You are missing the little color wheel that goes in front of the pilot light. Each station will have a different color pilot light on the front. It attaches to the end of the long shaft of the station switch. That's how you know what station, or which preset you are tuned to.
Sure could use more people like you in the world Ron, as far too many people like to throw out good things. Glad you got that radio so it would have a chance.
Perhaps it's in a comment already, I didn't read them all. We have one of theses in our New Jersey Antique Radio Club's museum. It's a "Secretary's radio", designed to sit on the floor under a desk, and were often used in a reception room. The Secretary used her foot to roll the volume down when greating a guest or taking a call. Tapping the roller changed stations. The example we have is its original ivory color.
It Just Blows my Mine, How You Just go right at a radio, with know second thought of what to do, What a mine for electronics, Great Repair like always, I have Never seen a radio that looks like That.Great Video
If I could hazard a guess as to why the strange tuning mechanism, I'll bet it was aimed at elderly people or people with limited eyesight who might have difficulty tuning a regular radio tuning dial. At the dealership (remember when there were radio and TV dealerships?) the salesman would set the presets to the stations that the person wanted to be able to listen to. Or, conversely, a relative or friend could set the presets when the radio was brought home. A great job, as usual.
That's a good theory but if so, why is the channel indicator (missing in this example) a colour wheel that would require the user to see it; surely they would have used something tactile instead?
I was mesmerized for 42 minutes and 21 seconds! Miss the old Philco named tough products and our old TV, standup radio Grandma had, the bakelite plastic, and painting it that green, that brought me back to the old Wizard of Oz movie I'm not that old but I grew up with all that stuff and this truly made me nostalgic for all those things. It was a great honor watching the restoration and thank you for this.
Ron, your chuckling at yourself when you get bitten by not previously checking a potential bad tube (the 50L6, on this video) makes my day! Your knowledge and skill at your craft is simply amazing to watch and in this day of multi-level integrated circuitry, is a refreshing thing to watch. It recalls my own vacuum tube days as a US Navy Tradevman from 1965-69. Keep 'em coming! These are some of the best videos on UA-cam!
The size of the dual purpose wheel and lack of a dial makes me think this may be designed to be foot operated. Like in an office. Certainly a unique piece. Nice work as always!
Never advertised as a floor model. Why it is just a novelty desk unit where you set six active AM stations from underneath and use one hand to operate it afterwards. It would sound pretty crappy on the floor and with shoes on hard to adjust the volume without accidentally changing the station!
Interesting fact, this is a foot operated radio! Designed to be placed under desks in offices or for secretary’s. Move the dial with your foot for volume and press it down to change the channel. Also became pretty popular for physically disabled people, particularly wheelchair bound folks. They really did think of everything!
@@rareblues78daddy It could be. In fact, it looks like it's designed for that purpose. (Edit: as a matter of fact, it IS - radioattic.com/item.htm?radio=1620012)
Jacob Garby I should have been more specific. Used in hospitals ect for people who are wheelchair bound but not permanently disabled, say a broken leg ect
Thank you for gifting us with being able to watch your amazing work. Just got a 1942 Sentinel 7 tube that, amazingly, covers extended a.m. band, 50 years before it was authorized! (Bows to Master Glasslinger)
Thank you Ron ,I always look forward to your videos.what a fantastic radio ,I love how you instantly know what the faults are ,Only years of experience repairing electronics can teach you this knowledge I wish I had a electronics teacher like you .If you could bottle your knowledge I would buy it ,looking forward to the next episode best wishes.
Nice save! Let’s set the record straight on these Philco “Secretary” models (Philco model 49-901) for the viewers at home. These were never intended to be put on the floor and operated by foot. The original advertising confirms this, and besides, there would be very, very few left with this kind of treatment. These are unique, but certainly not rare. Philco was a very prolific manufacturer. I own 3 of these radios myself. They were only available in 2 colors from the factory-ivory and green (the green being a sort of institutional colored green). Any other variation (including plain Bakelite was modified at a later time). The whole point of this radio was to provide a desktop radio that would cause as little distraction/disruption to the secretary’s primary functions (typing, filing, answering the phone etc,) as possible. Volume and tuning could be accomplished with a quick reach-not even needing to take your eyes off of your work. I caution anyone that works on these to be very careful of the rotating color wheel as they are very fragile and brittle. This is one of the key elements of the radio as it filters the light from the pilot lamp so the jewel indicator on the outside glows a different color corresponding to the different station/frequency selected. This is the only visual feedback to the user.
