As I mentioned in another answer to this thread, I am trying to buy or "borrow" a radio that had identical properties to the one pictured in the photo. If the radio was identical in every respect to the console model (not necessarily with a big cabinet) shown it would work. Does anyone know of a working radio that would be available that fits this request?
So you need to find a 38-89 chassis or its equivalent. That would mean any of the following radios with a working chassis (or even the chassis without the cabinet since the chassis in these are the same) would fill the bill: 37-89B (table model), 37-89F (console), 38-89B (table model), or 38-89K (console).
Borrowing might be difficult since shipping is always a somewhat risky business but you never know until you ask. You can add a note in the "Wanted Ads" section to buy or borrow a set and see who might have something. There are a few 37-89s on ebay at the moment even some that claim to be working (that sometimes means that the dial lamp glows or you can hear static).
There is the Northwest Vintage Radio Society that is only 2 hours south of you that might have someone who owns one of the above radios and could help you out. Unfortunately I don't know anyone in that group but you could give them a call to see what they might have. Most folks in this hobby are pretty friendly and always interested in showing off their collections.
If you are trying to recreate the radio call that the lady believes she heard and looking for the same set to use as part of the experiment, keep in mind that restored sets today may vary quite a bit in performance depending on how well they were restored. Reception on short wave can be very dependent on the atmospheric conditions that cause the radio signals to bounce off the atmosphere and travel long distances (I'm no expert on this, just general info. ) OK..probably more than you wanted to know ...
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