01-14-2011, 11:03 AM
The foil may have been added by a previous owner, as a shield or maybe even a kind of counterpoise or artificial ground. Every so often I get a radio that has some interesting or even ingenious additions made by previous owners. A Silvertone I got quite awhile ago had an internal antenna AND an internal rectifier eliminator. It's reception is excellent and it plays without the 84 tube. I have a Philco 623 at my parents home and a Philco 34 here, both of which had battery eliminators added by previous owners. Both play well. I am sure that we all have gotten radios that have older repair attempts, some successful, some not so much..... Personally, some of the biggest challenges I have had trying to get a radio to work have come from correcting old "repairs."
