338
Item nr.
All American Five.
| Production | USA, 1948. |
|---|---|
| Bands | MW. |
| Tubes | 12SA7, 12SK7, 12SQ7, 50L6GT, 35Z5GT  . |
| Cabinet | Moulded. Size 25x18x18 cm. |
| Power | AC/DC 105-125. |
| Documents |  Schema.. |
This small American Broadcast radio has the octal tube set found often until around 1950. The cabinet is moulded material (perhaps bakelite or some early plastic) painted in wood motif.
| Obtained | 4/2012 from Bob Prins. |
|---|---|
| Condition | 7. |
| Disposed | Sold 4/2016. |
| Sound sample | PLAY SOUND What is more surprising: that the VVD is called a middle party, or that they are said to cheat? |
The 35Z5 rectifier has a tap on the heater, which supposedly allows to use pilot lights in cheap sets. However, when pulling the tube I found that there was a bridge between pins 2 and 3, effectively shorting the pilot light, which was nonetheless defective. Also, someone had put a European plug on the set, and I think somebody has connected the radio to 220V with the result that four of the tubes had the heater interrupted. So I started my work on the set by ordering four tubes.
Quite in contrast to the Crosley that I bought together with this radio, I found the chassis prestinely looking. No sign of rust or wear or moist. Also under the chassis everything looked rather well preserved; I only found a couple of paper wax capacitors there, which I replaced.
When the replacement tubes arrived, I found out that the radio still didn't work, and there was an interrupted resistor in the rectifier circuit. Still, no sound! The oscillator didn't swing, and measuring the filament voltages, I found out that there was only 2V of voltage over the 12SA7 heater! Its resistance is only about 5 Ohms. This is quite weird. The tube looks a bit strange, with a shape factor that is different from all other American tubes I know. Still, it tested OK on the valve tester. Could it be a solid state 12SA7 replacer? Anyway, I couldn't get the radio to play with this thing in its belly, so I took a 12SA7 from another set: with the result that the radio works.