Thermiodyne TF-6

[Dave A]

I got this at Kutztown yesterday near the end of the DVHRC club BIN table. It was carried in and I carried it out. It was "free" time at the BIN table as the crowd was thin and had done their best at $1/2 each earlier to help the club. Someone did not want to drive it home for another day.

This gem is a 1925 effort from Plattsburg, NY. $140 in the day. Bankruptcy was on the horizon. The odd arrangement is a ganged series of 4 variable caps in Synchrophase style for tuning with "one control". "A child can tune in six to ten stations in a minute" from the old ads. That is unique and clever to the set but for some slippage giving inaccurate tuning so a single blade is added to each cap through a center shaft to fine tune each cap with a front knob. I have read that it is a brass shaft connecting underneath. I will find it later. "Single tuning" with 5 knobs. Voltages seem to be standard for a set of the time. It's tuning is displayed in degrees (0-180), meters, and true kilocycles. No need to write down the 0-100 scale readings. It is not there.

Minus tubes and a cabinet stripped down to the original mahogany and not varnished, it is a bit loose on the corners and will need a clamp or two. The grid leak is fine. AF transformers are a later test as it is still in the trunk with the rain here now. I will darken the cabinet to factory from a few pics I have found and add some varnish. Then a 01a reload (donations accepted) then up on my ARBEII. Someday a working radio or a nice shelf queen.

3 RF stages, 1 detector and 2 audio stages. One review of it said to pull the first RF tube if a local station is swamping it. How simple. Thank you Kutztown!

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by Dave A

I got this at Kutztown yesterday near the end of the DVHRC club BIN table. It was carried in and I carried it out. It was "free" time at the BIN table as the crowd was thin and had done their best at $1/2 each earlier to help the club. Someone did not want to drive it home for another day.

This gem is a 1925 effort from Plattsburg, NY. $140 in the day. Bankruptcy was on the horizon. The odd arrangement is a ganged series of 4 variable caps in Synchrophase style for tuning with "one control". "A child can tune in six to ten stations in a minute" from the old ads. That is unique and clever to the set but for some slippage giving inaccurate tuning so a single blade is added to each cap through a center shaft to fine tune each cap with a front knob. I have read that it is a brass shaft connecting underneath. I will find it later. "Single tuning" with 5 knobs. Voltages seem to be standard for a set of the time. It's tuning is displayed in degrees (0-180), meters, and true kilocycles. No need to write down the 0-100 scale readings. It is not there.

Minus tubes and a cabinet stripped down to the original mahogany and not varnished, it is a bit loose on the corners and will need a clamp or two. The grid leak is fine. AF transformers are a later test as it is still in the trunk with the rain here now. I will darken the cabinet to factory from a few pics I have found and add some varnish. Then a 01a reload (donations accepted) then up on my ARBEII. Someday a working radio or a nice shelf queen.

3 RF stages, 1 detector and 2 audio stages. One review of it said to pull the first RF tube if a local station is swamping it. How simple. Thank you Kutztown!

That's pretty neat, its kind of like my Eveready Model 1 Neutrodyne TRF Set from 1927 that I got from someone on Facebook Marketplace for $60 and the cabinet was in mint condition the only part that needed repaired was the old rubber wiring which I rewired by myself.