[radiorich]

Hello Peter,
Smart thinking on your part changing out that tube !
Sincerely Richard

[Arran]

I'm just a fellow that likes making adapters so that the set can easily be switched back to original at a later date, I've done this with substitutes for magic eye tubes, when there is room. Basically you take the base off the dead tube, clean out the pins, take the socket you need to use for a substitute tube, and solder some stiff leads onto the terminals of the tube socket, longer then what you need, insert the leads into the appropriate pins of the old tube base, use an ohmmeter to confirm that you have the right lead in the right pin on the old base, and that nothing is shorting together. Then you mix up some epoxy, or use windshield adhesive, and glue the tube socket into the top of the old tube base, solder the leads into the pins, cut off the excess, now you just made an adapter. You can make a shorter adapter by cutting down the olde tube base, but you usually only gain about 1/4'' by doing so.
The same technique allows one to use more modern, cheaper tubes, for testing in 1920s battery radios, people have been doing this for years as a sub for WD-11s, and 199 tubes.
Pdietin;
I was wondering why they had bothered putting a shield can over top of the rectifier tube, in some radios where they used a mercury vapor rectifier like an #83 they did this to cut down on electrical interference, but with a 5Z3 it was hardly necessary. In Canada they tended to skip certain model chassis, like if the chassis was used in a U.S model that had a magic eye, and another that did not, they produced the version with the magic eye but skipped the one that did not.
Also RCA in Montreal and C.G.E in Toronto had their own production lines making the same sets, by the late 1930s they made sets that were not produced in the U.S, though the AC/DC models were. We also had Canadian Philco models that more unique, sometimes including an RCA jack. The common thing was that Canadian models seemed to have more shortwave bands, even after the war.
Regards
Arran

[RadioSvit]

Thanks Richard.

Aran. I also often do this when there is a need to preserve the authenticity of a radio in a museum-quality state of preservation. But in this case, the customer did not require 100% authenticity, but set me the following conditions, -
1.) All radios must be restored to perfect external condition.
2). All radios must be in perfect functional condition, but replacement of parts with more modern ones is permissible.
3). All radios must have RCA audio input connectors for the possible connection of a Bluetooth adapter if necessary.
4.). Since the costs of shipping the radio from the USA are significantly significant, the cost of restoration should be within reasonable limits.
That is why I chose the option of replacing the panel and radio tube with cheaper ones.

[EdHolland]

Peter,

Superb work as always. Thank you for sharing this with the Phorum!

Ed

[RadioSvit]

Thanks Ed

[RadioSvit]

Well... The body is varnished, now it's repaired... Last Saturday I aligned the bands and assembled this radio console. To be honest, I don't really like this design, but in the interior among other radio consoles it looks quite stylish. Here are a few photos, in the near future I plan to create a video test about the quality of this radio.

   
   
   

[Paul Philco322]

Nice job on the cabinet, I like the case itself but If I was GE I would have designed a sharper dial. Nice work. Paul B.

[MrFixr55]

Boy oh boy, you can't tell the players without a scorecard. Fisrt off, really nice job and a really nice radio, Peter.

Looking up a GE A-87, that is a GE-designed set with 2 6F6s, but a Canadian GE A-87 is the equivalent of an RCA T8-14 or in your case, a C8-15. Yeah, dunno why they used a 5Z3 but the power transformer looks big enough for it. Usually, you needed a 20watt or higher output stage to justify these tubes. Also don't know why the shield on the 5Z3 rectifier. RCA used shielded type 82 or 83 mercury vapor rectifiers in their high power consoles in 1933 / 1934 because they were mercury vapor and needed to shield the tube to prevent radiation of noise interference from the rectifier.

The term "Kenotron" was coined by GE to describe rectifier tubes that they were developing (See Tyne, Saga of the Vacuum Tube, pg141, 142). in late 1913 they coined the term "Kenotron", "Keno" being Greek for "empty" to describe diodes. For triodes, thy used the term "Pliotron", "Plio" being Greek for "more". I don't know when they dropped the term but possibly after the formation of RCA in 1919. In 1921 Westinghouse referred to their WD11 and WR21 tubes as Aeriotrons, as their new consumer receivers (other than the RA / DA or RC) were referred to as Aeriolas. By 1922, all GE and Westinghouse tubes sold through RCA were referred to as "Radiotrons" unless branded as Cunningham Radio Tubes. (ET Cunningham, a tube manufacturer, became a distributor of RCA tubes and eventually a division of RCA as part of lawsuits and countersuits).

It is possible that the RCA brand was not used in Canada until later. RCA was formed to receive the USA assets of Marconi, which did not occur in Canada. I have an RCA Victor R-28, ca 1933, but being that it is from Canada, it was branded "Victor Talking Machine Company". Canadian GE may have used the term "Kenotron" and Pliotron for longer periods of time in Canada than they did in the US.

[RadioSvit]

Thanks Paul. I don't like this scale either, it looks very cheap and unattractive. In my opinion, it strongly dissonants with the overall design of this radio console.

MrFixr55, thanks for the very interesting information. I learned a lot of interesting things.

[MrFixr55]

Hi Peter,

If you read about David Sarnoff, he was an interesting character to say the least (search Wikipedia for him). A showman and promotor (and sometimes self-promoter) in the mold of Circus impresario P.T. Barnum, he was a ruthless businessman. After 9 years of RCA selling radio receivers and vacuum tubes built by General Electric (GE) and Westinghouse (and a few from Wireless Specialty), RCA purchased the Victor Talking Machine company (who started making radios after purchasing radios from RCA for Radio-Victrola combinations). After an antitrust suit in 1929 or 1930, in a complete turnaround, RCA built all radios at the Victor factory, for themselves, as well as GE and Westinghouse. RCA claimed many inventions. (Per one of our friends, possibly Morzh, they may have claimed to invent the electron itself!)

