RCA Radiola 47 & Phono - worth acquiring ?

[Kirkwood]

Brad, a good friend up in Baltimore has done just that---except that the receiving set is his 1940s Capehart radio-phono. The set plays really well, and with the little 1-watt transmitter broadcasting internet content from "Radio Dismuke" the effect is pretty doggone cool. Keep in mind his house is something of a wall-to-wall Victorian treasure chest, so with this music playing in the background, and a fine drink in hand, it's all a very Twilight Zone experience, but in a good way.

[De Soto Frank]

Actually, I have a "breadboard" kit from Antique Electronic Supply of the Emerson wireless phono transmitter from the late 1930's...

I guess it's time to finally put it together and put it to work...


( Having Rush Limbaugh and ESPN blaring out of a nice 1930's receiver is just not right... )

[recordo]

that breadboard single valve/tube transmitter kit from Antique Electronics Supply is just fantastic. I made one and use it with all my AM radios and then all my collector friends bought them after seeing mine...

A little trick of mine is to prepare a playlist in iTunes when friends are coming for dinner with their favourite music and then slip in some pre-recorded personalised welcomes and see how long it takes my guests to realize they are not listening to a 'real' radio station!

Future proofs radios in case they ever do turn off analogue AM broadcasts...

[De Soto Frank]

Well, it 's mine.... all mine ! ( Cue maniacal laughter ... )

Now to find a place to put it, besides the back of my station wagon...

[gramophoneshane]

Congratulations Frank. If you get a chance to take a couple pictures, I'd love to see them.

[Edisone]

Please do share some pictures with us, as you progress! I'd love to get something similar, to add to my Radiola 17 and beautiful Zenith floor model. Also must hurry up & get replacement cloth for the Zenith, before it's gone!

When I first bought the Zenith, it produced mostly HUM. I found a man in the phone book who would work ONLY on the old, large radios - he made me promise not to bring "one of them little table boxes with the damned little tubes"! haha. Louis Starich was his name, and his house was incredible - he lived in the flat above his old radio store, which was used just for storage by that time. His apartment was FILLED - every corner, every room that I saw, and even on the stairs - with unopened boxes of tubes and every kind of radio part. I brought his only the chassis & speaker, which he kept for about a month & then called me to fetch them back .... total repairs were about $25, as I recall. Mr.Starich had been in the radio business since he was 16, meaning 1922! I see by the Social Security Death Index that he passed away in 1991 ... gawd, has it been that long? Yep, I got that radio in 1985. yikes, I'm old!

Anyway, Louis did consent to fixing a small Zenith table radio for me, about a year later. Charge: $10. His advice for all old radios: Use them at least an hour every month, to keep the capacitors from drying-up.

Must get me one of them transmitters, too. How are they powered, and how's the sound quality??

[recordo]

I can't wait to see the photos!

Regarding the transmitter : they are mains powered and great! It took me about an hour to put mine together.