Nice job as always. One of the things that draws me to the tube radio era is the fact that designers could let their imaginations run wild and produced so many varied designs.
Excellent and informative video as always. You'll forever inspire this novice to raise the bar in tinkering with my old radios! I've seen that model before, and yes, they don't turn up often. The first one I've seen working. I would suspect these were for an office desk. It looked less conspicuous than an ordinary set. Much like an intercom. The styling is actually a good example of early post-war modernism.
Perhaps no one has realized yet, but that radio was designed to be on the floor under your desk. You use your foot to work the volume control and change stations. That's why it's so big, and why it's built so sturdy. Like a guitar stomp box!
I think you have something there. Something one might have in an offce/receptionist area back before "Musac". Pretty handy indeed. It may also explain why that volume control was so filthy too. 😃😉😉 Great observation.
@@hestheMaster Many references on the Internet for this radio, called "The Secretary" by collectors, indicate it was designed to be operated by foot under a desk, hence the unique design. One reference: radioattic.com/item.htm?radio=1620012 By the way, if anyone runs across an owner's manual for this radio, they would be doing the collector community a favor by scanning it and uploading it at philcoradio.com, a site devoted to Philco Phanatics: the Philco Phorum!
For removing the paint I use this method. Apply the paint remover and let it soften the paint. Use a low power pressure washer to power wash the old paint off. You can dry the water and reapply the paint remover if needed a second time. No scratches or damage to the surfaces you are cleaning and it's much less messy a job. I would tie the shells down so they can't dance away when the water hits them.
Some IF transformers have more windings on the secondary than primary to give some gain. In that case you’d want to make sure they were installed with the secondary going to grid. Love watching you work!
Welcome back ! Ah the Secretary by Philco c.1949. Sat on the desk, it WAS a desktop model, and you could turn the dial from off to on and then turn it to raise the volume. You could press the dial to change the stations. It had 6 preset stations that could be dialed up from underneath. Of course you would set the radio to your liking from only listening to what was playing since there wasn't a true frequency dial to see the frequency number. That did add to both it's uniqueness and it's downfall.📻 Note, bandersontv did a complete and great restore of this model a year ago. It was in much worse shape!
Well done Ron! The radio is missing the preset indicator wheel. It should have a transparent colored wheel numbered from 1 to 6 on the front with the lamp illuminating it from the back, and the corresponding preset would shine from the hole in the front. All the best, Moshe.
Another great resto Ron. Bit of a weird looking radio, certainly a good conversation piece. Yeah, the little indicator light would look good if it were working. Haha, pay more attention to me, human!!
That is very unique for sure. It would be good for folks when they are 102 and can't figure out which way to turn the knobs anymore, when they only get to take one to the care home.
Love that turn-and-push control - an early example of the rotary encoder with push click that we have now. Some minidisc players also had a rotary-push control for volume and track skipping - the same idea in miniature.
bandersentv has one of these as well that he is working on restoring. His unit's case was badly cracked so a significant portion of his restoration videos for it are focused on repairing/rebuilding the case. Search his channel for "Philco 49-901".
Never really seen this kind of radio b4,I couldn't work out what it really was in the first place,but by the shape of it,it looked really like the shape of a fan heater with the rotary control,like a thermostat with an on/off switch. Amazing how there,s no radio dial,u had to guess what station u are listening to. I like the cat in the video too,that is so cute. Must've been hungry for the dine food too. Very nice metallic green finish on the radio case too. But would've been good if u had put the light globe in to see what colour the wheel was showing each time a radio station was selected. Good to see the fine radio tuning controls on the bottom,and the instructions of tuning the oscillation coils for each preset. Would've been good if the speaker was repaired,as there was a hole thru the paper cone.
