From Newsgroup: rec.antiques.radio+phono

On 6/26/25 19:37, Daniel wrote:

David LaRue <huey.dll@tampabay.rr.com> writes:

Daniel <me@sc1f1dan.com> wrote in news:87y0tge2eu.fsf@rpi3:

I have high hopes people are still watching this NG and waiting for
posts to talk.

Prove me right.

D

What would you like to discuss?

Hey guys. Well, I spend very little time in GUI environments and when I
do, there is a forum for antique radios. I was hoping we could have
similar discussions in here that you would find there.

I listen to the radio often, almost exclusively sports radio and game broadcasts. When I say often, it's generally first thing in the morning
until I fall asleep at night.

I had been watching a few youtuber posts, both rather qwerky
personalities, who focus on radio repair. One simply does repair while another repairs and restores.

I usually watched the vids because it was almost meditative. A few years
ago I had an idea of obtaining a nice, quality early transistor radio to replace the one in my den. Then, recently, I stumbled upon a nice
console radio at a neighbor's house gathering. It seemed to be restored
and the guy said it was his grandfather's and, other than replacing
vacuum tubes the thing is as it was when inheriting it. I asked to look inside but he showed me pictures of it instead. Obviously, his
grandfather had replaced the old capacitors.

I asked him to turn the radio on and I was really surprised how pleasant
and warm the broadcast sound on an old tube radio. Not sure if it's the speakers or tubes, actually. The guy just has it there because it looks
nice but doesnt use it. I tried to offer cash for it but he had zero
interest in letting it go.

I lack the skills to buy a broken radio and repair it. Shango offered to
fix one for me if I get my hands on one.

Do you guys have tube radios at home?

Daniel

Yes. Dozens. Radio locally is pretty poor, so I also have a
significant antenna array to draw in non-locals for better listening.

p

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.antiques.radio+phono

On Tue, 24 Jun 2025 23:55:05 -0700, Daniel wrote:

I have high hopes people are still watching this NG and waiting for
posts to talk.

Prove me right.

D

I'm still here. I've only been checking once a month but now that there
is some activity again, I will resume checking every day. I am also
active on Antique Radio Forum.

I have a number of radios but lack the time to do much with them. I have
one working in the bedroom. It is a GE in a plastic cabinet with a PC
board. I found it on the floor of a hall where I worked in the early
'70s. It didn't work then and has been repaired several times since
then. It has CD markings on the dial so that puts it at about 1960 more
or less. It gets used most days anywhere from 5 minutes to 2 hours at a stretch.

I also have another working set from about 1953. It used to be a clock
radio but the clock and cabinet were long gone when I got it decades ago. That one has also been repaired a number of times. Since the cabinet is missing it is easy to use it to prove that tubes are good (a real life
tube tester, not just a box with a meter). It gets listened to
occasionally.

Watch out for stuff you see on Youtube or other similar sources; a lot of
it is garbage posted by people who don't know what they are talking about!

As far as wood cabinets with veneer, that is common, almost universal.
The ones to watch out for are the ones with photofinish. That's just
paper with a printed wood pattern glued over cheap wood. If you try to refinish it, it all goes away.

One thing that many people don't consider is what are they going to listen
to? Get a working radio from somewhere and see if there are any stations
that you like. Where I live there are two AM stations that are
tolerable. The last time I went to the bay area several years ago I
brought a portable AM/FM radio and found nothing worthwhile.
--
Jim Mueller wrongname@nospam.com

To get my real email address, replace wrongname with eggmen.
Then replace nospam with expressmail. Lastly, replace com with dk.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.antiques.radio+phono

Jim Mueller <wrongname@nospam.com> writes:

On Tue, 24 Jun 2025 23:55:05 -0700, Daniel wrote:

I have high hopes people are still watching this NG and waiting for
posts to talk.

Prove me right.

D

I'm still here. I've only been checking once a month but now that there
is some activity again, I will resume checking every day. I am also
active on Antique Radio Forum.

