1945-1959 Post War Tube Radios
Page 5
Page 5
1950s Wooden and Non Color Plastic Radios
1950s Wooden and Non Color Plastic Radios
During this period wood cabinet radios popular in the 1930's and 1940's declined in popularity. Plastic cabinets could be molded, fashioned, had a wide range of colors and made in large quantities at a lower price, Wood cabinets cost more and were reserved for better radios or for component systems from Fisher, Harmon-Kardon, MacIntosh, Marrantz and others. The late 1950's was the rise in Hi-Fidelity Equipment that took consumer electronics to higher levels.
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Sentinel 343 (1952) Sentinel Radio and Television, Evanston, ILTypical early 1950's black and gold look
ABOVE: Typical AA5 design, however the IF transformers are tuned by adjusting the ferrite rods instead of a ferrite slug. The schematics list them as dual adjustable inductors, A rod antenna is used instead of the open air loop.
Sentinel 344 (1953) Sentinel Radio and Television, Evanston, IL. 6 Tube AA6 with 2- 12BA6, 12BE6, 12AV6, 35W4 and 35C5. Has tone control and simple untuned RF stage.
ABOVE: Chassis cleaned and polished. Has a 5 inch speaker.
ABOVE: Restore electronically. BELOW: Tubes glowing.
Philco 51-532 (1951) Transitone. 5 Tube AA5 superheterodyne, using mixed tube technology.
Three generations of tube technology. The 50L6GT and 35Z5GT are late depression octal base. The 14B6 and 7A8 are pre war LOCTAL base and the 12BA6 is post war. Being 1951, PHILCO had to get rid of old stock. A number of PHILCO radios during the post war had the same combinations.
Complete restoration. Like the Zenith Consoletone, Philco used a narrow chassis, making repairs and parts id difficult.
DIAL LIGHT
During the restoration process the IF transformers developed Silver Rot. The capacitors that form the tuned ckt for the transformers were oxidizing and being eaten away (common for IF transformers made during this period). I had to take both IF transformers apart, remove the silver film and install external disc capacitors as shown below. The seconf IF transformer was more complex as it has a pi-filter film capacitors as well.
See Repair Tip below on repairing IF transformers with "Silver Rot"
See Repair Tip below on repairing IF transformers with "Silver Rot"
RESTORE TIP (ABOVE) Often in radios the back cover printing had faded (like the Sentinel IU-344). I found that sometimes a couple of coats of polyurethane gloss spray helps bring out the lettering.
Silvertone Catalog 5 (132 881) 1952 Sears Robuck and Co. Bakelite Radio made for Sears by Arvin Industries. Radio of my childhood, has nice evening glow dial.
NICE SOFT GLOW ON DIAL
BELOW: Total restoration was done. Both IF transformers suffered from "silver rot" and had to be repaired. Virtually every resistor was way out of tolerance and existing paper caps were "gutted out" and new parts put inside. Chassis was cleaned and polished. Looks almost like the original.
Repair Tip
Repair Tip
Repairing early 1950's IF Transformers suffering from "silver rot" in the Silvertone and Philco
If your radio of this era has a very scratchy sound or there seems to be a lot of crackling no matter which station you tune to. It could be from the arcing inside the IF transformers.
Below is a typical early 1950's slug tuned IF transformer with the can removed.
Below is a typical early 1950's slug tuned IF transformer with the can removed.
Below are the metal lead fingers attached to the silver oxide dielectric.
Here is the dielectric fil. Notice the black areas. Indicating the dielectric destruction.
Carefully lift the lead fingers up to remove the damaged dielectric film. Make sure the fingers don't touch other fingers nearby.
Below two 100pF disc caps are installed to replace the discarded film caps.
Some sets have the second IF transformer that contains six leads. Most IF transformers have four. The extra leads are to accommodate a built in IF filter network.
Install 4 external 100pF disk capacitors ( 2 for the IF transformer and 2 for the IF filter)
Packard Bell
Packard Bell
Packard Bell 631 (1953)- Packard Bell, Los Angeles. This is a Twin Speaker, AA6 radio in a nice eliptical shape cabinet. Most AA6 radios incorporate a 6th tube as an untuned RF amplifier, but this one has a TRF stage. It also features a tone control and a venier tuning. Uses 2- 6BJ6, 12BE6, 12AV6, 50C5 and 35W4 tubes.
Added a Dial Light.
The PackardBell 631, had a clear plastic strip above the dial and a slot on the front face and pressboard backing for a dial light provision. I decided to add a dial light for fun.
Underneath the chassis, I had to replace all the "Bumble Bee" caps because they had cracked molding as shown BELOW:
Packard Bell 631
Twin speaker and shielded 3 section tuning capacitor. It is my understanding that for in phase speaker response the speakers need to be connected in series as shown. Also at the bottom there is phono-radio selector and phono input.
Packard Bell 602
ABOVE and BELOW: Complete restoration. Capacitors restuffed, complete chassis cleanup. Looks like as purchased in 1950.
Packard Bell 5R1
Notice the use of ceramic disc capacitors except for the larger capacitance values that which are molded paper types. The disc capacitors provided lots of wiring space.
Notice the use of ceramic disc capacitors except for the larger capacitance values that which are molded paper types. The disc capacitors provided lots of wiring space.
Packard Bell 602 (1949-50) Packard Bell Co, Los Angeles. A 6 Tube Radio. Uses and untuned RF stage. Features separate Northwest Stationized and Southwest Stationized slide rule tuning with dial pointers. This model feature the use of painted woodgrain laminate cabinet.
