Great video. A small correction: The WD-11 was designed by Westinghouse, not Western Electric. The tube was generally a poor performer with a very high failure rate. A real POS that Western Electric would have never allowed to hit the market with the poor reliability that this tube suffered. Shortly after the WD11 was introduced, GE introduced the UV199 and UX199. These used 3.3V for the filaments. 3 "A" batteries were needed, as opposed to the 1 A battery needed for the WD11, but these tubes performed much better than the WD11. So much so, that RCA, who marked both the Westinghouse and GE receiver and tube lines, wrote a service document on replacing WD11s with UV199s using an adaptor made by a third party. The 864 (JAN VT-24) was introduced during WWII for rough duty service. The Author is very correct in stating that it makes an excellent replacement for the WD-11. Unfortunately, many vintage radio collectors are folks are between 60 and 90 years old and we are passing away. The younger generation needs to step up to preserve this hobby which, for us "boomers", started when we were kids. How many of us built 1 tube regenerative receivers using the technology of the Westinghouse Aeriola (one of the first radios sold to the public) for a Boy Scout Merit Badge? Fortunately, prices for these collectible radios and tubes are dropping as the estates of deceased collectors are sold on auction sites such as eBay. So join the hobby and enjoy a piece of century old technology that still works. Imagine the earth-shaking news events that were received by the person who first owned it and say a prayer for their souls.
@@johnstrohsnitter2094 Thanks 🙏 for the nice comment. Easy to confuse 🤣 Westinghouse & Western Electric. They were both power houses of the time. Westinghouse built most of the Broadcast Transmitters of the time. 73’s my friend KA1VMW
Always wondered if very early broadcast STEREO SOUND might have been possible, using the same principle used with visual stereography, which stereosonic equivalent would have been essentially persistence of hearing: first one side heard then the other and so-on but switched very fast. If actually feasible aurally*, such well might have been effected 'back-in-the' day technically. *likely not.
Love your video. I learned that there was a transition from UV200 to the 01A's. However I think you mean "thoriated" with the chemical thorium. The side pin was needed to have the tube in the correct position in socket. Those 01A's also have bigger pins on the filament part of the tube. They could be installed correctly by either that side pin in a socket or in a base that matches the correct pin sizes.
Thanks for watching 🙏. I’m glad you enjoyed the video. Please go to my antique radio playlist and check out my other videos. I’m so glad my videos are helpful to keep vintage electronics alive. It makes me happy every time I look at them or listen to them. I play them daily. 73’s my friend all the best to you and your family 😀
I would liked to have watched you tune the radio, both with the variometer and finding a sensitive spot on the crystal. I have always wondered just how tricky it was to tune the old radios.
I’ve been able to get new replacement stator crystals. But the movable crystal is tired. It’s very tedious to find a sensitive spot but once you do I’ll leave it until it loses sensitivity. The station selector tuner is very easy to. Just keep moving until you hear a station. The conditions during the recordings were mid to late winter. Optimal conditions. Maybe I’ll do a recording in the future showing the tuning of the crystal. But I’ll need another person or a camera stand to do so, for the tuning of the crystals for a sensitive spot takes two hands. Thanks for watching 🙏
This is awesome, electronics knowledge and history is fascinating. These speakers are gorgeous! For those interested, these are high impedance speakers, and here's a bit more info into what that means. Impedance does not apply to DC voltage. Impedance is a concept used in AC (alternating current) circuits and is a measure of the opposition to the flow of AC current. It combines both resistance (which opposes the flow of current in both AC and DC circuits) and reactance (which opposes the flow of AC current specifically due to inductance and capacitance). A 1920's horn speaker typically requires a higher voltage to operate effectively. Impedance is essentially the opposition that a circuit presents to the flow of alternating current (AC), and a higher impedance means that less current will flow for a given voltage. To produce the same amount of power (which is a function of both current and voltage), a higher impedance speaker needs a higher voltage to compensate for the lower current. This relationship is described by Ohm's Law (V = I * R) and the power formula (P = V^2 / R), where V is voltage, I is current, R is impedance, and P is power. To produce the same power (1 watt) in an old RCA 1920s horn speaker with an assumed 4,000-ohm impedance, you would need approximately 63.25 volts, compared to the 2.83 volts needed for a modern 95 dB 8-ohm speaker.
