Favorite Radio

Besides building crystal radios, I like to repair/restore old tube radios.

My favorite type of radio for my personal collection would be almost any AM or AM/SW wooden case radio. I like the ones which are about the size of a bread box and have octal tubes.


What type of radio do you prefer? Maybe you prefer something besides a radio which is discussed on this board. What might that be?

I like all kinds and styles of radio's but most of my collection is bakelite radio's that are made just before or just after WWII. My collection is all over the place otherwise from wooden table top sets to consoles to combo unit's. My favorite brand is Bendix due to my first couple i repaired were those. My favorite ones to work on are what others refer to as basket cases. I like a challenge. The radio that started it all for me is the Bendix pictured below and is one of my favorites because of that.

I would have to say that my favorite radios are consoles.
I know they take up a lot of space, but they have a presence in a room.
Tombstones are also on my list as something I like.
My favorite radio is my Rogers 10-12 console, an I have it in my dining room.
Dan in Calgary

Beautiful radio Dan, like the rest of the radio's in your collection. I would have more in mine if i had the room.

Indeed, beautiful. My favorites are the bakelite Bendix radios.

Guess my personal favorite is an Emerson CQ289. A 1939 model that my mum bought in 1940 and I still have. Needs to be recapped and cleaned up inside.

I have a couple of others as well that I am partial to just because of how they look. I don't seem to have any favorite brand, at the moment anyway.

Pictures, please??

Here is a link to mine. Favorite as it performs well and I don't know of anyone else that has one! The poor guy got into radios (tube) a little late in the game!
Jerry
https://radioatticarchives.com/radio.htm?radio=7404

Well, did the countless handful of loyal followers of this thread get the link and see the picture? Any response would let me know the linked worked and there was someone looking on this forum. I know, it is not a Philco or a Zenith or anything any one out there knows of.

Nice radio Jerry. I have not seen that model nor any in late design with a drop front like that. I did once have a drop front Radiola Superhetrodyne but that is a 20's radio.

Hardly anything to look at the favorite of mine is a G-E Superadio. I have had it for years and play it with batteries. It is the one I reach for to find radio interference. I could say it is more utilitarian...

Chas

CrystalRadioMan wrote:
What type of radio do you prefer?

Well, my favorite set is the EH Scott Philharmonic.  I have about 7 of them.  I think the attraction is the complexity of them, along with their good looks (though most of the EH Scott offered cabinets are not very attractive).  Working on simple stuff bores me.  I have only recapped an AA5 several times and have no desire to do another.  Besides the Philharmonic, I have several of the higher end Zenith's which I also like because of their good looks.  Moving on beyond radios, I like my test equipment too.  For example, I have about 7 or 8 signal generators.  I know I only need one, but acquiring test equip is an addiction like collecting radios.  My test equip is all more modern solid state, mostly better quality HP or Tektronix.

Thermionic_Emission wrote:

CrystalRadioMan wrote:
What type of radio do you prefer?

Well, my favorite set is the EH Scott Philharmonic.  I have about 7 of them.  I think the attraction is the complexity of them, along with their good looks (though most of the EH Scott offered cabinets are not very attractive).  Working on simple stuff bores me.  I have only recapped an AA5 several times and have no desire to do another.  Besides the Philharmonic, I have several of the higher end Zenith's which I also like because of their good looks.  Moving on beyond radios, I like my test equipment too.  For example, I have about 7 or 8 signal generators.  I know I only need one, but acquiring test equip is an addiction like collecting radios.  My test equip is all more modern solid state, mostly better quality HP or Tektronix.

Gee, I never gave a though about the Scott? It sits in the corner with a Hallicrafters portable on top. Not that I haven't had it playing but I like diversity in the collection.

I would have claimed My Zenith 53 as tops but that, too sits in the corner with the Spring Bok lamp on top.

O.T. Favorite party tools for the bench? Na.. I much prefer old school with the colorful Deco steel cabinets. I am a fan of using a master oscillator and zero beat for calibration. Old, old school instruments, a G-R portable field strength meter with a galena crystal detector, has all the plug-ins including the 25,000 meter coil

Chas

Chas, what EH Scott do you have?

I like punching in a frequency and getting on with my work.  That said, I normally use my Boonton 103D for alignments.  It doesn't have a keypad, but it does have a digital display which is nothing more than a frequency counter built in.  Zero beating, not for me   Maybe because my formal electronics education was all solid state with an emphasis on microprocessors- way back in the early to mid 80's.  The only thing solid state that I "collect" is lab grade test equipment.  Anything audio has to be hollow state, and my TV's are all  1950 or earlier, though I have no pre-war TV's- way too expensive for me.

Nice link. Thanks very much........

Well, my favorite set is the EH Scott Philharmonic. I have about 7 of them.

That is amazing! I have restored 3 of the 800Bs and they are great radios. All off to my friends. Liking orphans, I have a Scott 16A also known as the Metropolitan. An 800B without the push button power tuning and the short wave. A great receiver that is overlooked. See what happens Bill when people ask questions that are interesting?
Best, Jerry