One of the most fun aspects of being a radio freak is that you get into collecting junky old tube-type radios. I don't know exactly what it is - glass bottles that glow in the dark, high plate voltage, who knows. I know that guitar amps and hi-fi gear should have tubes. I'm the only guy on the block that finds digital sound annoying; a CD played through a solid-state amplifier makes my skin crawl. I'm also the only guy on the block who runs his CD deck through a tube amp to warm up the sound. I really like the shortwave radios, or "communication receivers" the best, but a few others slip in... Let's do a little boring ground rule thing here, and then look at a few from my pile.
If you ever try this: when you buy, find, or are given one of these things, never give in to the urge to plug the old dear in and fire it up first thing. If you can, you should buy, beg, or borrow an "isolation transformer", a device which removes the thing from ground potential. Most of these things have a "hot chassis", meaning that one side of the wall AC is attached to the metal chassis, and make no mistake, these things will kill you just for fun. Always check the condition of the cord first, and "eyeball" the inside one good time looking for burned out or leaking stuff. When you light it up for the first time, consider it deadly. If the initial light-up goes well, and the thing seems to work at all, power it down and remove the chassis, and replace every paper type capacitor you can get to. These things are almost always dried out, and are leaky or shorted, and can turn your conversation piece into a fire hazard or killing machine, especially those with metal cabinets. Replace them with new epoxy-dipped capacitors, and these radios will outlast you. Tubes can be tough to find, but they are out there; don't worry about them.
These first four are not shortwave models, but I like 'em. These are AM-only receivers:
This is my oldest and moldiest tube-type radio - the
Atwater-Kent
Model 35, made in 1926. This one is battery powered; in 1926, fewer
than
half of American homes had electricity, and Atwater-Kent released
their first "light current power" set in 1928. The batteries to
power
this hunk are no longer available, and it was neccessary to build a
plug-in-the-wall
power supply for it. This one sold new for $70 less tubes and
batteries,
which made it a stunningly pricey commodity in that day. There was
available
a stand-up horn speaker, which you can see on the right in this ad from
Cosmopolitan magazine from 1926, but I don't have one. Maybe
someday...
This one is a Majestic portable from 1946. Nice
little radio,
four tubes, and the sound is amazingly good. This cabinet style was set
by Zenith with the Universal portable and was copied by a number of
companies. Majestic, RCA, Hallicrafters, and several others built
virtual copies of this form over several years. It turned out to be a
good design; speakers were getting better around that time, and the
wooden cabinets acted as a great speaker enclosure, making for great
sound from the 4" speakers that they all had...
This is a Zenith "Universal" Model 6G601M,
circa 1941. Five tube
superhet with very good sound. Sold new at $39.95. Note the sailboat
embroidered
on the speaker grill; the early ones were called the "Clipper" series.
During the war, the few of these released on the market had the
sailboat
replaced by a generic 4-engine bomber. I have a magazine ad for this
model,
advertising it as "Perfect for AIR RAIDS and OTHER EMERGENCIES".
This one is the smallest tube type
portable I have, a Sylvania Model
3303, circa 1956. About the size of a cigar box. The case is leather.
Yes,
that is a compass in the front center, and it actually works, if the
radio
is lying on it's back and turned off. When the radio is turned on, the
electricals inside make the little compass crazy... Four miniature
tubes,
and cheezy sound, but it was small, for it's day.
This one is a shortwaver, and a
classic; the Zenith Trans-Oceanic
portable, Model G500, circa 1953. The Trans-Oceanic was the premier
portable
of it's day, and was called "The Royalty Of Radios". Closed, it's about
the size and weight of a portable sewing machine, and it was horribly
expensive,
but the demand was very high. The original model, the "Trans-Oceanic
Clipper"
hit the market it January of 1942, and was an immediate success because
of the war; everybody wanted shortwave radios to keep up with
international
news. In April of 1942, Zenith went into full war production, and
production
of the Trans-Oceanic halted, with 65,000 units sold, and another
100,000
on pre-order. Production began again immediately after the war, and
this
one is from the second post-war series. These things went with Admiral
Byrd to the south pole, on Himalayan expeditions, and no seagoing yacht
was complete without one. A fantastic radio, with excellent sound. The
biggest hassle with these today is their use of the 1L5 tube; this tube
was out of production by 1960, and 1L5s are rare and horribly expensive
today. The other tubes are readily available. This one's lid is off for
repairs right now.
This is one of the last of
the tube Trans-Oceanics, the 600 series.
These, amazingly, remained in production until 1962, when the tube
technology
simply became too expensive for Zenith to manufacture, and sell at a
profit.
Nonetheless, when Zenith announced the end of production, several
thousand
orders rolled in for the last run. In 1958, a high-end solid-state
portable
had been introduced, and when the 600 series folded, the solid-state
portable
was redesigned, and marketed as it's replacement under the
Trans-Oceanic
label. The solid-state units were excellent radios; tens of thousands
still
serve today, and they still command a premium price on the collector's
market, but they were never very well accepted. The "purists" could not
accept the transistorized models as "real" Trans-Oceanics, and the less
discriminating were put off by the high price. At the bitter end in
1983,
the final run of solid-state R-7000 Trans-Oceanics were closed out by
distributors
at below cost to clear the shelves.
Hallicrafters was
founded in the 1930s by Bill Halligan, and produced
good quality, moderately priced shortwave receivers, stereos,
televisions,
and military electronics until the 1970s. For decades, almost every boy
either had or coveted a Hallicrafters radio. This is a Hallicrafters
S-40,
circa 1947. Nine tubes, BFO, a.n.l., and very heavy. Originally sold at
$79.50, this was a high-end model.
This is a
Hallicrafters S-38, circa 1946, entry-level model for the
consumer line of radios. The S-38 was in production almost 15 years,
and
hundreds of thousands were sold at prices from $47.50 in 1946, to
$59.95
for the last run. With six tubes, they were only fair-to-good
performers,
but introduced hundreds of thousands of people to shortwave listening.
The advantage with these is that so many were made, and they are
readily
available in flea markets and radio meets, at reasonable prices.
This is
the Hallicrafters S-120, circa 1960. This one replaced the
S-38 as the entry-level set. Five tubes, four bands, and the same
fair-to-good
performance, but a good value for the $69.95 price. Hallicrafters also
made two other slightly more expensive models during the same years,
which
were the same radio with a fancy front panel and a more expensive case.
This one, as you can see, does Florida-room duty as a general listening
radio, and still performs well.
This
is a National NC-300 ham-band-only receiver, circa 1956. This
one is massive, about 75 pounds, has 16 tubes, and makes enough heat to
warm the ham shack on cold nights. Real radios glow in the dark. Ham
bands
only, and a great receiver. This model was the receiver section for
thousands
of ham shacks years ago. It was only manufactured for two years,
1955-1956, but set some awesome standards for several years, and they
still command a good price today on the collector market. This photo is
from an old ad - my NC-300 is torn down for rebuilding right now.