12-02-2025, 09:35 AM
Hi eewill,
Welcome to the Philco Phorum,
As grungy as the top pf the chassis is, the underside looks good. If you have knowledge of analog solid state electronics, you are 3/4 of the way there.
Below is a link to the World Radio History website that has many very cool documents. The link is specifically to a PDF copy of the 1937 RCA Receiving Tube Manual, version RC13 which will have the specifications and "pinouts" for all tubes used in your radio:
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSH...13-OCR.pdf
The first chapter discusses vacuum tube theory. Funny, this chapter was first written in 1930 or before and was in every version of the RCA Receiving Tube Manual until the 1975 RC30 version and is essentially unchanged except for the addition of Beam Power tubes and CRTs. There are sections that describe the individual vacuum tube circuits as well as example buildable circuits, such as amplifiers, TRF and Superheterodyne radios, etc, whose theory is well described.
A great book, if you can find it is the US Navy training manual "Basic Electronics", by VanValkenberg etal, published by John Rider. Here is a link to Internet Archive where the book is available as a PDF
https://ia801405.us.archive.org/29/items...955%29.pdf
As a "Baby Boom" child, one of 6 children in our 1960s middle class Irish - German Catholic family, I was the weird kid on the block, not good at socialization or sports (I was eventually diagnosed as autistic) but had a great interest in "how things work", and fortunately, I was smart. I taught myself electronics by reading books from the library and those that Dad and Mom gave me for Christmas, and from radios and TVs given by neighbors or obtained from those boutique stores Offenderstrasse and offthestreetini. I learned mechanics the same way from discarded bicycles, lawn mowers, etc. Funny, as kids my age found out my skills, I was more accepted. In addition, y skills at plumbing, electrical and auto mechanics exceeded my father's skills. Rather than being insulted, he was rather proud. Of course, by the age of 12 my level of chores increased from cutting the lawn to repairing the family cars, (including replacing transmissions, clutches, rear ends, rebuilding engines, etc.) Household plumbing and electrical work (including replacing the water heater, repairing leaking pipes, etc., and keeping our ancient TV functioning.
Bachelor's Degree is in Clinical Lab Technology, but I "morphed" my education and lab experience and my hobbies into a 41 year career a Field Service Engineer, then a Technical Support Specialist for a bio-medical corporation, from which I recently retired.
Hope this helps.
Welcome to the Philco Phorum,
As grungy as the top pf the chassis is, the underside looks good. If you have knowledge of analog solid state electronics, you are 3/4 of the way there.
Below is a link to the World Radio History website that has many very cool documents. The link is specifically to a PDF copy of the 1937 RCA Receiving Tube Manual, version RC13 which will have the specifications and "pinouts" for all tubes used in your radio:
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSH...13-OCR.pdf
The first chapter discusses vacuum tube theory. Funny, this chapter was first written in 1930 or before and was in every version of the RCA Receiving Tube Manual until the 1975 RC30 version and is essentially unchanged except for the addition of Beam Power tubes and CRTs. There are sections that describe the individual vacuum tube circuits as well as example buildable circuits, such as amplifiers, TRF and Superheterodyne radios, etc, whose theory is well described.
A great book, if you can find it is the US Navy training manual "Basic Electronics", by VanValkenberg etal, published by John Rider. Here is a link to Internet Archive where the book is available as a PDF
https://ia801405.us.archive.org/29/items...955%29.pdf
As a "Baby Boom" child, one of 6 children in our 1960s middle class Irish - German Catholic family, I was the weird kid on the block, not good at socialization or sports (I was eventually diagnosed as autistic) but had a great interest in "how things work", and fortunately, I was smart. I taught myself electronics by reading books from the library and those that Dad and Mom gave me for Christmas, and from radios and TVs given by neighbors or obtained from those boutique stores Offenderstrasse and offthestreetini. I learned mechanics the same way from discarded bicycles, lawn mowers, etc. Funny, as kids my age found out my skills, I was more accepted. In addition, y skills at plumbing, electrical and auto mechanics exceeded my father's skills. Rather than being insulted, he was rather proud. Of course, by the age of 12 my level of chores increased from cutting the lawn to repairing the family cars, (including replacing transmissions, clutches, rear ends, rebuilding engines, etc.) Household plumbing and electrical work (including replacing the water heater, repairing leaking pipes, etc., and keeping our ancient TV functioning.
Bachelor's Degree is in Clinical Lab Technology, but I "morphed" my education and lab experience and my hobbies into a 41 year career a Field Service Engineer, then a Technical Support Specialist for a bio-medical corporation, from which I recently retired.
Hope this helps.
"Do Justly, love Mercy and walk humbly with your God"- Micah 6:8
"Let us begin to do good"- St. Francis
Best Regards,
MrFixr55
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