Looks like you finally got the video recording and export parameters down! 16:9 output with no stretching, and quite high bitrate! Keep this up for your future videos :)
yes he always seems to paint stuff whatever color he has on hand.if it were mine i would restore to original rather than paint it that metallic bright green. it looks wrong to my eye. but thats just one mans opinion.
Not even at 2 minute mark and i love the radio already! Glad to see you're posting still also, youtube bumped your notifications off again though :/ Ah well, back on they go mr Googlebot.
Nice work as always Ron. The Philco looks of a familiar style, I believe I've seen another UA-camr work on one (that was in much better condition to start with haha!)
Oi glasslinger Boa noite meu amigo , olha!! adorei a linda Restauração da qual você fez nessa Radio philco parabéns eu adorei e adorei ver de novo o 🐱 gatinho com você, adoro ele também parabéns glasslinger adoro seus vídeos, abraços do todo Ricardo velho de GUERRA
@@robot797 My mistake. Found an old ad for the 49-901 (this model) which shows it as a bedside radio which makes sense. I have heard, however, that it was used under desks but it seems that is a common misconception.
You are missing the little color wheel that goes in front of the pilot light. Each station will have a different color pilot light on the front. It attaches to the end of the long shaft of the station switch. That's how you know what station, or which preset you are tuned to.
Thank you for sharing. I very much appreciate your talent and knowledge.
Sure could use more people like you in the world Ron, as far too many people like to throw out good things. Glad you got that radio so it would have a chance.
Perhaps it's in a comment already, I didn't read them all. We have one of theses in our New Jersey Antique Radio Club's museum. It's a "Secretary's radio", designed to sit on the floor under a desk, and were often used in a reception room. The Secretary used her foot to roll the volume down when greating a guest or taking a call. Tapping the roller changed stations. The example we have is its original ivory color.
It Just Blows my Mine, How You Just go right at a radio, with know second thought of what to do, What a mine for electronics,
Great Repair like always, I have Never seen a radio that looks like That.Great Video
That’s a beautiful kitty, and I’m not even a cat person!
Love this radio! These are really unique sets. They sound good too!
If I could hazard a guess as to why the strange tuning mechanism, I'll bet it was aimed at elderly people or people with limited eyesight who might have difficulty tuning a regular radio tuning dial. At the dealership (remember when there were radio and TV dealerships?) the salesman would set the presets to the stations that the person wanted to be able to listen to. Or, conversely, a relative or friend could set the presets when the radio was brought home.
A great job, as usual.
That's a good theory but if so, why is the channel indicator (missing in this example) a colour wheel that would require the user to see it; surely they would have used something tactile instead?
Ask Mr. Carlson... LOL. Glasslinger and Carlson are persons from different universes.
lol, yeah
Love the metallic green finish. Good choice. Of course, the cat is the real star!
Beautiful restoration, beautiful kitty!
I was mesmerized for 42 minutes and 21 seconds! Miss the old Philco named tough products and our old TV, standup radio Grandma had, the bakelite plastic, and painting it that green, that brought me back to the old Wizard of Oz movie I'm not that old but I grew up with all that stuff and this truly made me nostalgic for all those things. It was a great honor watching the restoration and thank you for this.
Ron, your chuckling at yourself when you get bitten by not previously checking a potential bad tube (the 50L6, on this video) makes my day! Your knowledge and skill at your craft is simply amazing to watch and in this day of multi-level integrated circuitry, is a refreshing thing to watch. It recalls my own vacuum tube days as a US Navy Tradevman from 1965-69. Keep 'em coming! These are some of the best videos on UA-cam!
yippee, you are back!
Thanks for sharing you knowledge. I love the restores you do including the soldering. You are THE BEST! Also love your supervisor 😊
The size of the dual purpose wheel and lack of a dial makes me think this may be designed to be foot operated. Like in an office. Certainly a unique piece. Nice work as always!
Never advertised as a floor model. Why it is just a novelty desk unit where you set six active AM stations from underneath and use one hand to operate it
afterwards. It would sound pretty crappy on the floor and with shoes on hard to adjust the volume without accidentally changing the station!
wow, keep going. It's awesome. Vintage the best!
