Bought a Radio, Need Direction

[Matthew Verge]

Hello, all!

I bought an old radio at a yard sale the other day. It's a Canadian General Electric Model KL4B, which, I believe, was made in 1941 or 1942. It still has all of the wires and comes with directions on how to hook it up to (sigh) a battery, or something along those lines.

So, a few questions! I understand there was some sort of re-organization of frequencies after the War, rendering (I think) pre-war radios obsolete. Right off the bat, does my radio even have the guts to pick up what's in the air right now? Am I completely wrong in my understanding of this?

The battery thing is the next issue. Was it common for early radios to plug into a battery? Electricity is not my forte, but I am willing to learn. I have been searching for a general introduction to small antique radios, but I keep coming up with advertisements. If somebody could point me in the right direction, I would be glad to educate myself.

Here's a picture. This isn't mine, but it's the exact same.

Thanks for any help at all!

 

[Absinthe_1900]

You'll probably need to get a power pack made, or have a reproduction battery pack built.

Try contacting Bill Morris : batterymaker@gmail.com

Some info: http://www.antiqueradios.com/forums...ghlight=&sid=e629f7741bb58ee7488b7aabea7e6042

 

[LizzieMaine]

Frequency realignment applies only to the FM band, which was completely changed postwar from what it was prewar, and doesn't appear to be present on your set anyway. AM stations may have moved around to different positions, but the band itself is still pretty much the same as it's been since the late '20s. The only major change since then is the addition of the 1600-1720kc range -- which was included on many vintage sets as part of the "police band." Any vintage AM radio will work fine once restored.

It's likely your radio was a farm radio -- some of them used a simple 6 volt storage battery just like a car, and used an electric vibrator and a power transformer to step up the voltages. These would work on a common 6 volt lantern battery, although it would run down fast. You could also try a 6 volt power supply, although it would have to supply about 3 amps of current -- a wall-transformer thing wouldn't work.

Other farm radios used a combination of dry A and B batteries, which ran from 1 1/2 to 90 volts. Best bet here is one of Batterymaker's specialties or an electric power supply that puts out the required voltages and currents.

 

[Matthew Verge]

Thanks!

Excellent feedback. I'm steeping myself in radio lore right now. Lizzie, are radios a hobby of yours, or do you work on them professionally?

 

[dhermann1]

I always remind people with a new antique radio to make sure the capacitirs have been replaced by a competent professional restorer. But I don't know if it's as urgent with a battery radio. Lizzie, what's the story on that?
It's a very nice little radio. A complete restoration by a pro, including restoration of the wood finish, could cost as little as $200. You'll find it worthwhile.
And I always plug the SSTRan AMT3000 AM transmitter. You can take any input signal, from the FM radio, record player, internet, i-pod, etc, and send it to your AM radio. The only way to listen to your old recordings of vintage radio broadcasts and music.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I always remind people with a new antique radio to make sure the capacitirs have been replaced by a competent professional restorer. But I don't know if it's as urgent with a battery radio. Lizzie, what's the story on that?
It's a very nice little radio. A complete restoration by a pro, including restoration of the wood finish, could cost as little as $200. You'll find it worthwhile.
And I always plug the SSTRan AMT3000 AM transmitter. You can take any input signal, from the FM radio, record player, internet, i-pod, etc, and send it to your AM radio. The only way to listen to your old recordings of vintage radio broadcasts and music.

It depends on the battery type -- a six-volt farm radio will have filter capacitors the same as an AC set, and those, at the minimum, will need to be replaced. A dry-battery set won't have filter caps, but the rest of the paper capacitors will likely be leaky and if you intend to use such a set regularly it's a good idea to replace them.

If in doubt as to what type of set it is, look inside for a tall aluminum can that plugs into a socket like a tube. That's the vibrator, and if you have one it's a 6 volt set. If there isn't one, it's a dry battery set.

Learning how to do this stuff and doing the work yourself will save a lot of money -- that's why I learned to do it, there's no way I could have afforded to keep my radios going otherwise. A few dollars' worth of parts and some basic study can give anyone the essentials to do the job. If you can learn to solder, you can learn to fix a radio.

And welcome to the lounge, Mr. Verge. Look around and you'll find a lot of threads to keep you interested.

 

[Matthew Verge]

Thanks again. I've got a soldering gun and I use it on my guitar, so I should be okay in that department. Getting my head wrapped around capacitors, vibrators, and other doo dads is going to take some reading, I see. I paid $4 for the radio, so I don't have much to lose.
I am going to look into this SSTRan AMT3000 AM transmitter. I don't have an ipod, but getting the FM radio would be a bonus.

 

[dhermann1]

BTW, you may think you're somewhat remote from the mass of Loungers, but there are 3 Loungers up there in Nova Scotia. Time for a meet up!

 

[Matthew Verge]

Nice to know I'm not alone.

With regards to the SSTRan AMT3000 AM transmitter; I am thoroughly impressed, and I think I may get one even if I don't get this radio running. It sounds like a worthwhile investment.

I found a website that says it's batteries are (storage and/or dry) / 1.4; 2 x 45 Volt.

I took the guts out of the radio today (carefully) and spent a couple of hours just cleaning of the dust that has been gathering for the last 60 years. I am going to post a picture of the inside soon. There are four vacuum tubes. One sits by itself, and the other three have a nipple on top with a wire attached. One of these three is encased in a metal, corrugated tube that resembles Oscar's garbage can. Besides this, there are two metal rectangular pieces that stand higher than the tubes. I'm not sure what those are.

I will post a picture as soon as possible.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The two metal rectangular pieces are part of the internal tuning system of the set -- don't touch any screws that may be visible on these, they're critical adjustments that shouldn't be tampered with.

The corrugated can is a tube shield, which protects the other tubes from radio-frequency interference generated by that tube. Without it, the set would oscillate or squeal uncontrollably, so don't lose it!

If there's no vibrator, you should be fine with one of Batterymaker's devices. He builds specialized casings to hold modern dry cells that add up to the necessary voltages, and hook up to the existing battery cables.

 

[Matthew Verge]

Lizzie, you are an absolute wealth of information. I suppose you already know that, though. I've learned more about radio waves, capacitors, currents both alternating and direct, and lots of other things in one day that I never thought I'd want to know. Now I want to build a radio from scratch.

I have a question about the cables that are supposed to lead to the battery. The casing has dried and cracked quite bad, exposing a lot of bare wire. I assume this is not safe. Should I tape them up, or is there a more aesthetically pleasing way to do this?

I'm going to be at sea for the next five days or so, so hopefully I'll be able to get back at this when I return.