HBC Dictator followed me home...
Posts: 320
Threads: 30
Joined: Jul 2017
City: Hay Lakes, Alberta,Canada
Posts: 3,122
Threads: 57
Joined: Apr 2011
City: Lexington, KY
Pretty cool set Brad
Dictator is a new one on me, but we don't see many obscure Canadian sets down here.
John KK4ZLF
Lexington, KY
"illegitimis non carborundum"
(This post was last modified: 11-10-2021, 07:04 PM by Eliot Ness.)
Posts: 1,824
Threads: 114
Joined: Jul 2014
City: Sneedville, TN
Looking at the name, you can tell the set is pre 1939.
Posts: 4,639
Threads: 51
Joined: Sep 2008
City: Sandwick, BC, CA
It looks like someone had a go at refinishing the cabinet, it also looks like they took steel wool to the escutcheons. It's definitely a pre 1937 model, not because of the "Dictator" name, but because of the model number. Grimes Phonola/Electrohome went with a model numbering system somewhat similar to Philco or Sparton. I'm not sure when the Hudson's Bay Company discontinued the "Dictator" name but it was after the war, after a time they started calling them "Baycrest".
Regards
Arran
Posts: 320
Threads: 30
Joined: Jul 2017
City: Hay Lakes, Alberta,Canada
Yes, the escutcheons will need to be addressed...I think I will polish them, then use gun bluing to give them a bronze look again.
The use of the Dictator name by HBC didn't end with the war, as one might have thought, which is odd. They used the name briefly when the 1946-47 models came out, then switched to Baycrest and Messenger branding for radios. Maybe they realized the folly, or had some kind of public backlash? Or was the term "dictator" not as poorly received back then as it is today?
I've worked on a couple 1946 Dictator sets, and they seem to be a mish-mash of 1941 chassis, with newer "war-time" tubes thrown into the mix. And I was unable to find schematics for either of them. So...were there incomplete cabinets, chassis or whole sets sitting in storage? Or did The Bay have Dominion Electrohome make up sets, using leftover parts in storage?
As a side note...Studebaker used the name Dictator on their upper line of cars, only to quickly drop the name in 1937, after Hitler tainted the word.
Posts: 4,639
Threads: 51
Joined: Sep 2008
City: Sandwick, BC, CA
Well Grimes-Phonola/Electrohome had their own furniture factory, DEILCRAFT, so it's unlikely that they would have had surplus wood cabinets in stock as they could make those to order. With regard to chassis there were a number of C.G.E, and Canadian RCA models that were basically facelifted pre war models in different cabinets, the chassis were basically identical. It's possible that Electrohome, much like the other makers of the time, was trying to work around parts shortages, Philco was notorious for mixing and matching tube styles, and then changing the lineups during different production runs. There was a pent up demand after having suspended civilian radio production in early 1942, much like there was with cars, but tube and component production had not really ramped up enough to fill it. So you see sets with electrodynamic speakers when they could have used P.M dynamics, rubber/gutta percha wire when they could have used vinyl, cloth power cords, and even BED coded "dogbone" resistors in some sets. I think there may have been a large number of molded Bakelite tube sockets available at the time, possibly war surplus, as a number of sets used them even when the pre-war versions used wafer sockets, unfortunately Electrohome seems to have bucked this trend and used the worst wafer sockets I have ever encountered.
Regards
Arran
Posts: 1,472
Threads: 89
Joined: May 2008
City: Omak
State, Province, Country: WA
Hello Brad,
nice set !
Arran don't you remember the cheap stereos that Electrohome made later in the 70s and 80s at least someone was using that name
Sincerely Richard
Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)
|
Recent Posts
|
Cannot Adjust an IF Transformer’s cores
|
Outstanding work indeed. I wish I could come up with solutions like this.slford310 — 11:16 PM |
Cannot Adjust an IF Transformer’s cores
|
The abilities of our 'Phorum Pholks" never ceases to amaze me! Fantastic fabrication, Joseph! I'm waiting now for...GarySP — 08:27 PM |
PT-6 antenna connections
|
Thanks. I never realized that was a notch noted in the schematic as described. I’ll recheck my wiring.bridkarl — 08:13 PM |
Cannot Adjust an IF Transformer’s cores
|
Thank you! I was quite new to the Phorum when I started this post, so I feel like it might be advantageous to publish a ...jrblasde — 08:07 PM |
PT-6 antenna connections
|
Notice in the schematic the notch at the bottom of the antenna coil is between pins 3 & 4.
Yes, pin 6 of the 7C6 is...RodB — 07:34 PM |
bridkarl
|
I have two PT-6 chassis. On both there is a blue wire that runs from the above chassis transformer to pin 6 of 7C6. So t...bridkarl — 07:23 PM |
Cannot Adjust an IF Transformer’s cores
|
Joseph, now you are an engineer!!RodB — 06:37 PM |
PT-6 antenna connections
|
Hi, reading your explanation I can see the confusion. If you take it one connection at a time it should result in a desi...RodB — 06:34 PM |
Cannot Adjust an IF Transformer’s cores
|
It works! I received the PCBs this morning in the mail, and put everything together. I reused the base from the original...jrblasde — 04:32 PM |
PT-6 antenna connections
|
I seem to have lost my way on this PT-6.
I see the antenna aerial transformer schematic - I’m reading pins 1 through ...bridkarl — 12:30 PM |
Who's Online
|
There are currently no members online. |
|
![>](https://philcoradio.com/phorum/images/bootbb/asb/right_arrow.png)
|