Thanks for watching. Yes you can remove the transformer and RC the whole the circuit with two resistors and a cap. But that’s overkill when you can use the good side of the transformer and use one resistor with a cap to coupling the primary to the secondary windings of the transformer. And keeping the original transformer and hiding the resistor and capacitor in the housing of the transformer the radio will still look original.
Thanks for the visual presentation of the horn-loudspeaker models made in the USA. I am a humble radio lover. There are old radio tube magazines, but when I tried to imagine how to make SUCH a CURVED DIFFUSER for my regenerative receiver, I was puzzled))). Damn, - "forbidden technologies of the ancient Americans")))) 73.
Any idea why transformer coupling was used in the first place? Were early tubes so expensive, or low gain, or both that it made sense to use an expensive transformer between stages instead of much smaller, cheaper, lighter resistors and capacitors?
Thanks for watching the video. There were RC coupled in the 20’s. But like you said the tubes of the time were less than 100mw of gain until the UX-112A. AF transformers stepped up the gain so only two 01A tubes were necessary. But for same gain two AF transformers. Keep In mind tubes were very expensive at that time. The 01A cost $5 in the 1920’s.
Good luck my friend. I’m quite impressed I can’t imagine rewinding. I wouldn’t have the patience. Remember the values of the components are just a reference it’s not that critical. I’ve seen some values of 50K ohms in the plate primary circuit and 470K ohms in the grid secondary circuit. And ceramic disc caps from.005 to .01 uF. I’ve always used the values shown in the video. 100K, 2M ohms and.006uF. 73’s KA1VMW Mark
@@curlyzim1 Thanks, I can probably cobble together a simple mono tube amp for this. These tube types are new to me. I'm just now looking up all the specs and seeing various cautions about their use (especially regarding the soft detector). Did Mitchell publish a schematic for this radio? I know it's simple to trace out, but I'd love to see the original publication. Darn, like I don't have enough tube projects already! 😃
@@TriodeLuvr it’s the typical 3 tube regenerative receiver. You can fine the basic schematics on line. Be sure to check all the connections. And do a continuity test. Check your AF transformers they often have open winding. If open you can either replace it if you can get a spare or RC the open side.
Do you still have this? I have one in excellent condition, but I've never tried to power it up. Haven't been able to find much technical info online. I assume it needs high-Z phones or an external amplifier. What power supply voltages are you using?
Yes I still have it and use it. It’s one of my favorite receivers. Yes you’re right about the speaker or headphones. It requires a high impedance reproducer. I’m using 6VDC for the filaments. +20VDC for the detector. The two AF amps call for +45 but I’m using +90 VDC. I had to buy it when I saw it on eBay because I already had the catalog listing it. 73’s my friend good luck KA1VMW
1074 years old and I have a lot of these tubes and actually I had several of these working radios that had tubes like that in them and I had my roof of my house redone and some decking was taken off of the house it's quite large house a lot of these radio for stolen by the roofers and I had no idea this even happened until about six to eight months later I went up in the attic of the house to look around and I said oh where's all my radios I called the police department basically you can't do anything but I still have a lot of tubes but the radio these tubes went in are gone somebody's got them out there they were restored that's what I used to do anyway yeah I still think about it when I came across that I got to thinking about it even more
I hear CQ and then 2 but cannot catch the entire station call. I am very out of practice with CW. Nice Grebe radio. I wonder if that radio was designed for amateur users as well as general broadcast band listeners. Very nice radios. Did your Atwater Kent horn have the phenolic driver cap verses the pot metal driver? I have a Radiola RC (Westinhouse RA-DA) I should see if I can tune up to 160 on it. I believe that was a popular receiver for early 1920s amateur radio enthusiasts.
The Grebe CR-8 and CR-9 and everything before were communication receivers from 1921. The amateur radio band at that time was 200 meters and below. These radios just happened to be on the market for the birth of Public Broadcasting. The Grebe CR-8 covers from 150 through 1000 meters and may vary due to antenna loading and length. It was believed at the time that high frequencies were useless that’s how we got the HF frequency’s. In the early 20’s the broadcast band was 700 to 800 meters so many early broadcasts receivers don’t cover the whole broadcast band. On my model “H” AK horn speaker the driver was open pot metal disintegrated. So I replaced it with a new driver from a different manufacturer. My model “M” AK horn is original and works well. The model “M” didn’t use pot metal for the driver. My Music Master Horn had an open drive. I replaced the coils and magnets from an old junk headphones. Works well. Thanks again for watching. 73’s KA1VMW
Yes it was designed for amateur and commercial use. And it was on the market for the birth of Broadcast Radio. There was no cap in the AK horn. 73’s and thanks 🙏 for keeping vintage electronics alive.
