[mikethedruid]

It was a beautiful day here at my little farm on Powell Mountain. The temperature was almost 70 F. I took advantage of the nice weather and stripped the cabinet of my Olympic. It was a bit more of a pain than most I have done. One part of the cabinet, the area at the bottom where the knobs are, was actually faux painted, not just varnished like the rest of the cabinet. I don't really know why either. The wood underneath is nice looking, and appears to have been varnished like the rest of the cabinet. It certainly is the same exact color now that the cabinet is stripped. The paint was thick, two or three different layers to create the effect, which made stripping it, and getting all the residue off tricky, but patience, and several applications of remover, and several pieces of steel wool got the job done. It is drying in the afternoon sun right now. I'll bring it in before dark. I am going to give it a rubbed tung oil finish. It worked very well on my RCA, so I am going to do it again. It takes more time, several days between coats, and quite a few coats; but the finish is very durable, looks good, and is entirely reversible if someone wants to someday. Time is certainly something I have plenty of.

[Jake Blake]

Good that you didn't have to wait til spring after all Mike.  These warm winter days are super.

So your tung oil finish actually replaces any sort of lacquer or varnish?

[mikethedruid]

Yes, Jake. It dries to form a natural lacquer. It dries very clear also, and very durable and has good water resistance. It is not tinted at all, although I suppose it could be. Fortunately, with both these radios it won't be necessary. Also, unlike many other finishes, it always has some elasticity, which makes it ideal as a musical instrument finish. I have used it in on a dulcimer a friend made for me which I finished, and also on a violin on which the original varnish, a shellac I believe, had deteriorated almost black, and had to be replaced. Both instruments came out excellent. The violin came to life again, and sounds much better than it did, very clear, mellow, and strong. Of course, the dulcimer was new, so this is the only finish it has ever had. It too sounds very good. By the way, for those who don't know, a violin will never sound better than it does "in the white" before ANY varnish is applied. The trick to a great violin varnish is that it must dry durable but flexible, and protect the wood from any water that might get on it. It also should be applied only enough to provide a good finish, but not so much as to dampen the vibration and muddy the sound.

[Jake Blake]

" Yes, Jake. It dries to form a natural lacquer."

I'm going to try that on the 610.  It's already in very good condition, (I feel), and sounds ideal for that purpose.    I don't want to tamper too much with it's finish.
Thanks Mike.  

[mikethedruid]

Well, it's finally done. Works pretty well too, not as well as my RCA T8-18, but quite well when you hook it to an outside antenna. Here's a picture of the finished product.
[Image: https://66.media.tumblr.com/0ddfeb05501c...2e4fc2.jpg]
I have also posted a close up of the dial under a new thread, "Other Radios All Aglow." I used "search" and couldn't find such a thread. I figured it was about time SOMEBODY started one.

[NostalgiaRadioTime]

Somebody did start one...me...years ago. You must've missed this thread, Mike:

https://philcoradio.com/phorum/showthread.php?tid=14689

[mikethedruid]

Greg, I actually used the search function to see if such a thread existed, but it came up with nothing. So much for the search function. I used the term "Other Radios," since that is what the heading of this section uses. Perhaps the moderators can merge the two threads under one or the other heading. I suggest using "Other Radios All Aglow" since that is the wording used in the main section title, rather than "Non-Philco."

[Ron Ramirez]

Done.

https://philcoradio.com/phorum/showthread.php?tid=14689

[mikethedruid]

Last night I finally got around to trying the Olympic using my outside antenna and ground. WOW ! What a difference ! My workbench is in a dead spot, and is subject to an interference caused by an electronic mouse trap which is on the same circuit in the house. It is also in a dead area signal wise because the whole house has a layer of aluminum backed insulation around it which shields it from radio signals to a large degree. Despite this the Olympic was picking up a lot of signals on both bands, although a large section of the AM band had a loud buzzing from the interference. Last night, on the outside antenna, that interference was gone, and I was very happily surprised at how many stations came in on both bands. WSM 650 from Nashville came booming in, it had been barely audible on my work bench through the interference,, and I was picking up other stations from all over the place. The 6x9 inch speaker sounds great. I'm a very happy camper.

[Jake Blake]

" . . . using my outside antenna and ground"

That sounds good Mike.  You guys with your "long wires" have me wanting to try setting up one myself.  I wonder if I can use this coil of heavy wire I have that's actually the cable they run at the bottom of chain link fencing. I'm thinking , run it up in the peak of my attic.  

[mikethedruid]

Actually, Jake, it is not a long wire. I have 250,000 volt TVA power lines running over my pasture not 200 feet from my house. I had to devise an antenna which would minimize the 60 cycle buzz from them. I did it with a vertically oriented antenna. It is made using 1 1/2" PVC piping. I used one 20 foot piece, two T connectors, 2  2 foot pieces, a 6 inch piece, two threaded caps to go into steel mounting brackets, two flat ended caps, two 1 1/2"  #10 brass machine screws with 2 brass flat washers and a nut for each, and a 75 foot roll of solid 18 gauge bell wire. Here is a picture of it. The wire runs from the very top, attached to a screw which runs through the top cap,  inside, down to the area which is covered with black electrical tape, there it comes outside, and is wrapped around the outside in a single layer until the wire is almost used up, just enough left to go down to the bottom screw terminal, where it goes back inside, and then down to that screw. The tape is there to protect the wire from the weather. This winding acts as a loading coil and increases the effective length of the antenna.
[Image: https://66.media.tumblr.com/7893f96641b1...8d7c64.jpg]

[Jake Blake]

"I did it with a vertically oriented antenna."

Now , there's some good ol' American know-how!

So the vertical orientation receives  horizontally,  out from under the overhead lines.    
Neat!

[mikethedruid]

Actually, Jake, it is because of the orientation of the pulsing magnetic field on the wires. They run horizontally, and the antenna is vertical. its reception field is at 90 degrees to that which the lines create. It was inspired by an old drawing I saw in one of my books which advised orienting a long wire antenna at 90 degrees to any trolley lines which ran in front of your house. I considered the best way to accomplish thins in the least space, and decided on a vertically oriented antenna. It has the added advantage over a long wire in that it is omni-directional, and receives equally well from all directions. It is really an ideal antenna for my use; it works well for all directions, and takes very little space, just clearance above it, and it minimizes the interference from the power lines. Much more practical for my use than a long wire. Everybody's Radio Manual, page 141...

[Image: https://66.media.tumblr.com/3f86a67662ef...b7096a.jpg]

This is a very useful old book, and has a whole section on how to eliminate interference from your receiver.

[Jake Blake]

Thank you Mike.  We could fill a whole thread of this antenna stuff!

[Paul Philco322]

I have some High Transmission wires behind my house, sometimes in a drizzle I get some hum, other time no bother. Interesting. 

Paul