Welcome, Guest. Please Login or Register
Decware Audio Forums
03/29/24 at 00:13:03 




Pages: 1
Send Topic Print
Radio (Read 1475 times)
deucekazoo
Seasoned Member
****




Posts: 461
Radio
11/21/18 at 22:41:35
 
So a new project, like I need another one! I still need to finish the ones I am working on right now, lol.
So one of the guys at work found this, knows I am a tube guy and gave it to me. I did not know anything about this until I looked it up and started to do a little research. It is a radio from 1925, has 5 tubes in it and runs on batteries. The weird thing is the battery voltages are 90v, 22.5v 6v and -4.5v. Found a battery for the higher voltages and will make something for the lower voltages. I will try to restore this and get it running. This thing is cool and can't wait to hear it.
Back to top
 

radio7-11.jpg
  IP Logged
deucekazoo
Seasoned Member
****




Posts: 461
Re: Radio
Reply #1 - 11/21/18 at 22:44:46
 
pic2
Back to top
 

radio8-22.jpg
  IP Logged
deucekazoo
Seasoned Member
****




Posts: 461
Re: Radio
Reply #2 - 11/21/18 at 22:47:05
 
pic 3
Back to top
 

radio1-33.jpg
  IP Logged
deucekazoo
Seasoned Member
****




Posts: 461
Re: Radio
Reply #3 - 11/21/18 at 22:49:53
 
pic 4
Back to top
 

radio2-44.jpg
  IP Logged
deucekazoo
Seasoned Member
****




Posts: 461
Re: Radio
Reply #4 - 11/21/18 at 22:51:41
 
pic 5
Back to top
 

radio4-55.jpg
  IP Logged
deucekazoo
Seasoned Member
****




Posts: 461
Re: Radio
Reply #5 - 11/21/18 at 22:55:35
 
The tubes are a UX-201A or 01A. Now I just need to test them and find out if they are good. I don't have a tester so need to find someone that has one. I wonder if Steve would test these for me?
Back to top
 

radio5-66.jpg
  IP Logged
Lonely Raven
Seasoned Member
****


Jack of all Trades,
Master of None

Posts: 3567
Re: Radio
Reply #6 - 11/22/18 at 06:50:59
 
Wow, that looks cool as hell!

If you can't find batteries, you could probably put together an external power supply with a modern multi-tap power transformer.

Also, I have a vintage tube tester - I can bring it by next time I'm in Peoria if you remind me. It's been ages since I last used it, but I bet you and I can figure it out.

I think this is the one I have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUc2IVBNnpI

Back to top
 
 
WWW Lonely Raven   IP Logged
deucekazoo
Seasoned Member
****




Posts: 461
Re: Radio
Reply #7 - 11/26/18 at 14:44:31
 
LR,
I did buy one battery thinking it would be perfect but no go. It has two 45v taps on it but the negative is shared so I can not run them in series to get 90v out of it. But I can use it for the 22.5v tap it has on it. I have seen where someone used 10 9v batteries in series to get the 90v so I will probably do that. Trying to keep it cheap for now to just get it running. There are companies out there making transformers for these old radios. So if the radio works I will try to make something or get one of those transformers.
That would be great if I could use your tester. Let me know next time you come down and have time to mess with this. It would be nice to know if the tubes are good or not. I have been looking at some of these online and they are not a cheap tube.
Back to top
 
 
  IP Logged
Lonely Raven
Seasoned Member
****


Jack of all Trades,
Master of None

Posts: 3567
Re: Radio
Reply #8 - 11/26/18 at 21:30:01
 

What are all the tube types? I'll pull my tester out of storage and make sure it has the tube info for those tubes so we can test it.  Basically you have to flip certain switches to configure the machine for each type of tube - and they have a chart you look up your tubes on to guide you through it.

Back to top
 
 
WWW Lonely Raven   IP Logged
deucekazoo
Seasoned Member
****




Posts: 461
Re: Radio
Reply #9 - 11/26/18 at 22:01:21
 
The tubes are a UX-201A or 01A. They are the same tube, I think the UX-201A replaced the 01A. I have three 01As and two UX-201As.
Back to top
 
 
  IP Logged
Lonely Raven
Seasoned Member
****


Jack of all Trades,
Master of None

Posts: 3567
Re: Radio
Reply #10 - 11/28/18 at 19:14:51
 

I was going to ask why no rectifier, but then I remembered this is battery only - so that makes sense.