Error in spelling will cause browsers to miss your web page. Change "Edison standard pho-ograph" to "Edison standard phonograph". My phonograph is an Edison Amberola model 30. It belonged to My Grandfather and a picture of him sitting at the table with a watch in hand to adjust the speed correctly. Then it was handed down to my Father. On many occasions when we had family and friends visit, He would proudly give demonstrations. One of the problems He had was the records would skip or repeat a track, and I figured out the problem when it became mine. When ad was working, I decided how it worked and almost got in trouble for tearing it apart. I had problems getting the Spring in place but fixed it just as Dad came Home from work. Whew! The problem was the collar holding the cylinder was too loose, so I moved it a little closer so it wasn't binding.😲
The "Licensed for Amateur and Experimental Work" statement was placed on the tube because most of the patents for radio in the USA were owned by RCA, which was formed in 1919, at the behest of the US Government who saw the nascent field of radio (wireless) as a national security interest. The development of both the diode and triode vacuum tubes and wireless communication itself involved many patent fights between such people as Edison, J.A Fleming, Lee de Forest, Guglielmo Marconi and even Niccoli Tesla, and corporations such as Marconi, GE, Westinghouse, AT&T, and even the United Fruit Company. Eventually, after many deals and lawsuits, most patents were collected by RCA who demanded royalties from anyone who manufactured radios or tubes. Since commercial radio didn't really take off till the early 1920s, when an individual purchased a tube, it was for amateur radio or experimental use only. If the tube was purchased by a company to be made a part of a radio transmitter or receiver, telephone system, or if public exhibition of a radio program was to be held in an auditorium or hall, etc., royalties had to be paid. Therefore, many early radios (prior to about 1926 or so) sold by such companies as FADA, Atwater Kent, Crosley, Freshman, Grebe, etc., were sold without tubes.
I've learned that one way you can make your tubes last longer is a voltage drop to slowly warm them up. Could be easily designed with a drop resistor and relay and a switch. Basically a three-way switch on the off and on.
Thanks for watching🙏. Please check out my other radio videos by choosing the Antique Radio Playlist. I’ve been enjoying your videos you have an awesome collection and interest. 73’s KA1VMW
They did not "BURN OUT" after a short life. If the circuit is designed properly they will out last your lifetime! I have a few audio amplifiers which use tubes from the 1920's and 30's which are on at least 12 hrs every day with no issues. I even leave one on for ambiance music 24/7 that has Type 71 triodes, it only puts out 1/2 watt per channel but it is one darn sweet amplifier. My amplifiers have been stabile since 1969 when I personally overhauled them.
@@offthecuff6352 Excuse me.. I assume that you did not understand this magnificent metaphor)) "the radio lamp burned down", but it moved the radio and computer forward on the scale of progress. You have to pay for everything .. 73 ! )))
@@user-bo8eq7ki5w Yes, I missed the point, I am old and must have been tired. I enjoy building tube equipment. 73 my friend hope to hear you sometime on the airwaves. :))
That design makes a lot of sense. The selectivity won't be great but in an era with few stations, that was not an issue. Breaking the band into ranges and the tuning with the variable inductance would work well. The long handle on the tuning adjustment was an easy way to allow accurate setting.
Thanks 🙏 for the nice comments. I used to have a Dayfan with a rubber horn speaker I sold it at a flea market. There’s not too much to the TRF and regen sets from the 20’s. The biggest failure is the AF transformers opens. You can check with an ohm meter. Check for corrosion on the pin contacts of the tubes and any binding post. Clean with an eraser, wire brush or an X-Acto knife. If your battery connection post or cable isn’t marked check the continuity with an ohm meter. RF and AF plates should be +45 to 90 volts most likely +90. Detector should be +20 volts. If your set has a “C” grid bias battery it should be - 4 to 9 volts. If your radio uses 01A tubes the filament battery should be 6 volts. You can power the set with batteries or a power supply battery eliminator. Please check out my Battery Eliminator power supply video. Under my antique radio play list. Thanks again for subscribing comment and like. 73’s KA1VMW Mark
