Jim's Antique Radio Museum
Real radios glow in the dark and are warm to cuddle up next to!..
PAGE 3 OF MORE WOOD RADIOS
I hope you enjoy the wood radios as much as I do. I have created multiple pages so that you don't get scrolling fatigue syndrome while viewing these page.
Thanks for visiting my Antique Radio Museum.
MIDWEST MIRACO ULTRA-5
I suspect the model number for this Midwest Miraco Ultra-5 comes from the fact that it has 5 tubes. This radio is from 1925.
The 5 tubes in this set are all RCA UX-201A's. This is a 3-stage TRF radio and the three large dials are marked Station Selector 1, Station Selector 2 and Station Selector 3. The other knobs from left to right are Counter Balancer, Tone Volume and Tone Quality. There is also a pull-type on/off switch.
There is a neat drawing on the back of this radio which shows the battery connections, speaker connection and antenna connections, including the color of wire to be hooked up to each point. Considering the fact that this radio is 81 years old it is amazing that this much of the paper drawing is still intact.
I need to add a picture of the insides of this radio. It looks like the day it left the factory floor. I was just notified by Alex that this radio won the Blue Ribbon in the IHRS (Indiana Historical Radio Society) contest a few years back. I purchased this at auction last May at the IHRS meet in Kokomo, IN. Alex tells me the former owner of this radio was John Jones of Marion, Indiana. I will add more history when I move this radio off the New Items page. Thanks Alex for the update.
RADIOLA-17 AC RADIO
This radio is an RCA Radiola-17 and is claimed to be the very first home radio which operated off of AC. Prior sets were all battery models. This model was introduced September 1, 1927.
This unit has 7 tubes including the following lineup: UX171, UX226, UY227, UX226, UX226, UX226 and UX280.
Since this is the first set to operate off of house AC, the radio provided a switch so you could chose the voltage being supplied to your house. This one shows 110 volts and 120 volts as the choices.
AMERICAN BOSCH MODEL-28
This American Bosch model 28 radio is from 1928. Hummm...I wonder if model 29 was built in 1929? It was made by American Bosch Magneto Corp of Springfield, MA.
This is a TRF radio with 4-ganged tuning stages which are all tuned at once, versus the individual tuning of the Midwest Ultra-5 shown above. The radio has 8 tubes including the following: UX-280, UX-171A, UX-171A, UX-228, UX-227, UX-226 in three positions.
This is an AC set and there is a plug used to select between 105V, 115V and 125V. It seems different power companies provided this range of voltages so the radios had to be designed to accomodate all values.
An interesting label inside the radio states: "Licensed only for Radio Amateurs, Experimenters and Broadcast Recption."
There is some interesting background at this link: http://www.moonlightsys.com/otr/bosch.html
GILFILLAN MODEL 56B
This is a nice Gilfillan AM radio from about 1947.
This radio was restored by a friend of mine who does great work! He refinished the cabinet and painted the grill that nice bronze color. The radio plays great!
This was made by Gilfillan Bros, Inc. of Los Angeles, CA
GE CLOCK MODEL C-540A
This is a GE clock radio from 1963, model C-540A with both AM and FM bands.
This is another radio donated by David Norris, W6CTM, and I understand that this radio belonged to his wife before they were married. Thanks Dave.
The radio has a nice walnut wood cabinet and once you find a clean spot on the volume pot it sounds fantastic! I had it playing out in the garage and my wife could not believe the music was coming from a radio over 40 years old!
The one thing I found unusual with this radio is that it is the very first one I ran across with a couple of 19 volt filament tubes in it. The tube compliment is 12BA6, 12BE6, 12AU6, 19HV8, 19IN8 and 50HK6. The filaments are powered in series and the radio does not use a power transformer, so it could run off of AC or DC power (not battery).
ARVIN 150-TC RADIO/PHONO COMBO
This is a really nice Arvin model 150-TC radio/phonograph combination.
I love the nice warm glow you get from the wood in this radio. This was built by Noblitt-Sparks Industry, Inc of Columbus, Indiana. The best date I could find is from the late 40's.
I haven't done the research yet, but another company with Sparks in its name built a famous line of radios called Spartons.
This was a donation to the museum from Bill Moe, thanks Bill!
NATIONAL RADIO INSTITUTE TRAINING RADIO
This radio was used by students of the National Radio Institute correspondent courses.
The student would actually build this radio as part of their training program. Even the cabinet looks home made from the point of view that it was included with the kit, but I don't have the history on this unit so I am not sure.
There is a switch on the back labeled FM, even though this radio is AM only. The switch goes to a jack mounted on the loop antenna board. I think this was so you could connect an FM tuner, similar to the Pilot tuner I have, so that you could use the audio stages of the radio to listen to FM radio. I guess the student did a good job because this one works!
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