Yard sale find [Archive] - The Island Of Misfit Hams

n2ize

11-04-2012, 10:19 AM

How much water was it under, and for how long?

(Ebay will soon fill up with a bunch of "no way to test" eastern seaboard submersible electrical treasures. Be warned, all.)

I found an old tube type marine radio tranceiver sitting out in some guys trash one day. It didn't look too bad from the outside so I too it home figuring I might restore it or even salvage parts. When I got it open the guts inside were green and white with salt water corrosion. All I could salvage were a few tubes. Apparently this guy either rode out one heck of a storm with that radio on board or else it fell into the ocean at some point..

n2ize

11-04-2012, 10:20 AM

The elementary school I attended in the late Fifties and early Sixties had a radio just like that in every classroom.

Wonder if it has the CONELRAD markings on the dial.

NQ6U

11-04-2012, 10:37 AM

Wonder if it has the CONELRAD markings on the dial.

I don't think it does. That didn't start showing up until a little later.

BTW, I listened to the announcement that JFK was dead on one of those radios.

w2amr

11-04-2012, 11:30 AM

How much water was it under, and for how long?

(Ebay will soon fill up with a bunch of "no way to test" eastern seaboard submersible electrical treasures. Be warned, all.)
I took off the back this morning. Other then the standard 60+ year old crud, it looks FBOM. Even that big speaker is intact.

N8YX

11-04-2012, 11:40 AM

I took off the back this morning. Other then the standard 60+ year old crud, it looks FBOM. Even that big speaker is intact.

Excellent!

One of the employees at our local post office knows I'm into radio and has an antique or two he would like to refinish. If you don't object I might point him in your general direction.

w2amr

11-04-2012, 12:07 PM

Excellent!

One of the employees at our local post office knows I'm into radio and has an antique or two he would like to refinish. If you don't object I might point him in your general direction.
I have a better idea, point him in your direction.:mrgreen:
BTW, I found this.
http://www.nostalgiaair.org/Resources/386/M0015386.htm

n2ize

11-04-2012, 12:37 PM

I don't think it does. That didn't start showing up until a little later.

BTW, I listened to the announcement that JFK was dead on one of those radios.

OK then the radio must pre-date the 1950's as CONELRAD was started in 1951. According to the Wikipedia article ham radio stations were required to abide by CONELRAD rules,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CONELRAD

wa6mhz

11-04-2012, 12:43 PM

Beautiful candidate for a restoration project!!! That will be the showpiece of your Shack! Love these old radios! I don't have one quite like that.

NQ6U

11-04-2012, 12:46 PM

OK then the radio must pre-date the 1950's as CONELRAD was started in 1951. According to the Wikipedia article ham radio stations were required to abide by CONELRAD rules.

According to the OP, it was manufactured in 1949. And while Conelrad was introduced in December of 1951, radios weren't required to have the marking until some time later. From the Wikipedia article you linked to (emphasis mine):

By law, radio sets manufactured between 1953 and 1963 had these frequencies marked by the triangle-in-circle ("CD Mark") symbol of Civil Defense.

On edit: Here's an interesting tidbit of which I was not previously aware:

Beginning January 2, 1957, U.S. amateur radio came under CONELRAD rules and all stations, while operating, were required to verify at least once every 10 minutes that a normal broadcast station was on the air. If not, the amateur operators were required to stop transmitting. Several companies marketed special receivers that would sound an alarm and automatically deactivate the amateur's transmitter when the monitored broadcast station went off the air.

NQ6U

11-04-2012, 12:47 PM

Beautiful candidate for a restoration project!!! That will be the showpiece of your Shack! Love these old radios! I don't have one quite like that.

Old radios are great conversation starters. I moved my 1939 Hallicrafters S-20R to my office at work and it gets a lot of comments—especially once I turn it on and demonstrate that it still works!

K7SGJ

11-04-2012, 02:17 PM

I don't think it does. That didn't start showing up until a little later.

BTW, I listened to the announcement that JFK was dead on one of those radios.

But but but but, you said you were on the grassy knoll, no power there. WTF? And you had one in your class room? I didn't think they had radio back then, or schools for that matter. I know when I was a kid, we never got any radio reception in the cave.

NQ6U

11-04-2012, 02:47 PM

John's question about CONELRAD markings led to all kinds of interesting things. This one, for instance:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/-dfJFndpaHac/UCMVEy2HeGI/AAAAAAAADJY/fPxirLMvaEo/Janis%252520Paige_Miss%252520Atomic%252520Energy_1 948_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800

Radioactive or not, Janis Paige, Warner Bros. actress, has been named Miss Atomic Energy by several thousand workers at the atomic-energy plant in Richland, Wash., it was announced yesterday.

So, Miss Paige will fly to the northern city Friday to be a guest in an Atomic Frontier Day celebration which also will be attended by members of the government’s Atomic Energy Commission and other officials.

The actress will crown the local queen, ride in the parade and be a guest at a horse show and barbecue.

She looks pretty "atomic" to me, yowsah. Actually, in retrospect, she looks more pneumatic than atomic.

w2amr

11-04-2012, 02:59 PM

Beautiful candidate for a restoration project!!! That will be the showpiece of your Shack! Love these old radios! I don't have one quite like that.
This is the oldest radio I have, a Crosley Pup from around 1925. And it still works.
7886

w2amr

11-04-2012, 04:14 PM

Old radios are great conversation starters. I moved my 1939 Hallicrafters S-20R to my office at work and it gets a lot of comments—especially once I turn it on and demonstrate that it still works!I really wasn't looking for another resto project, but when I offered $10 and he took it...........

w2amr

11-04-2012, 04:15 PM

I have a few of those myself that I've restored. Fun stuff.