Interesting fact, this is a foot operated radio! Designed to be placed under desks in offices or for secretary’s. Move the dial with your foot for volume and press it down to change the channel. Also became pretty popular for physically disabled people, particularly wheelchair bound folks. They really did think of everything!
why would it be useful for wheelchair bound people, if the whole point of it is that it's foot operated?
This is *not* a foot operated radio. That has been debunked.
@@rareblues78daddy It could be. In fact, it looks like it's designed for that purpose. (Edit: as a matter of fact, it IS - radioattic.com/item.htm?radio=1620012)
These are NOT foot operated no matter what you might see elsewhere...
Jacob Garby I should have been more specific. Used in hospitals ect for people who are wheelchair bound but not permanently disabled, say a broken leg ect
Great job as usual ron, nice to see the workshop manager keeping order!.
Ron, thanks for another great video. Please keep them coming!
Too 🆒
Good job. 👍👌✌️
A fine radio.
Thanks for sharing
Thank you for gifting us with being able to watch your amazing work. Just got a 1942 Sentinel 7 tube that, amazingly, covers extended a.m. band, 50 years before it was authorized! (Bows to Master Glasslinger)
Thank you Ron ,I always look forward to your videos.what a fantastic radio ,I love how you instantly know what the faults are ,Only years of experience repairing electronics can teach you this knowledge I wish I had a electronics teacher like you .If you could bottle your knowledge I would buy it ,looking forward to the next episode best wishes.
as always great work,,heoll kitty
Excellent restoration on a wonderful Philco. thank you.
Wow, I absolutely *love* that paint finish. Fabulous.
Turquoise blue would be more appropriate for a product from 1949
Nice save!
Let’s set the record straight on these Philco “Secretary” models (Philco model 49-901) for the viewers at home.
These were never intended to be put on the floor and operated by foot. The original advertising confirms this, and besides, there would be very, very few left with this kind of treatment. These are unique, but certainly not rare. Philco was a very prolific manufacturer. I own 3 of these radios myself.
They were only available in 2 colors from the factory-ivory and green (the green being a sort of institutional colored green). Any other variation (including plain Bakelite was modified at a later time).
The whole point of this radio was to provide a desktop radio that would cause as little distraction/disruption to the secretary’s primary functions (typing, filing, answering the phone etc,) as possible. Volume and tuning could be accomplished with a quick reach-not even needing to take your eyes off of your work.
I caution anyone that works on these to be very careful of the rotating color wheel as they are very fragile and brittle. This is one of the key elements of the radio as it filters the light from the pilot lamp so the jewel indicator on the outside glows a different color corresponding to the different station/frequency selected. This is the only visual feedback to the user.
Thank you, DR, for that interesting information.
And yet there some idiots posting who don't understand that it WAS designed as a table top radio and NOT to be put on the floor!
Thank-you for another ace video from London .. the green glitter made me laugh! love your skills and your cat ❤
Absolutely loving the metallic paint job, it really adds to the radio
Nice job as always. One of the things that draws me to the tube radio era is the fact that designers could let their imaginations run wild and produced so many varied designs.
Excellent and informative video as always. You'll forever inspire this novice to raise the bar in tinkering with my old radios! I've seen that model before, and yes, they don't turn up often. The first one I've seen working. I would suspect these were for an office desk. It looked less conspicuous than an ordinary set. Much like an intercom. The styling is actually a good example of early post-war modernism.
Nice restoration work! Looks EcoFriendly with the new Green finish!
Great video and unique radio and a very unique colour , bit loud for my tastes but hey it's your radio.
Another wonderful video, thank you for sharing with us.
I have never seen anything like this radio before.. Very nice find.. And a very nice job as well. Thank You..
The radio certainly did come out beautiful - - your cat is beautiful too !
It's always nice to see you work, keep going! (Love to see your cat too)
picking up some good tips from your videos. I am looking to play around with some of these old radios myself someday soon.
I'm very impressed by your skills. I worked on radios in Detroit for many years.
