New to site. What do you like about Philco?
Posts: 101
Threads: 5
Joined: Jul 2020
City: Pelzer
State, Province, Country: SC, USA
New to the site. Found a reference to this forum on another site. Was impressed by a busy forum dedicated mainly to Philco. Working on my third old radio, have yet to come across a Philco. So... the first question that came to mind after finding the site was, what is it about Philco that inspired so much dedication to this brand of radio. Have experience on two Zenith's and one Wilcox-Gay. Let me know why my next radio should be a Philco. This question is not a jab in any way. Just friendly curiosity.
Posts: 2,118
Threads: 112
Joined: Jun 2010
City: Medford OR (OR what?)
Philcos were good quality radios for the money and still are. They are about average in difficulty to work on - once you master the little Bakelite blocks. The high-end or TOTL models interest me the most. Some of them have very nice cabinets (I prefer to avoid the 1938s). The Philco cathedrals are classic.
"I just might turn into smoke, but I feel fine"
http://www.russoldradios.com/
(This post was last modified: 07-22-2020, 09:43 PM by Phlogiston.)
Posts: 16,481
Threads: 573
Joined: Oct 2011
City: Jackson
State, Province, Country: NJ
Also, when it came to circuitry, Philco was at the root of quite a few innovations.
AFC (automated frequency control) is one.
Remote control is another.
People who do not drink, do not smoke, do not eat red meat will one day feel really stupid lying there and dying from nothing.
Posts: 4,433
Threads: 419
Joined: Jun 2011
City: Boston
State, Province, Country: Massachusetts
Even some of the 5, 6 tubers were pretty decent and I have a 50s set that while small is very hot on AM. Something for everyone.
The FM Philcos not so much for me, prefer a Zenith in that area. Hope you find a Philco.
Paul
Tubetalk1
Posts: 101
Threads: 5
Joined: Jul 2020
City: Pelzer
State, Province, Country: SC, USA
All sounds good, thanks for your replies. Began searching around the library and found much needed factory hints and tips that will come in handy for what ever old radio I work on. Spent 36 years in electronics, transistor and digital. Tube type is a different world. Construction of parts, names of components, and in some cases, schematic symbols have changed. The instructions for tuning my first AM radio, 2 turns loosely coupled to wavemagnet, was embarrassingly puzzling. But I try putting myself in the place of those long ago techs when this was cutting edge technology. They had to know their stuff, and I'm still trying to catch up. My Zenith model H723 has beautiful FM reception with outstanding sound just from a 68 year old rubber cement patched mono speaker. AM not so hot but then most stations within 20 to 30 miles from me are just 1000 watt transmitters. Will start keeping my eye out for a Philco radio. This many enthusiasts can't be wrong.
Posts: 1,256
Threads: 32
Joined: Jan 2014
City: Wellborn Florida
Welcome to the Phorum nice place to hang around on the internet. David
Posts: 101
Threads: 5
Joined: Jul 2020
City: Pelzer
State, Province, Country: SC, USA
A calm, friendly, helpful place would be nice for a change. Need to visit the Phorum library and do some more reading.
(This post was last modified: 07-23-2020, 09:51 PM by TTech.)
Posts: 16,481
Threads: 573
Joined: Oct 2011
City: Jackson
State, Province, Country: NJ
For a change...where were you hanging out before?
People who do not drink, do not smoke, do not eat red meat will one day feel really stupid lying there and dying from nothing.
Posts: 101
Threads: 5
Joined: Jul 2020
City: Pelzer
State, Province, Country: SC, USA
Well morzh I'll let forums be what they want to be, naming them won't change them.
(This post was last modified: 07-24-2020, 10:24 AM by TTech.)
Posts: 165
Threads: 5
Joined: Jul 2017
City: Woodland, CA.
There are Non philco discussion areas on this site as well... We gotcha covered..
Steve
Posts: 101
Threads: 5
Joined: Jul 2020
City: Pelzer
State, Province, Country: SC, USA
Yep, Found it. Thanks Steve
Users browsing this thread:
|
Recent Posts
|
Refinishing Ideas
|
Hi Poulsbobl,
I think that you could get away with it. In the Philco Library, there is a parts listand specs for sp...MrFixr55 — 11:54 PM |
Philco 46-480 Electronic Restoration
|
The sleeving for the transformer arrived early, so I went ahead and finished reassembling. The chassis looks far better ...jrblasde — 10:15 PM |
Philco 610B oscillator wiring
|
I don't know what you are referring to when you say "tube cathode ground". Ground is a connection to the chass...RodB — 05:56 PM |
Zenith H725
|
Good points, Arran. I haven't encountered this problem with any other radio (all earlier vintages), so am learning here....EdHolland — 05:32 PM |
Zenith H725
|
Ed;
One thing that I will say about these is that Brand Z was considerate enough to make these mica caps easily acces...Arran — 02:34 PM |
Philco 610B oscillator wiring
|
Do you know what run # your chassis is?
It took me a while to find what you were basing updates/modification on as I did...Radioroslyn — 07:34 AM |
Need to purchase some accessories for restoration of my Old Philco Radio
|
COLLEAGUES,
Thank you all for such good and important suggestions as how to find good replacement parts. I will go fo...palonso — 07:05 AM |
Zenith H725
|
Here's what the inside of AM IFT2 looked like, and the other pic shows the discs I made to take place of the mica and ke...EdHolland — 07:40 PM |
Zenith H725
|
IF2 will need replacement caps. The arcing was severe enough that the mica is pitted and holed where the HT flashed over...EdHolland — 04:04 PM |
My Philco 37-116 Restore
|
Measuring from center tap like the tube voltages show. Cap 127 is isolated from ground. Cap 127 shown in upper left of p...dconant — 08:05 AM |
Who's Online
|
There are currently 782 online users. [Complete List] » 1 Member(s) | 781 Guest(s)
|
|
|

|