[bfrohwein]

What I stumbled across this week. Previous owner was still listening to it too. never touched, except one of the 37 tubes was replaced. check out the distance/local gizmo added on the back of the chassis.

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once I get done with my 624 I'll dive right in to this one.

[Bill Kinghorn]

It looks like it has a good mixer circuit and probably can have the best shortwave performance you'll find in a living-room radio.

[bfrohwein]

I'm looking forward to getting this recapped. I have to thank Dallas road construction detours for this find. I would've never gone down that neighborhood street if it wasn't for a detour. I glanced over and saw it sitting there @ a yard sale. at first I thought it was a 316RX. He had a small wooden box sitting on top which at first glance looked like a mystery control. but not disappointed at all. he had it on, tuned into a a game. terrible hum, of course.. but at least I know it functions.

[Ron Ramirez]

Congratulations!

The 41-315 uses the same chassis as the 41-300, and basically the same one as the 41-295. Yes, you will have the thrill of dealing with miles of rubber-covered wires, but this one will be worth the effort - they are excellent performers and produce a full, rich sound if a bit heavy on the bass.

[bfrohwein]

I hadn't pulled the chassis yet. Rubber wiring? Bret doesn't like the rubber wiring!

I rubbed the top down with Howard's restore-a-finish and some synthetic 0000 steel wool a little bit ago. You know, that stuff is amazing. crazing gone, scratches, gone.

I take that back.. Just rechecked in brighter light.. it's just very well camouflaged.. but looks good none-the-less

btw, I found a tag inside the cabinet that read $115- I wonder if that was the original price or a sale price back in 1941.

[Bill Kinghorn]

Yes, I like that radio. For the war-time effort, Philco had some good EE's. Two IF stages, no RF stage, and a low-noise mixer, is a much cleaner, simpler, better design. Image-frequency rejection could be worse but that seldom is noticeable. If the rectifier is a 5Y4, you have three generations of tubes represented there. Don't disturb the rubber wiring and the insulation won't ever come off. I have a BOL model that I almost junked before discovering BOL. I got it running without any trouble by changing a few caps, fussing with a stylus boot, and replacing the motor mounts. I like it a lot.

[bfrohwein]

I pulled the chassis last night. it's a mix of rubber and cloth covered.. it's not as bad as my 40-125 was. since this was always indoors, the rubber wiring, under the chassis, isn't really dried out much. the rubber wiring above the chassis is totally rotten though. The 4 rubber corner mounts are still quite pliable. the chassis washers on the four bottom bolts are petrified. even the switch assembly washers are nice and squishy.

It's a bit scary that they use 1 type 80 to power all of those tubes. it would've been nice, like you said, if they had 3 generations of tubes represented. Also, luck is upon me. Unlike my other 1940's sets, every single loctal tube in this set, pops off just as they're supposed to when tilted towards the key.

the smoke damage to this thing is just horrendous. and I wish I could dip the entire thing in a vat of febreeze.. sigh..

I'm hoping to have it done by christmas!

[Arran]

I would rather have one of these then a 41-316, more function, less gimmicks. The Mystery control sets are interesting but about 5 or 6 tubes are dedicated to the wireless remote system and do nothing for the radio itself. Rubber/gutta percha covered wire isn't a big deal to replace, it's more time consuming then anything else. The stuff that should definitely be replaced is the leads going into the IF cans as there is B+ running up one side. Thankfully they discontinued the practice of using this sort of wire on the power transformers after 1939.
Regards
Arran

[bfrohwein]

Thought you all might want to see it now that it's cleaned up, re-capped, most of the resistors replaced and the if cans re-wired, 10.5 miles of rubber wire replaced, etc, etc.. I still need to deal with the bezel (peeling paint, worn out felt around the controls) and I need to go through the SW alignment again...

I got better SW reception BEFORE I aligned it..

BTW, do the buttons program like say, the 40-125? the schematic set I have says, "See Page 27 for push button adjustments" I have no page 27!

Waiting for a couple of panel lamps I'm going to gut and use their lens, they should snap right in the hole..

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hopefully these will work for the indicator jewel.

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[Ron Ramirez]

Bret, where did you find those indicator lamps? The fronts of those look very similar to the original Philco jewel. The sides were not ribbed, and the plastic was shorter as the lamp was not enclosed within the plastic originally. But if these are the same diameter as the original hole, then they could be cut off and turned into a nearly perfect replacement for the originals.

And, yes, the pushbuttons are adjusted in the same manner as most other Philco set that uses pushbuttons - the upper and lower screw at far right (when viewing the chassis from the rear) correspond with the second pushbutton from the left (when viewed from the front). The 41-315's first pushbutton on the left is the off-on switch. I do not recall which screw is the antenna and which is the oscillator, but once you try to adjust one, that will make itself known.

[bfrohwein]

hi Ron.

they're on Amazon. I didn't want to post the link because of forum rules and such. but it's here.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00880C...UTF8&psc=1

I am going to gut them and cut off the bottom half, they're 220V anyhow. there's also a threaded version of these. but they're sold in lots of 100.. although at 21 and change, that's a heck of a deal!

the oscillator and antenna sections are labeled on the switch back. I have the instructions for the 40-125, but I haven't set those buttons either.

having trouble aligning it actually. thought I had it done until I realized that the lower AM band I'm tracking the same stations for 100khz. upper band is fine. I'll mess with it. the alignment instructions are interesting. I'm also not getting much of a response of the adjustment on the top of the tuning condenser.

[bfrohwein]

So I got the pilot lamps in. they're much shorter than I thought they would be. it took me 5 seconds to remove the lamp assembly from the lens and it fit snuggly but easily in the pilot lamp hole without having to cut to size. It's as if they were made as a replacement part.

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[jeffgniffke]

Just this morning was looking at the pilot lamp of the 42-400 I'm working on and found this thread. Awesome. Ordered a few of the 220V lamps from Amazon for this one and a 42-1015 next up on the rack.
I'm really getting to like these immediate pre-war consoles. The 42-400 with the 14" speaker makes for fairly good powerful sound..but like Ron says a bit strong on the bass...
This one had a phono jack so with a small passive amp/resistor it is playing my internet radio etc.
The rubber wire confounds me at times...the pilot lamp on this one...the red wire was nearly dust while the green was still pliable and not needing replacement. Some of the red below deck was also crumbling but again some was just fine. It seems also that if you don't poke the bear(rubber wiring) it is just fine.
Again thanks for the pilot lamp tip and congrats on a decent restoration! Looks awesome....

[bfrohwein]

I was so obsessed with finding the closest thing to the original I could imagine. and it was under my nose on Amazon the whole time.

I agree with you about the bass. in fact, I've been listening to mine a lot since I get it all aligned and in its new home. I found my self wondering what I'd have to do to add a tweeter in there. ;-)

btw.. despite coming from Hong-Kong, I got mine pretty quick.

[jeffgniffke]

I can relate to that! I had no idea what had been there originally...have never seen an original pilot lamp intact. I was thinking a jewel similar to what you have on a lot of test equipment of the period.

The tweeter idea is enticing, I have a 38-116 is one of my main stay radios and the passive resistors to add something if the radio is parked near a wall. I also have a 38-690 with the tweeters in it...looking forward to getting that done sometime this winter...it will need a good deal of time!

On my 42-400 I am now looking at replacing a worn out spring in the push button control head...will not lock the buttons in place..including the strange "Power Off" button.