Beautiful kitty and talkative! :)
Very interesting machine. Thanks for sharing.
Another great video. Thank you very much!
Nice repair! Interesting radio. Your radio work interfering with the cats dinner doesn't seem fair......lol
Perhaps no one has realized yet, but that radio was designed to be on the floor under your desk. You use your foot to work the volume control and change stations. That's why it's so big, and why it's built so sturdy. Like a guitar stomp box!
I think you have something there. Something one might have in an offce/receptionist area back before "Musac". Pretty handy indeed. It may also explain why that volume control was so filthy too. 😃😉😉 Great observation.
You should check the info made at that time and you will see it was a desktop model with a speaker which precluded putting it under the desk, sheesh!
@@hestheMaster Many references on the Internet for this radio, called "The Secretary" by collectors, indicate it was designed to be operated by foot under a desk, hence the unique design. One reference: radioattic.com/item.htm?radio=1620012
By the way, if anyone runs across an owner's manual for this radio, they would be doing the collector community a favor by scanning it and uploading it at philcoradio.com, a site devoted to Philco Phanatics: the Philco Phorum!
For removing the paint I use this method. Apply the paint remover and let it soften the paint. Use a low power pressure washer to power wash the old paint off. You can dry the water and reapply the paint remover if needed a second time. No scratches or damage to the surfaces you are cleaning and it's much less messy a job. I would tie the shells down so they can't dance away when the water hits them.
Another great video Bill keep them comming
Интересная конструкция приемника! Отличная работа по ремонту!
Interesting receiver design! Excellent renovation work!
awesome,. nice project/ documentary !!
You do a great job at repairing radios
What kind of metal was that😂 refused to shine at all!
At first I wasnt so sure on the colour, but you nailed it!
Great video Roni thanks for sharing. BTW your cat is COOL!
Excellent technician,my father was one too,and same age as you too!
Not original looking, but it's for Ron's own collection. Plus I can't help myself but like how neat it looks in this color :)
Some IF transformers have more windings on the secondary than primary to give some gain. In that case you’d want to make sure they were installed with the secondary going to grid. Love watching you work!
I have a philco Secretary radio in my collection. That little radio plays great.
Welcome back ! Ah the Secretary by Philco c.1949. Sat on the desk, it WAS a desktop model, and you could turn the dial from off to on and then turn it to raise
the volume. You could press the dial to change the stations. It had 6 preset stations that could be dialed up from underneath. Of course you would set the radio to your
liking from only listening to what was playing since there wasn't a true frequency dial to see the frequency number. That did add to both it's uniqueness and it's
downfall.📻 Note, bandersontv did a complete and great restore of this model a year ago. It was in much worse shape!
Hot damn you fixed another one nice work!
Without doubt the result is stellar!
Very futuristic for 49, very informative you know your way around a chassis, they must have had some forward thinking designers at Philco - ATB
Well done Ron!
The radio is missing the preset indicator wheel.
It should have a transparent colored wheel numbered from 1 to 6 on the front with the lamp illuminating it from the back, and the corresponding preset would shine from the hole in the front.
All the best, Moshe.
That's indeed one very unusual radio design. It's always nice when they come back to life again.
These videos are so relaxing to watch
Ifffff you're doing infill painting, it might help to rub it over with wax, that way any over paint won't stick! 😊
Muy bien trabajo mi amigo, un abrazo.
She is a talker like our cat babygirl, Big part of our life
Philco Fansworth, saw a plowed field and invented the TV. I enjoyed watching this rebuild.
I heard about that as well
Another great resto Ron. Bit of a weird looking radio, certainly a good conversation piece. Yeah, the little indicator light would look good if it were working. Haha, pay more attention to me, human!!
That is very unique for sure. It would be good for folks when they are 102 and can't figure out which way to turn the knobs anymore, when they only get to take one to the care home.
Love that turn-and-push control - an early example of the rotary encoder with push click that we have now. Some minidisc players also had a rotary-push control for volume and track skipping - the same idea in miniature.
That thing looks like a Star Trek's futuristic stuff! Amazing! By the way, lovely cat! Good people have lovely cats.
