ZR Posted March 22, 2015 Posted March 22, 2015 It looks like the one in this video and has the tubes all in a row and a slant front. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJSIpyQdSZ0Does anyone know anything about this radio or these old tube radios in general?Thanks in advance for your help!!!
JohnnyB Posted March 22, 2015 Posted March 22, 2015 Maybe you already found some of these enthusiasts' sites, but here's a start. Notice you can get the schematic if you join.Here's an Antique Radios forum.Here's the 1920s page of the Western Historic Radio Museum. Scroll down to the Freshman listing and you'll get a little info about this brand's characteristics and quirks.Here's Steven Johannssen's website. The Freshman Masterpiece is the last radio listed and pictured on the page. At the very bottom are some links to antique radio enthusiast websites.
gorch Posted March 22, 2015 Posted March 22, 2015 The best sound I ever heard from a radio was from old tube radios from grandma.
a.bandini Posted March 22, 2015 Posted March 22, 2015 Oh man. A college buddy was into antique radios. I think you are on a very slippery slope! Have fun!
ZR Posted March 22, 2015 Author Posted March 22, 2015 Probably, but I have all 5 tubes I need and it's supposed to work. I have a tube tester but haven't checked them yet. Was actually surprised that my tester would test them with a 4 pin tube.I'm pretty sure I won't be sliding down any slippery slope due to this. I mainly bought it to flip on Ebay. It's a weirder unit than I thought; it's battery powered by various batteries at once, and you can only listen via headphones unless you hook it up to a preamp/amp but they had very little power to drive a speaker...so I was told.
ZR Posted March 22, 2015 Author Posted March 22, 2015 JohnnyB thanks for the links. I saw some of them before but the first link confirmed a lot about it. They sold these as kits or already made. This one has the metal logo plate on the front indicating it was made at the factory. One guy said that these CAN power a speaker so we'll see. I'm not sure I'll ever get it going as you have to have these various voltages and I don't have a voltage supply to use. So, I'll probably just flip it.
crunchee Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 Probably, but I have all 5 tubes I need and it's supposed to work. I have a tube tester but haven't checked them yet. Was actually surprised that my tester would test them with a 4 pin tube. I'm pretty sure I won't be sliding down any slippery slope due to this. I mainly bought it to flip on Ebay. It's a weirder unit than I thought; it's battery powered by various batteries at once, and you can only listen via headphones unless you hook it up to a preamp/amp but they had very little power to drive a speaker...so I was told. These early radios are pretty primitive in design, and so are the tubes and tube circuits. If you've ever heard of B+ voltage in a tube amp (a term that's still used), here's a brief description of how it came about: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_%28vacuum_tube%29 That's the extent of my knowledge of that particular style of radio. I prefer semi-modern 40's and 50's tube radios though I don't have them anymore, at least the build quality of those aren't that far removed from 'classic' tube guitar amps. As far as working on one goes, I only know enough to take it to someone else who really knows what they're doing, and has done it before!
Steve Haynie Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 My father said his father would have to go to a gas station to get the battery for the radio recharged back when they lived without electricity.
Biz Prof Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 My father said his father would have to go to a gas station to get the battery for the radio recharged back when they lived without electricity.Sounds like a common refrain from the rural South back in the day. Also reminds me of George Clooney from "Oh Brother, Where art Thou?": "Well, ain't this place a geographical oddity; two weeks from everywhere."
crunchee Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 My father said his father would have to go to a gas station to get the battery for the radio recharged back when they lived without electricity.Sounds like a common refrain from the rural South back in the day.Also reminds me of George Clooney from "Oh Brother, Where art Thou?": "Well, ain't this place a geographical oddity; two weeks from everywhere." Aw shucks, when I lived in the country in the South/Southwest as a kid, my Grade School had two classrooms, one for Grades 1-3, the other for Grades 4-6, and my home phone was on a party line.
ZR Posted March 23, 2015 Author Posted March 23, 2015 ...and you walked uphill in the snow coming and going to school!
crunchee Posted March 24, 2015 Posted March 24, 2015 I also had my choice of Nehi, Big Chief, or Big Red in glass pop bottles, if'n I didn't want a Royal Crown Cola with my Moon Pie or Cherry Mash.
Question
ZR
It looks like the one in this video and has the tubes all in a row and a slant front.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJSIpyQdSZ0
Does anyone know anything about this radio or these old tube radios in general?
Thanks in advance for your help!!!
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