My guess is that it would be just like Mr. Sarnoff (Oops, General Sarnoff, he earned that rank in the US Army Signal Corps) to make the radios for GE and Westinghouse but to make the RCA radios to be more stylish. The position of the knobs is the same on both the CGE A-87 and the RCA C-8-15 version, but the RCA had a round dial with a world map that glowed red when the radio was on. One possible exception to styling the RCA to be supeior was the Westinghouse Columnaire WR8 version of the RCA Radiola 80. The cabinet was designed by the famous industrial designer Raymond Loewy, who designed for Huppmobile, Studebaker, the Pensylvania Railroad and the paint scheme for the US "Air Force One" Boeing 747 aircraft. I think that my GE S-22A version of the RCA R-7As prettier than the RCA R-7A.

[RadioSvit]

Hi MrFixr55. Yes, I read a lot of information about David Sarnov, because I am extremely interested in the history of radio and I made a series of historical videos about the history of the emergence and development of radio broadcasting. Here is a link to the section on the history of radio from my YouTube channel. This is the English-language section

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...GNawU05-0z

And here are links to the videos in which I mentioned David Sarnov.
[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce9JxZJR...=11&t=413s]

RS. I completely agree with you that the General Electric Junior S-22 is much more beautiful and aesthetic than the RSA P7 Superette. Recently I was lucky enough to get acquainted with this wonderful radio. I adore its design.

   

[RadioSvit]

More about Sarnov's influence on the development of radio...

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pTnGaCy...z&index=13]

[MrFixr55]

Hi Peter,

Yes, that's the one, the GE S22.  Mine is the S22A with the 47 pentodes in the output stage as opposed to the 45 triodes.

Sarnov got a lot of "mileage" from the story about his handling radio "traffic" regarding the sinking of the Titanic and rescue of passengers.  The story was pure hyperbole; Sarnoff had no "official" capacity in relaying information regarding the Titanic, "official" radio traffic was handled through the Marconi Cape Race, Newfoundland station.  Sarnoff did not man the Wanamaker station non-stop.  He and 2 other operators took shifts "listening in" using Marconi's station at the John Wanamaker Department Store in New York City, and reported information unofficially to the press.   While Sarnoff himself did not cause the formation of RCA (This was done by General Electric at the urging of the US Navy and US Government), his rise in both the American Marconi Company and RCA was meteoric.  His salesmanship, business acumen and pure chutzpah contributed greatly to the rise of RCA.  Ironically, his son Robert Sarnoff was blamed for ruining the company by developing RCA as a conglomerate by purchasing Banquet Foods (TV dinners), Hertz (car rental), Random House (publishing) and entering the mainframe computer business.  RCA did not survive the recession of the mid 1970s and the increasing competition from Sony, Matsushita (Panasonic) and other Asian companies, and other failures such as the Selectavision Video Disk system.  GE purchased RCA in 1986 and broke it up, selling the manufacturing to Thompson, and selling the NBC Radio stations and network.  Ironically, GE is now in the process of being broken up, having sold its consumer products division to Haier, a Chinese concern.

The sinking of the Titanic and the accompanying tragic loss of life occurred for several reasons.  Among others:

• The ship was likely being operated at too high a speed considering the reports of icebergs.  There was no moon that night, making it very difficult to identify icebergs.
  

• Many reports of icebergs were either ignored or not logged.  Marconi stations would not communicate with competitive companies like DeForest and Telefunken
  

• The Leyland Liner "Californian" was within 30 minutes of steaming time to Titanic but ignored her warning rockets. Her wireless operator was off duty.
  

• Titanic's lifeboat "davits" were designed to handle a full 32 lifeboats in 2 rows, but it was determined that only 16 lifeboats would be attached to davits.  In addition. there were 4 collapsible lifeboats and 2 "cutters".  The available lifeboat seats exceeded the British Board of Trade requirements of seats for half the "souls on board".
  

• Lifeboats were not filled to capacity.  many were less than half-filled.  There was no attempt to transfer passengers to fill boats and send boats to rescue people in the water.  These people died of exposure, as the water was at approximately -2 Degrees Celsius.
  
• There was poor training for the manning and lowering of lifeboats.
  

I thoroughly enjoy your You tube Videos, please keep them coming. Viewing the radios, it's "Have it, have it, had it, want it, have it, need it, etc.

Best Regards, 
John, MrFixr55

[RadioSvit]

Thank you for such interesting information, John. I have always been very interested in the history of radio engineering and that is why I spend so much time creating videos on this topic. Unfortunately, in the summer during the summer holidays, interest in the history of radio on YouTube drops significantly and therefore I am also taking a break for this time. In addition, in the summer I am more engaged in the restoration of radio cases from my collection and on orders from colleagues, so there is little time left for shooting and editing videos, but with the onset of autumn I will have a lot of material for creating new videos.

PS. By the way, I wanted to ask all the viewers of my channel - how do you perceive the dubbing of my videos translated into English using the Artificial Intelligence program? Does this program translate correctly and provide clear dubbing?

[MrFixr55]

Hi Peter,

I speak a little Spanish and in speaking to Spanish friends, it can get interesting. One little mispronunciation and you are saying something really bad! Having said that, the translations do make sense. They could be slightly ambiguous or too literal at times, but n the "Big Picture" they are understandable and allow us to admire your knowledge and hard work.

As always, many thanks and prayers for peace for you and your country!

BTW (By the way), the color of the finish on your GE S22 is very nice, mor 'red' in it than mine. Mine is pure brown mahogany colored.