Only after restoration
Love your cat.My Tommy was hit by a car a few weeks ago.I cant get over it,he was such a good boy.You also do very good work!
Sorry about your cat. I lost two cats to a kid with a pellet gun. I know how it hurts.
@@glasslinger Awww. How can anyone do that.So sorry...Keep on doing your remarkable work.Wish i were that talented. All the best from nova scotia
bandersentv has one of these as well that he is working on restoring. His unit's case was badly cracked so a significant portion of his restoration videos for it are focused on repairing/rebuilding the case. Search his channel for "Philco 49-901".
"THOU SHALL REBUILD FROM THE OLD WASTE"
Glasslinger, you sure are doing that!
Never really seen this kind of radio b4,I couldn't work out what it really was in the first place,but by the shape of it,it looked really like the shape of a fan heater with the rotary control,like a thermostat with an on/off switch.
Amazing how there,s no radio dial,u had to guess what station u are listening to.
I like the cat in the video too,that is so cute. Must've been hungry for the dine food too.
Very nice metallic green finish on the radio case too. But would've been good if u had put the light globe in to see what colour the wheel was showing each time a radio station was selected.
Good to see the fine radio tuning controls on the bottom,and the instructions of tuning the oscillation coils for each preset.
Would've been good if the speaker was repaired,as there was a hole thru the paper cone.
looks like a sci-fi thing...gorgeous.
Looks like you finally got the video recording and export parameters down! 16:9 output with no stretching, and quite high bitrate!
Keep this up for your future videos :)
Crude restoration but seemingly effective.
How is it crude?
Não falo sua língua mas vc e o melhor técnico de reparação e restauração que já vi
What an amazing radio!!! Lovely fabulous paint job!
14:44 awesome cat. meows like a baby. sweet. :-)
This is a most unusual looking radio. it almost resembles a blower. I think my grandparents had one similar.
I'm surprised for such a rare radio you didn't go with a more original look when painting the exterior, but I suppose that green will do in a pinch.
yes he always seems to paint stuff whatever color he has on hand.if it were mine i would restore to original rather than paint it that metallic bright green. it looks wrong to my eye. but thats just one mans opinion.
I love that color, I need to get some for myself
Parabéns pelo seu trabalho bem feito 👏👏👏
Wow that thing is insane 😃👍
I *LOVE* your videos!!! :)
and THE CAT, SO CUTE
Not even at 2 minute mark and i love the radio already! Glad to see you're posting still also, youtube bumped your notifications off again though :/ Ah well, back on they go mr Googlebot.
And what is it with us vintage electronics folks and cats? She's a beauty, such a unique meow too.
You did a great job restoring it, but that is one WEIRD looking radio!
I'm very fond of you
Nice work as always Ron. The Philco looks of a familiar style, I believe I've seen another UA-camr work on one (that was in much better condition to start with haha!)
Very nice save.
Oi glasslinger Boa noite meu amigo , olha!! adorei a linda Restauração da qual você fez nessa Radio philco parabéns eu adorei e adorei ver de novo o 🐱 gatinho com você, adoro ele também parabéns glasslinger adoro seus vídeos, abraços do todo Ricardo velho de GUERRA
so cool.. get a pet McCaw to change the stations! RC!
this is the radio you should be using your feet to control
Thanks for another chance to see how it"s done right. Say hi to kitty for me! Silver Mica Disease strikes again...
wow that thing is awsome
This was designed to sit under a desk and be operated by foot.
no it wassent
@@robot797 My mistake. Found an old ad for the 49-901 (this model) which shows it as a bedside radio which makes sense. I have heard, however, that it was used under desks but it seems that is a common misconception.
@@brianbommarito1360 the material it is build from isnt strong enough to handle food presses
but i know the mistake and i dont blame you
I Love Raspberries...And Your Channel.
Bandserve did a series of videos on a radio like this about a year ago, although the one he had showed more cabinet damage that he repaired.
glasslinger Nice job getting that old radio working again.
I totally don't like the paint job !
I spotted an 'Panavice' hihi....great tool.