Monthly Archives: January 2012

Huge and Powerful: The 1937 GE F-135 Repair Complete

Posted on January 27, 2012 by

I’ve finally had the time to finish one of my long-running projects repairing GE’s most powerful radio offering from 1937, the GE F-135. I picked it up from Craigslist back in November but other responsibilities kept me from getting much … Continue reading →

Posted in Photos, Projects, Radios and Tubes, Vintage | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

More Strange Coiled Wires [Mailbag]

Posted on January 24, 2012 by

I had an interesting call the other day with a gentleman about a radio he’s working on, among other topics: That’s a Philco 46-420. They’re nice little bakelite radios with 6 tubes designed to receive the AM broadcast band. He’d come … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics, Mailbag, Photos, Radios and Tubes, Vintage | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Snow in Seattle! Part 2

Posted on January 21, 2012 by

Following up on yesterday’s post, this photo of a sign posted downtown pretty well describes how Seattleites react at the first sign of flakes falling from the sky. This photo courtesy of my friend Jamie Swedler.

Posted in Collections, Photos | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Snow in Seattle!

Posted on January 20, 2012 by

I’m taking a short break from writing about technical projects to share some of the recent interesting weather we’ve had lately. It snows about once a year in Seattle, and every year we’re taken out of commission for a day … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Photos | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What’s that piece of wire, some kind of gimmick? [Mailbag]

Posted on January 17, 2012 by

I was talking with a fellow antique radio hobbyist on the phone the other day about a repair he was working on. A TrueTone battery radio, he’d taken care of all the important steps – checking out the tubes, replacing … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics, Mailbag, Photos, Radios and Tubes, Vintage | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

I love my chassis stand.

Posted on January 13, 2012 by

It’s the winter here in Seattle and it gets cold outside occasionally. Cold enough that I can’t vent my soldering fumes out an open window like I normally do most of the year, but I don’t want them in my … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Photos, Projects | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Unboxing my Sharp PC-4501 classic Personal Computer

Posted on January 9, 2012 by

It’s 1987 and I’ve been needing a new laptop. After a careful process of comparison shopping I settled on my Sharp PC-4501 from Montgomery Ward. Let’s open it up and take a look! For only $699.99, it’s a state of … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Electronics, Hardware, Photos, Vintage | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Hey, I Won Something. [Basic Micro ATOM Nano Development Board]

Posted on January 4, 2012 by

I read too much of the Internet every day, but it’s finally paid off. I happened to catch a post on Hack-a-Day about an awesome giveaway right as it was posted for a microcontroller development board. An interesting one, too … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics, Gadgets, Projects | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

New Arrival: 1934 Simplex Model P Dual Band Radio

Posted on January 3, 2012 by

I was cruising eBay randomly the other day and made an incredibly lucky find…a 1934 Simplex Model P Dual Band tombstone radio had just been listed. I have a pretty low maximum that I’m willing to pay for any radio, … Continue reading →

Posted in Collections, Photos, Projects, Radios and Tubes, Vintage | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment