[Tubeman]

Hello everyone, 

I am looking to restore my first radio and I have two Philco’s to choose from; a 42-380 and a 40-130.  I own both of them but was wondering if one might be a better restore for a first timer than the other?  I plan to keep both so no worry’s over resale value and neither is sentimental to me either. The cabinet for the 40-130 is in a lot better condition than the 42-380 but cabinet restoration is another journey.   I plan on restoring both to gain the knowledge and to help keep these radios alive for myself and other generations. I’m also a Ham (KI5MED) so I’ve got the radio bug lol.  I have worked on tube stuff before, but this is my first attempt at a radio and want to make sure it’s done right. No hack jobs here! lol. 

As far as equipment I have a fluke DVM, 100mhz Dual trace Oscilloscope, audio signal generator, variac, isolation transformer, solder station.  What I don’t have is an RF generator to use for the alignment. 

So my questions are:

1. Electronic wise, is one of these radios, easier to restore than the other?

2. Does anyone have a suggestion for an RF Generator that won’t bankrupt me? lol

3. Any help, guidance, or tips are greatly appreciated!

Thanks! 

Matt

[morzh]

40-130 is a simpler radio. It also is smaller and so is easier to handle.

[GarySP]

Welcome to the Phorum, Matt! In the Philco Radio Library located at the bottom of this page has service information for both of your radios. Both radios are subject to having degraded rubber insulation on the wires in the chassis. Check them closely. Both radios will at very least need to be recapped and out-of-tolerance resistors replaced. Do not power them up before doing this. Mica caps are usually OK. Both are Loctal vacuum tubes. Clean all tube pins and sockets. Lots of other members here to help you along the way. Take care and BE HEALTHY! Gary

[Tubeman]

Thank you both. I’ll start off with the 40-130 as it’s in better condition as well. Thanks Gary on the tip about the radio library. I found the 43 Philco service training manual and will start there.

Best,
Matt

[Stan the Man]

Hi, welcome. I did a 40-130 a few years ago. I was very surprised at how well it performed. Just take care with that speaker.

Stan

[klondike98]

You could post in the WANTED ADs section here on the Phorum and see if anyone has an RF generator that they want to sell.

There are used RF signal generators with audio modulation that can be found on eBay. A quick look and $80 and up seems to be the pricing. Of course they may need some refurbishing when you get them but I've gotten a couple that way. Here's just one example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/187063788422?_s...R7KV08S_ZQ

Another good way to find something would be to find a radio swap meet near you. That could be either vintage radio or even a HAM swap meet. I see a couple of HAM groups in Louisiana. http://www.arrl.org/clubs/search/page:2/...odel:Group

[MrFixr55]

Hi Tubeman,

Welcome to the Philco Phorum.  Phamily Phriendly Pfun with Phine Pholks Phull of Philco Phacts. (See a pattern here?)

Both of your radios look neat.  I used to have 2 Eicos, one bought from an electronics shop, the other a gift from my father.  I loaned to a step in-law for his father who was an engineer for Emerson in the 1930s.  Unfortunately, upon the death of this gentleman the step in-law never retrieved them.  However, I rarely used them for any AM or AM / SW radio that I repaired or restored.  Don't let the lack of a signal generator stop you from starting your restorations.  Whichever one you start with, definitely get around to restoring the 42-350.  Push-pull outputs and 12" speakers make for BIG sound.

Philco has a rather unique method for getting the inverted signal for the grid on the 2nd tube in the Push Pull output stage.  they get it from the screen grid of the first output tube.  Note the lack of a phase invertor tube.

+1 on the comments from others.  Recapping is mandatory, most especially for the filters, but replace all paper / foil caps also, especially audio interstage coupling caps and B+ bypass caps.

There are 2 methods of dealing with the rubber rot:

• Replace the individual wiring either by totally gutting the chassis or one wire at a time.  Remember that lead position (dress) is important, especially in the RF and IF circuit but in the Audio circuits also.
  
• Cut one end of a wire, clean off the rotted rubber and sleeve it with "spaghetti" or heat shrink tubing, then reconnect it at the end cut off.
  

Keep us posted, please do not hesitate to ask questions, and keep coming back!