I have a number of radios but lack the time to do much with them. I have one working in the bedroom. It is a GE in a plastic cabinet with a PC board. I found it on the floor of a hall where I worked in the early
'70s. It didn't work then and has been repaired several times since
then. It has CD markings on the dial so that puts it at about 1960 more
or less. It gets used most days anywhere from 5 minutes to 2 hours at a stretch.

I also have another working set from about 1953. It used to be a clock radio but the clock and cabinet were long gone when I got it decades ago. That one has also been repaired a number of times. Since the cabinet is missing it is easy to use it to prove that tubes are good (a real life
tube tester, not just a box with a meter). It gets listened to occasionally.

Watch out for stuff you see on Youtube or other similar sources; a lot of
it is garbage posted by people who don't know what they are talking about!

I watch the following youtubers,

shango066 - radio and tv repair with dry humor mixed in
glasslinger - radio restorer, occasional tv's, produces vacuum tubes
Antique Radio Archaeology - seems to be inactive, but tons of great
content
David Tipton - meticulous restorer
Buzz1151 - Watch this channel to a lesser degree

If you have other good ones, I will certainly take a look.

As far as wood cabinets with veneer, that is common, almost universal.
The ones to watch out for are the ones with photofinish. That's just
paper with a printed wood pattern glued over cheap wood. If you try to refinish it, it all goes away.

I've considered buying a radio chassis off ebay, repairing, and working
with a woodcrafter friend of mine to build a cabinet, at first, with
reclaimed wood from a pallet. Then when we get the design right, make
one with oak. Or keep the original as-is. Bummer about veneers being
universal. I had hoped that good quality existed for some period for the cabinets.

One thing that many people don't consider is what are they going to listen to? Get a working radio from somewhere and see if there are any stations that you like. Where I live there are two AM stations that are
tolerable. The last time I went to the bay area several years ago I
brought a portable AM/FM radio and found nothing worthwhile.

As a remote worker, I've been able to enjoy radio pretty much all
day. Where I live, we have copious radio stations in the AM band. I tend
to focus on three of them. One is sports talk (90%), one broadcasts our
local MLB team (local for now), and the other is political talk. I don't
live in the SF bay area, but I do stream their sports station KNBR
during Giants games and the postgame shows.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.antiques.radio+phono

"D. Peter Maus" <DPeterMaus@att.net> writes:

On 6/26/25 19:37, Daniel wrote:

David LaRue <huey.dll@tampabay.rr.com> writes:

Daniel <me@sc1f1dan.com> wrote in news:87y0tge2eu.fsf@rpi3:

I have high hopes people are still watching this NG and waiting for
posts to talk.

Prove me right.

D

What would you like to discuss?

Hey guys. Well, I spend very little time in GUI environments and
when I
do, there is a forum for antique radios. I was hoping we could have
similar discussions in here that you would find there.
I listen to the radio often, almost exclusively sports radio and
game
broadcasts. When I say often, it's generally first thing in the morning
until I fall asleep at night.
I had been watching a few youtuber posts, both rather qwerky
personalities, who focus on radio repair. One simply does repair while
another repairs and restores.
I usually watched the vids because it was almost meditative. A few
years
ago I had an idea of obtaining a nice, quality early transistor radio to
replace the one in my den. Then, recently, I stumbled upon a nice
console radio at a neighbor's house gathering. It seemed to be restored
and the guy said it was his grandfather's and, other than replacing
vacuum tubes the thing is as it was when inheriting it. I asked to look
inside but he showed me pictures of it instead. Obviously, his
grandfather had replaced the old capacitors.
I asked him to turn the radio on and I was really surprised how
pleasant
and warm the broadcast sound on an old tube radio. Not sure if it's the
speakers or tubes, actually. The guy just has it there because it looks
nice but doesnt use it. I tried to offer cash for it but he had zero
interest in letting it go.
I lack the skills to buy a broken radio and repair it. Shango
offered to
fix one for me if I get my hands on one.
Do you guys have tube radios at home?
Daniel

Yes. Dozens. Radio locally is pretty poor, so I also have a
significant antenna array to draw in non-locals for better listening.

p

How did you get it to work?