Be sure to post some after pics when you finish.
Will do.

NQ6U

11-04-2012, 04:32 PM

But but but but, you said you were on the grassy knoll, no power there. WTF? And you had one in your class room? I didn't think they had radio back then, or schools for that matter. I know when I was a kid, we never got any radio reception in the cave.

You're confusing me with Pope Carlo l. I let His Holiness use my IOMH account sometimes since he's not a ham but we are different people.

N7YA

11-04-2012, 05:33 PM

I found an old tube type marine radio tranceiver sitting out in some guys trash one day. It didn't look too bad from the outside so I too it home figuring I might restore it or even salvage parts. When I got it open the guts inside were green and white with salt water corrosion. All I could salvage were a few tubes. Apparently this guy either rode out one heck of a storm with that radio on board or else it fell into the ocean at some point..

Im going to say he found it at a yard sale for $3, held on to it for as long as he could, thinking he can restore it to its former glory, but after 8 years of sitting on the dining room table, his wife made him get rid of it...thats a more likely scenario.

N7YA

11-04-2012, 05:34 PM

Beautiful candidate for a restoration project!!! That will be the showpiece of your Shack! Love these old radios! I don't have one quite like that.

Uh Oh! Pat's got his eye on your gear!! :lol:

w0aew

11-04-2012, 06:25 PM

Is that a sketch or carving of Darth Vader on top of the radio on the left side? Can't tell who the sketch is on the right.

N7YA

11-04-2012, 06:46 PM

Good eye, looks like Snoopy to me.

W1GUH

11-04-2012, 06:57 PM

Great looking radio, don't think I've ever seen one.

[standard facetious comment about BC radios in the 21st century]

Can you get the WMCA Good Guys on it?

W1GUH

11-04-2012, 06:59 PM

http://www.radiomuseum.org/images/radio/heathkit/conelrad_alarm_ca_1_1094797.jpg

NQ6U

11-04-2012, 07:26 PM

http://www.radiomuseum.org/images/radio/heathkit/conelrad_alarm_ca_1_1094797.jpg

Wow! A Heathkit item that's now even more useless than one of their old AM-only 2m rigs.

w2amr

11-05-2012, 03:41 AM

Wow! A Heathkit item that's now even more useless than one of their old AM-only 2m rigs.
Ha!

N2CHX

11-05-2012, 07:52 AM

OK then the radio must pre-date the 1950's as CONELRAD was started in 1951. According to the Wikipedia article ham radio stations were required to abide by CONELRAD rules,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CONELRAD

As late as 10 years ago I had a four tower AM directional that still had a fully functioning CONELRAD system in place. Transmitter, phasor cabinet and ATU's all set up to change frequency at the push of the big buttons on a rack panel mounted controller located over the audio processing. Push the button and the transmitter dropped to a kilowatt and changed to ND on 1240.

N2CHX

11-05-2012, 07:54 AM

This is the oldest radio I have, a Crosley Pup from around 1925. And it still works.
7886

That is way cool!

N7YA

11-05-2012, 08:38 AM

This is the oldest radio I have, a Crosley Pup from around 1925. And it still works.
7886

I love it!

w2amr

12-15-2012, 05:04 AM

It's Alive! Here is a short video.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42112824@N00/8273596327/

N7YA

12-15-2012, 05:05 AM

Nice job!

w2amr

12-15-2012, 08:37 AM

Nice job!
Tnx, it was a fun resto.

w2amr

12-15-2012, 01:12 PM

This radio has an RCA jack on the rear apron, for a low level input from a record player. Next to it is a slide switch that allows you to jog between the radio and the record player. I found this shot online. It's a 9X561 radio like mine , with the matching 45 RPM record player. Man, I would love to find one of those.http://www.phonojack.com/45/RCA%209JY%20record%20changer%20with%209X%20562%20r adio.jpg

NQ6U

12-15-2012, 01:17 PM

Wow, that little turntable is a piece of modernist art! Way cool.

W3WN

12-15-2012, 01:21 PM

Great looking radio, don't think I've ever seen one.

[standard facetious comment about BC radios in the 21st century]

Can you get the WMCA Good Guys on it?The heck with them. I want to listen to Ron Lundy, Harry Harrison, Frank Kingston Smith, Dan Ingram and of course, Cousin Brucie.

"The most listened to station in the nation... Musicradio 77, W A B C New York!" Deceased 10 May 1982, may it's memory rest in peace... and on the web http://www.musicradio77.com

(and yes, I do know that some of the WABC lineup were part of the Good Guys before or after)

kb2vxa

12-15-2012, 05:34 PM

That infernal Pams spot after every song drove me nuts, you know the one singing W-A-B-C >CLANG!< that rattled the mod iron so bad you could hear it in Pennsylvania. WMCA had this weird sounding phase distortion in their night pattern rendering them un-listenable in my area so Cousin Gruesome gave way to Murray the K on 1010 WINS and his submarine race watching. Ah, you had to be parked on the Palisades overlooking the Hudson to fully appreciate a good submarine race.