Those tubes are still very available! There are plenty of them on eBay, and looking up the tube data it looks like there are several alternatives you could also run!

Also, looking at the tube sockets, they look like a sketchy design - so you might want to make sure the contacts are clean and have good tension.

When I get home from work tonight I'll look up the tube in my tube charts and make sure my tube tester has a 4 pin plug to even accept them!



Back to top
 
 
WWW Lonely Raven   IP Logged
Lonely Raven
Seasoned Member
****


Jack of all Trades,
Master of None

Posts: 3567
Re: Radio
Reply #11 - 11/28/18 at 19:17:33
 
Back to top
 
 
WWW Lonely Raven   IP Logged
deucekazoo
Seasoned Member
****




Posts: 461
Re: Radio
Reply #12 - 11/28/18 at 20:04:36
 
LR,
Thanks for the link. That was a nice article explaining the tube.
I have a few different tubes in this radio. Three of them are the globe shape and the other two are the shape of a rectifier tube. Those two are the Silvertone ones re-tubed at Sears Roebuck and company. Well that is what the sticker says and those two are the 01A tubes. When I first was looking at this radio, I tried to pull the tubes out like a rectifier tube and they were not bugging. Good think I did not try to pull harder, these tubes are like a car light bulb. You need to push down and twist them. They have a little pin on the side holding them in. The sockets look real good for the age, the contacts shinny and have good spring to them. I will still clean them and the tube pins.
I also have the knobs working now. They were spinning put not the actual part. The knobs were spinning on the shaft of the component, they were that stuck. I had to use penetrating oil to get them loose. Now they actually spin. I still need to check a few more components in it and redo the cabinet. The cabinet is in nice shape, just dirty. I re-glued one corner and started cleaning the cabinet. But someone had this in the basement or garage and there is wall paint all over it. I would not be surprised if the paint was leaded. I believe the cabinet is solid Mahogany.
Back to top
 
 
  IP Logged
Lonely Raven
Seasoned Member
****


Jack of all Trades,
Master of None

Posts: 3567
Re: Radio
Reply #13 - 11/29/18 at 15:39:59
 
Sounds like you're already making progress! Looks like the only thing that might hold you back is the B+

Anyways, I brought the tube tester down to Peoria with me, and I have tube data for the 01A tube, and it matches with tube data online - so we can at least test your tubes and see what we have. I've never tested 4 pin tubes on my Heathkit before, so I can only assume that section of the tester is working as well as the 9 pin and 8 pin sections are.

If you're available tonight, or Monday night, I can swing by your place.

On a side note - since I last used this tester, it looks like people have scanned and posted the build guides and refurb guides, as well as calibration information for my tube tester. So it looks like that's getting added to my long list of projects. When i got this tester back in...2004 I think it was, I did replace some suspect caps, but that was it...nobody wanted to share refurb data back then.


Back to top
 
 
WWW Lonely Raven   IP Logged
deucekazoo
Seasoned Member
****




Posts: 461
Re: Radio
Reply #14 - 11/30/18 at 16:02:32
 
LR,
Thanks for coming over and testing the tubes. That is a nice little tester.
So three of the tubes tested good and about even. One tested good but was a little low on the scale and one was dead. So need to buy a single tube or maybe a set if the price is right. Still need to do more cleaning and LR found a broken wire on one of the resistors, so need to see if I can fix that.
Also ordered 10 9V batteries so this should give me my 90V B+
I am going to try to keep this all batteries for now. The 9V batteries I bought are rechargeable.
Back to top
 
 
  IP Logged
Lonely Raven
Seasoned Member
****


Jack of all Trades,
Master of None

Posts: 3567
Re: Radio
Reply #15 - 11/30/18 at 17:37:36
 

Seriously, that radio is like museum quality - if you can clean up the mahogany cabinet. I absolutely *loved* checking out the wiring and how simple the circuit was on that amp! Thanks so much for having me over!

I took some pics for anyone following along on this adventure. I could and should have taken more of the beautiful 3D wiring and all the parts, but I was just enjoying looking at it so much. So very steampunk looking.




















Back to top
 
 
WWW Lonely Raven   IP Logged
Pages: 1
Send Topic Print