Re: 1947 Philco radio

Posted by Rusty O\'Toole On 2010/7/27 17:00:43

Your radio is not very difficult or expensive to repair. The tubes are long lasting (10,000 hours) and replacements are not hard to find. Typical tube cost, $5 to $15. There are probably 5 to 7 tubes in your radio.

The parts that go most often are capacitors. They are made of wax paper and tinfoil and have a life of 10-20 years. Modern replacements are made of mylar plastic and have a life of 50-100 years. They cost 35 cents to $2 apiece and there are about 20 of them.

There is also a vibrator to turn DC into AC. That is the hum you hear so it is probably OK.

You would be surprised how good the reception is on those old radios. Unfortunately the AM band is all they bring in but this can be remedied without modifying the original radio. A repair man can add a jack for an MP3 player or outside CD player or FM receiver.

The best suggestion I can make is to try and find a local repairman. There are hobbyists all around the country who love tube radios.

Please do not get sucked into paying $800 to have a $35 Chinese radio slammed into your casing. The old one is better, more original, and deserves to be saved.

It's a miracle that yours works at all after all this time. It should be possible to get it working perfectly.