Daytime or nightime, a very attractive dial.
The 1949 run of the model 602 featured twin 4 in speakers at each end and used all OCTAL based tubes. The 1950 model has a 4X6 speaker at the top and all miniiature tubes.
Packard Bell 5R1 (1956-57) Packard Bell, Los Angeles. These AA5 radios came in many colors and also available in kit form for educational purposes. I built one in high school for a radio troubleshooting competition. Fairly simple set but has good sensitivity and selectivity. Uses 12BA6, 12BE6, 12AV6, 50C5 and 35W4 tubes.
From Canada
From Canada
Rogers Majestic
Rogers Majestic
Rogers Majestic R151 (1951) Rogers Majestic LTD, Toronto CANADA. Uses 12AT6, 12BA6, 12BE6, 35W4 and 50C5 tubes. Painted cabinet over Bakelite,
ABOVE: Complete restoration. The Aerovox paper capacitors and Cornell Dubilier electrolytics were restuffed with modern parts, All parts appear to be made in Canada.
ABOVE and BELOW: note the similarity of the cabinet.
ABOVE (R-151 and R-351)IF transformers with ferrite rod adjustments. Very small compared to American type IF transformers.
Rogers Majestic R531 (1953) Rogers Majestic LTD, Toronto CANADA5 tube AC/DC radio, identical to Philips PH114. This model was probably made by Philips Canada. Uses 12AT6, 12BA6, 12BE6, 35W4 and 50C5 tubes. Painted cabinet over Bakelite,
Very similar to the Rogers R-151 except a loopstick antenna and minor changes in the IF stage was made.
ABOVE: The components are a mix of US and European made parts. Molded paper capacitors are used and the electrolytic is made Plessy a UK mfg, The couplate is made by Centralab of USA.
Sonora Radios
"Clear as a bell!"Sonora Radios
Sonora 568 (1957) Sonora Radio and Television Corp, New YorkToward the 1960's things were getting boxy and metal front panels. This interesting twin speaker transformerless set uses 6 tubes . Unlike most twin speaker sets, this radio has a push pull output using two 35C5 beam power tetrodes with a 12AV6 class A amplifier and another 12AV6 as a phase inverter. Also has a phono switch so it can connect to phonograph. Puts out about 5 watts of nice sounding audio. However the RF and IF stage is a regular AA5 design (12BE6 and 12BA6 tubes) and the simple oscillator setup makes tuning less accurate.
BELOW: Uses independent light bulb circuit allowing for a uniform bright lighted display!
Sonora 317B (1953) Sonora Radio and Television Corp, New York Compact AA5 radio. Two chassis versions. Early version all octal based tubes and later version all miniature tubes
Typical restoration, unless the original parts can be reused, components that cannot be normally seen are replaced with modern parts with original part discarded.
Sonora 568
Large roomy chassis. The two tubes on the left side are the 35C5 tubes operating in push-pull amp mode. In the center the unshielded 12AV6 is the phase inverter and the shielded tube is the audio amp. Below is a roomy chassis. This model uses a solid state rectifier (Selenium Rectifier). I replaced it with a 1N4004 Silicon Rectifier. Had to change the voltage dropping resistor to match the current by the Selenium design.
Sonora 314
Sonora 317B
Fully restored chassis wiring. Notice that the IFT at the upper right is a under chassis mount and the other IFT in the center is the standard top of chassis type. Sonora did several models like this. Some without any shielding to cut cost and space.
Fully restored chassis wiring. Notice that the IFT at the upper right is a under chassis mount and the other IFT in the center is the standard top of chassis type. Sonora did several models like this. Some without any shielding to cut cost and space.
Sonora 314 (1953) Sonora Radio and Television Corp, New York. Neat Speaker Grill Dial. Transformerless radio has 6 tubes (6C4, 12AU6, 12BA6, 12AV6, 50C5 AND 35W4 . Two of them (6C4 and 12AU6) act as oscillator and converter rather than the common pentagrid converter. The separate tubes provide better station rejection and a wider bandwidth allowing accurate tuning across the standard broadcast band.
Typical restoration- old components underneath are replaced with newer and more reliable components. Compare this to the Silvertone Catalog 5 on the same page showing a total restoration underneath.
A 4 Tube Transformerless Radio using a Selenium RectifierRCA marketed a set that replaces the 35W4 tube rectifier with a solid state selenium rectifier. Cost about $10 more than their AA5 tadio. Result is a set that uses 18 Watts instead of the standard AA5 30 Watts. Uses a unusual complement of tubes: 12BE6, 12AV6, 6BJ6 and 6AK6 output and a 6 Volt pilot light. The tube series filament string was handled by a 38 volt auto transformer. A compact cooler running set but seems more expensive using the transformer and the relatively rare 6AK6 tube only puts out .3 Watts versus almost a watt with the 50C5. Have a feeling was not a great selling radio as I don't see anymore like this by RCA.
RCA 2-R-52A (1953)Suggested Price $29.95"Tiny Personal"
ABOVE: 4 tubes, filament transformer and IF transformers, Looks like a portable set. BELOW: Ultra cramp wiring. Repairs are difficult. The bad selenium rectifier is left for nostalgia, replaced with silicon rectifier 1N4007.
ABOVE: Chassis slides in from the bottom. Change tubes from the bottom. BELOW: Lighted dial pointer.
Back side looks like front!
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