A 1942 philco radio I picked up.

I figured a few of us on here would appreciate this. It is a 1942 Philco PT-2 some times called a "tropical" model. Bakelite does not distort with humidity like wood does clearly. I am in the process of cleaning it up and day dreamed about what was heard on it. The battle of Iwo jima, VE and VJ day and many other things. I got it for the princely sum of $15.50 when the auction closed although the max bid i threw down was $75. A sleeper auction with no competition for some reason.
The good news is that it work, the tube light up as does the display. I was listening to the local news on it earlier. I will probably replace the cord because the old rubber is cracked but as it stand it functions.
Enjoy.

Those were still in use when I was young, but that shouldn't surprise one as it was the end of the 50's...early '60s. All that stuff was out on the farms as it had sat there for a couple decades...in use.

Hey if they still work then why buy a replacement?

They sat in the same place for years and in those days there were TV and radio repairmen and shops. I remember when those went out of use too...you could buy some of these after they'd been brought and abandoned...

Times change as they say. My great grand mother lived until 97 and all her life she had a huge cathedral Philco in her house. It was beautiful lacquered wood and she would listen to that rather than turn on her console TV. I'm not that old (but then again that is relative.) but i remember TV/VCR repair shops. Ice cream trucks and match box cars. Playing in the street until the lights came on and every one had to go back home for dinner. They world does change but at least i can drink coffee and collect things that make me nostalgic. I got a number of toys handed down to me when i was a kid, a number of match box cars and lead soldiers. I'm sure if any one saw a child playing with lead toy soldiers these day they would have a fit.

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Originally Posted by Brewer

It is a 1942 Philco PT-2 some times called a "tropical" model. Bakelite does not distort with humidity like wood does clearly.

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She's real pretty! I love old raidos and consoles a have a few myself. Your Philco looks a bit like my Marconi.

Attachment 101690

It probably came with 1/16" tempered hardboard as the back. I doubt that you can find it now, but some substitute may be found. That chassis still carries 120 volts, you don't want curious hands touching it.

I have one, possibly two large floor model Philco's. I say two because I'm not exactly sure what I have in my attic these days. The other one is in my den and I've had it since I was a kid. It was old then but it was my first radio. Used to pick up short wave from who knows where. Somewhere along the line I came across a second one for free and of course couldn't pass it up. Just not sure what became of it. I know it was in the attic at one time and seems unlikely I brought it down for a yard sale.

we refer to my attic/upstairs unused storage room as the 'Room of Requiring', from the Harry Potter stories. Sometimes I go in for one thing and it may be a while before I come out again....

As part of his electrical business my late grandfather use to recharge up radio batteries/accumulators for people because not everyone had electricity. I believe that these batteries/accumulators were a dangerously high voltage.

http://www.vintageradio.info/cell.html

1942 (June 1941) - Philco Radio Gallery

Locktal tubes. Nice radio!

I was a TV repairman in another life.

I do believe that the whole world stopped and listened to Charlie McCarthy with me on Sunday... on our Philco console.

It's surprising how many younger people don't know what (radio) valves are and that they had to "warm up" first.

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Originally Posted by Flying10uk

It's surprising how many younger people don't know what (radio) valves are and that they had to "warm up" first.

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One of my kids turned on one of my old radios and asked why to that very thing. Now she has old radios and record players.

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Originally Posted by Flying10uk

they had to "warm up" first.

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I'd forgotten that...

Way back in my collage days ( 1976 ) my roommate had a small tube TV . He knocked a drink over on it and yanked out the cord as it blew . He pulled off the back , pulled a few tubes out , we drove down to the grocery store , they had a little test station and tube assortment in a small table . He plugged in the suspect tubes , found the bad one , picked up a new one for a buck or two , drove back , installed them back , and we were up and running in less than an hour . Try doing that today with the modern stuff .
Chris

When my Grandfather was selling radios in the 1950's his main shop, in the high street, was a couple of shops along from a side-road and a couple of shops down the side-road was his second smaller shop. The 2 shops were linked together by a small passageway, for staff only, and there was also a radio workshop between the 2 shops. Unless you read the name of the business above the shops, it wasn't immediately obvious that the 2 shops were actually both part of the same business and were really just one shop in 2 parts. On one occasion during the 1950's a "customer" decided to shop-lift/steal a radio from the smaller shop, in the side road, and walk out without paying. The thief then walked around the corner into the high street, into my Grandfather's main shop and proceeded to ask my Grandfather if he was interested in buying a brand new radio which he just happened to have. My Grandfather kept a straight face and said "I'lll need to take it out the back, into the workshop, and get my radio engineer to inspect it, before buying it." The radio was taken out to the workshop and the police were called who came and arrested the "customer". It does make you wonder about the person who stole the radio because one would think that he would have traveled further than just around the corner before trying to off-load it and perhaps also read the names above the shops.

I also like old radios, especially if they have a military connection. Here is a picture of a couple of military-looking old Hallicrafters radios, one from the late 30s and one from ca.late 40s. I had an identical one as a kid during WWII and listened to all the war reporting at the time. Both are fully restored and workjust fine.

The mention of accumulators took me back to the fifties when I used to help a pal deliver charged accumulators and collect the discharged.. This was done using a delivery pushbike. It was surprising the number of these old radios that were still being used, these had a band called trawler band where they could listen to the local fishing boat radio traffic.

Old tube radios still evoke wonderment. Now i can enjoy the rigs I lusted after that were far beyond what a paper route could fund.

Back in WW2 , Bob Hope made some USO trips to the Pacific theater . As they traveled there they had to make stops along the way to rest and refuel for the next leg . They would unload and set up the set and do a show for the purpose of entertaining the troops and giving the stage crew and cast practice . One of these stops was in Yuma and someone had a reel to reel voice recorder and taped the first 1/2 hour or so of the show ( till the tape ran out ) . They played that on the air several years ago and the station was kind enough to make me a copy . I'll find it one of these days .
Chris

These 2 photos were probably taken in the early 1950's? when the UK was in "a bit of a boom" after WW2 and people were buying electrical appliances often for the first time. Sadly my Grandfather's business went bust in the late 1950's; if it hadn't, I would probably be doing an entirely different line of work today.

Is anyone able to date the photos from the radios, please?