Look inside the chassis-if you see the same manufacturer’s name stamped on all the tubes and other components, that’s a tipoff. If the outside lacks identifiers, the inside may still hold clues. Here’s some things to look at:Ĭomponent markings. Other Identifying FeaturesĮven if your radio has lost its label or logo, or perhaps never had them to begin with, you can still identify the set, though it may take some detective work. I usually have time to make a quick scan of my collector books to see if a radio is listed. Speaking of which-if you’ve tried all these channels and struck out, feel free to send me some email. A radio website might happen to show your radio, or perhaps its webmaster is willing to field your question. Now there are dozens, with more appearing all the time. When I launched my site in August, 1995, there was only one other website like it in the world. Although that group is concerned mainly with technical discussions, some members are willing to help with identifications. If there’s no club nearby, another possibility is the USENET newsgroup +phono. The Antique Radio Classified website has an extensive list of clubs in North America. If you haven’t already done so, look for a radio collector club in your vicinity. Technical references were published for radio repair shops and they are still to be found in many public libraries. These include Rider’s, Sams Photofacts, Most Needed Radio Diagrams, and so on. Technical service publications are another great source of information. The Slusser (formerly Bunis) collector guide is one of the most popular, although it’s by no means the only show in town. Resources for Identifying Your Old RadioĬollector books list thousands of radios, often with approximate values. The name may be handy if a collector guide happens to list your set by name instead of by model number. Hundreds of different names were used over the decades-everything from the predictable (“Globetrotter”) to the alliterative (Zenith “Zenette”) to the fanciful (“Phantom Baby”). For instance, my Crosley F5-TWE was known as the “Musical Chef,” and that name is actually printed on the front of its cabinet. Some radios have a name in addition to (or, occasionally, instead of) a model number. So a patent date merely tells you that the radio could not have been made before that date. They only indicate when the patent was originally granted, which could be many years earlier. Patent notices often include dates, but those do not tell you when the radio was made. If you look at a bunch of old radios, you’ll see that many of them list exactly the same patents. These are pretty useless for identification, because virtually all radio makers licensed several technology patents from other manufacturers, and they were required by law to disclose those patent licenses. Most radios also list various patent numbers. On my Zenith TransOceanic H500, the number is printed in white ink inside the hinged back cover. The model number may also be printed somewhere on the cabinet itself. The label usually contains other information, such as a serial number, tube diagram, or even a complete schematic diagram. Model numbers are often printed on a paper label attached to the back, inside, or bottom of the radio cabinet. Every manufacturer was free to make up its own scheme, and often a given manufacturer would change its numbering scheme over the years. There is no standardization whatsoever for model numbers. Model numbers can include any combination of letters and numbers, and they may be long or short, although most are from two to six characters in length. The normal way to identify a radio is by manufacturer and model number (for example, “ Zenith 7G605″ or “ Philco 42-350″). For every rare and unusual radio, there were thousands of cheap and common radios. Most of the radios sold over those decades are not very interesting. Many thousands more were manufactured worldwide. Tens of thousands of different radio models were manufactured over the decades, in the US alone. Identifying Radios By Manufacturer, Name, and Model Numbers Here’s how to go about identifying an antique or vintage radio, and then how to decide if it’s playable. Learning more about your radio may satisfy your curiosity, or it may serve a practical purpose such as helping you get repair information. You’ve just acquired an old radio, but apart from the manufacturer’s name on the front, you don’t know a blessed thing about it. Phil Nelson runs Phils Old Radios, a member of our Hall of Fame, and a great resource for information on antique radios.
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