Philco 444

[KennyP1]

Hi everyone.
I'm a newbie to the site and to vintage radios, so apologies for any daft questions that I may ask
I've inherited a Philco 444, seems to be in reasonable condition. (Hopefully pics have uploaded) the radio turns on and lights up , sound from speaker but no station found. I intend to dismantle and clean up as best I can and then attach a new aerial cable. The one with the set is about 5 feet, and reading through other threads I may need a huge one? I have an electrician friend I will get to replace old electric cables. What else should I be doing. How do you know if everything is working correctly (apart from hearing a radio transmission) any tips on order in which to dismantle? So far I’ve just dusted it a little, removed speaker and am cleaning the speaker mesh.
Thank you....any constructive criticism also accepted graciously ��

[MurphyNut]

You may need to do a bit of research depending on your knowledge, if it hasn't been serviced most of the capacitors will need replacing, not straight forward in this set as they are housed in little Bakelite boxes and quite tricky to do.
Please Note- If you're not familiar with the workings of old radio sets do not attempt to work on it, they can be dangerous.

[Simon Gittins]

You could start by reading some of these pages:
https://www.vintage-radio.com/repair...ion/index.html

[Cobaltblue]

Interesting it looks as if there is a blocked off hole between the wave-change and volume controls.

This cabinet was used for other models so I wonder if this was original? neither of my 444's have anything in that location.

Cheers

Mike T

[KennyP1]

Originally Posted by MurphyNut

You may need to do a bit of research depending on your knowledge, if it hasn't been serviced most of the capacitors will need replacing, not straight forward in this set as they are housed in little Bakelite boxes and quite tricky to do.
Please Note- If you're not familiar with the workings of old radio sets do not attempt to work on it, they can be dangerous.

Thanks for concern Clive.
I will just concentrate on cleaning and trying to sort the aerial. As there is sound to speaker surely it’s just reception?

[KennyP1]

Originally Posted by Cobaltblue

Interesting it looks as if there is a blocked off hole between the wave-change and volume controls.

This cabinet was used for other models so I wonder if this was original? neither of my 444's have anything in that location.

Cheers

Mike T

Thanks Mike....yes there is a blocked off dial. So unsure if original 444 😩

[KennyP1]

Originally Posted by Simon Gittins

You could start by reading some of these pages:
https://www.vintage-radio.com/repair...ion/index.html

Thank you 👍👍

[Radio Tech]

Hi KennyP1

Welcome to our forum, As and when you do attempt to remove the chassis from its cabinet make notes and pictures of the underneath and as Clive pointed out those capacitors which are hidden in those boxes take your time in disassembly of these if you intend to replace the caps with modern ones. Its mainly coupling and smoothing caps to focus on. Good luck with progress though.

Ken

[Tractionist]

Its definitely a 444 chassis - and probably an 'original' cabinet too. (As others have stated, Philco put other chassis types into similar or identical cabinets). It looks like a fair example, and I note that you have the rear/back for it too.

Note well: this receiver is now some eighty years old - ergo, it really does require a thorough service involving replacement of wax-paper capacitors, checks and/or replacement of electrolytic capacitors, plus replacement of the tuning capacitor support/isolating grommets etc. etc.

Personally, I wouldn't even energise the set until all the foregoing has been carried-out. That said - your current problem could be a simple as a dirty wave-change switch.

[dave walsh]

Hi Kenny. That's a nice set and you are very welcome to this generous site but your optimistic "surely it's just reception?" comment p5*, based on it lighting up with some noise, rather gives the game away. You are very unlikely to need a "huge" aerial, that would have been with a much earlier type of wireless in the 1920's or so, maybe 130' and the existing five foot length was probably more than adequate... when it was working properly! Things aren't so simple, especially after all this time and getting it sorted may take some effort and knowledge as indicated. It's best not to apply power really as you might get a fault and a cascade effect that does further expensive damage before you start.

There are plenty of threads to illustrate the repair and restoration process [accessed via the search box at the top of the page] eg marc2collection...Philco 444 "Peoples Set" from 1936. You can't just get a friend to "rewire" it unless one of you knows what you are doing and there are safely issues. It's not clear if you intend to learn about restoration [plenty of help is available if you read up and get stuck at some point but it's an individual learning curve] or whether you simply just want it working at this stage. An analogy would perhaps be someone finding a run down old vehicle that happens to start up and who hopes it just needs more petrol in order to drive it around the country!

Dave W

[KennyP1]

Thank you everyone for the comments. I now understand that a recon to get the radio working is beyond me. Does anyone know someone that would do the work for me, and if so a rough cost. I do not want to spend £100’s, mainly because of don’t have that sort of money spare ��.
Otherwise I will clean it up and use it a a lovely display piece. I,m in North Wales btw.
Thank you

[mark pirate]

Does anyone know someone that would do the work for me, and if so a rough cost.

There is a section on this forum for restoration services offered: https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...play.php?f=146

Hopefully there will be someone able to restore your set at a reasonable cost.


Mark

[KennyP1]

Originally Posted by mark pirate

There is a section on this forum for restoration services offered: https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...play.php?f=146

Hopefully there will be someone able to restore your set at a reasonable cost.


Mark

Thanks Mark...will have a look through.

Thank you everyone

[mark2collection]

Kenny, welcome to the forum.

Nice original looking set, and has been mentioned a few 'gothchas!'

Dave W mentioned the resto of my 444, and here's the link to both the 333 & 444.

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=145954
https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=142211

I still have some 'speaker cloth left, enough for another set or two. You're welcome to some should you like to replace it (not sure if you removed yours for cleaning?). The material is the same stuff as used in the sets in the links above.

The gotchas are:-

1. Mains cabling (My 444 was boarding on dangerous)
2. The mains RF filter cap, hidden in a bakelite enclosure (mains lead attaches to this directly, so keep the set unplugged for extra protection). It could be resistive leading to catastrophic failure and an almighty 'pop!'
3. The capacitor on top of the tuning gang isn't really a capacitor, it's two wires entwined, so careful cleaning is needed to avoid upsetting the value.
4. The output valve (I believe) was designed & made for the Philco 444 specifically, I'm not sure any other set on the planet uses one! Care for it muchly ...

A sympathetic resto will give you a nice set to enjoy and will have some intrinsic value following that work. Treat yourself to a pantry transmitter & a smart-device & you'll have a world-wide receiver which will also play your merry tunes, audio books, old broadcasts etc.

It's all good fun.

Somewhere I have some emails where kind members had sent copies of the internal sticker etc, not sure how far you'd like to take this.

Does the set have a back cover?

Mark