D
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.antiques.radio+phono

On 7/7/2025 7:41 PM, Jim Mueller wrote:

One thing that many people don't consider is what are they going to listen to? Get a working radio from somewhere and see if there are any stations that you like. Where I live there are two AM stations that are
tolerable. The last time I went to the bay area several years ago I
brought a portable AM/FM radio and found nothing worthwhile.

I listen to most of my radio in the car, and I usually find a wide
variety of stations. At home, on the AM dial, I'm limited to only a
couple of talk stations, a fuzzy nostalgia station, and a local "classic
hits" station.

I've been meaning to get back into the hobby and build a big AM loop
antenna in the attic. Every now and again, I'll tune into something
distant like 650 WSM out of Nashville (I'm in Eastern Ohio).
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.antiques.radio+phono

One thing that many people don't seem to know about wooden radios is that
the cabinets weren't varnished. They couldn't have been. When they were making hundreds of radios a day, they couldn't have afforded the time to
let it dry. So most manufacturers used lacquer which dried in minutes.
The ones that didn't use lacquer used shellac which also dries quickly.
There are people on ARF who can immediately spot a cabinet which has been "refinished" with polyurethane. Lacquer (even colored lacquer which some manufactures used) is still available from specialty companies, even in
spray cans.
--
Jim Mueller wrongname@nospam.com

To get my real email address, replace wrongname with eggmen.
Then replace nospam with expressmail. Lastly, replace com with dk.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.antiques.radio+phono

On 7/13/2025 2:30 AM, Daniel wrote:

Michael Trew <michael.trew@att.net> writes:

On 7/7/2025 7:41 PM, Jim Mueller wrote:

One thing that many people don't consider is what are they going to listen >>> to? Get a working radio from somewhere and see if there are any stations >>> that you like. Where I live there are two AM stations that are
tolerable. The last time I went to the bay area several years ago I
brought a portable AM/FM radio and found nothing worthwhile.

I listen to most of my radio in the car, and I usually find a wide
variety of stations. At home, on the AM dial, I'm limited to only a
couple of talk stations, a fuzzy nostalgia station, and a local
"classic hits" station.

I've been meaning to get back into the hobby and build a big AM loop
antenna in the attic. Every now and again, I'll tune into something
distant like 650 WSM out of Nashville (I'm in Eastern Ohio).

If you build the AM loop antenna (looking that up after this post), what
is your intention on running the cabling to your radio? Drop it down a
wall and terminate it in the room?

I wonder how this antenna would work with the build-in antenna inside
the box.

If this is easy, I hope to do something similar in my attic.

My intent would be to run speaker wire down the inside of the wall. You
just need the two leads.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.antiques.radio+phono

Michael Trew <michael.trew@att.net> writes:

On 7/13/2025 2:30 AM, Daniel wrote:

Michael Trew <michael.trew@att.net> writes:

On 7/7/2025 7:41 PM, Jim Mueller wrote:

One thing that many people don't consider is what are they going to listen >>>> to? Get a working radio from somewhere and see if there are any stations >>>> that you like. Where I live there are two AM stations that are
tolerable. The last time I went to the bay area several years ago I
brought a portable AM/FM radio and found nothing worthwhile.

I listen to most of my radio in the car, and I usually find a wide
variety of stations. At home, on the AM dial, I'm limited to only a
couple of talk stations, a fuzzy nostalgia station, and a local
"classic hits" station.

I've been meaning to get back into the hobby and build a big AM loop
antenna in the attic. Every now and again, I'll tune into something
distant like 650 WSM out of Nashville (I'm in Eastern Ohio).

If you build the AM loop antenna (looking that up after this post),
what
is your intention on running the cabling to your radio? Drop it down a
wall and terminate it in the room?
I wonder how this antenna would work with the build-in antenna
inside
the box.
If this is easy, I hope to do something similar in my attic.

My intent would be to run speaker wire down the inside of the wall.
You just need the two leads.

Oh ok. I figured iit would be coax or something. So you intend on
drilling a hole in the dry wall and pushing the wires through.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2