[Michael Dennis]

... it is never a good idea to apply modern day ac voltages to any vintage radio chassis without fully re-capping the chassis 1st...

I and several other people just saw this lesson graphiclly demonstrated at an estate sale which had a lot of fine old tube radios from the 30's and 40's when some large klutz, who is at EVERY estate sale I've been to, horning in and blocking anyone else from having a sporting chance at finding a bargain had plugged in a late 30s vinatge RCA console. I happened into the room a couple minutes later. By then the radio was smoking. The lady who ran the sale came in and wanted to know how this happened. As I yanked the plug, I told who had unauthorizedly plugged in the set. He caught some grief from all of us. The pwr. tranny was smoked.

Mike