If you choose to play your vintage
radio, please read this article. The
information below is for the small (wood or plastic)
AC/DC radios made from the early
30's thru the 50's.
I would strongly recommend that the tiny
tube radios made from the early 30's through the 50's not be played
more than an hour or so at a time. The reason; HEAT, these small and
many of them quite valuable (such as the Charlie McCarthy pictured
above), squeeze 5 to 6 tubes in a very small space and the heat
generated can be damaging to the case, the finish and the internal
parts. I have measured the internal temperature of some of these
sets with the back in place at over 200 degrees after an hour of
operation. These sets are generally collected for their appearance,
not their sound quality. So to protect your investment, do play them
occasionally but it's best not to allow them to operate for extended periods
of time like you would a modern solid
state radio. If you do choose to play your radio, make sure
there is adequate room for proper ventilation so it won't overheat.
Do not play it if stuffed into a tight cubby hole where air
cannot circulate around it. If you enjoy playing an old radio all
day long, make sure it has adequate ventilation and large
enough to dissipate the heat properly.
On many of the small sets you may
hear a slight hum even though the set was restored electronically,
this may be normal as the circuits in some sets to filter out the
hum were not very efficient and some speakers were more efficient in
reproducing the hum than others.
When appliances cycle on or off
or light switches are flipped, you may hear noise or static. The
same conditions could also cause the volume level to change or you
may hear more noise or static. This too is normal and will vary
depending on your reception area and antenna. Nearly all small sets
made up to 1939 required an external antenna and will perform very
poorly without one. Computers and TV sets often wreak havoc with AM
radios due to the RF interference they generate.
The bottom line is these tiny
sets were made without much thought concerning heat, durability or
sometimes safety. Many of those small sets that were played for
hours on end simply self destructed and were subsequently thrown in
the trash and many of the more desirable models are nearly
impossible to find today.
Keep in mind that during the
heyday of tube type radios & television, there was an army of
radio and TV repairmen out there and there was a radio/TV shop
on almost every corner. There was a reason for so many of these (now
mostly gone) shops.
A NOTE CONCERNING
SAFETY! many of these tiny sets
can be a SHOCK HAZARD and even be lethal. Take care in operating
these, some that were made in metal cabinets, can be DEADLY if the
AC line is at case or chassis potential. When I restore these sets I
install a "Polarized" line cord to prevent the shock hazard. Under
no circumstances should the polarized plug be defeated. As mentioned
above, many early sets require an external antenna for operation,
NEVER ATTEMPT TO GROUND ANY RADIO MADE FOR AC/DC OPERATION or allow
your antenna to come in contact with any metal portion of the radio
such as the chassis or screws that may be connected to the chassis.
The antenna connection is usually a wire coming from the
inside of the radio and is always isolated from the chassis to
prevent a shock hazard.
my companion article:
Operating your vintage radio
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