Brought up the “barn radio” on my freshly purchased variac. Not all the way up: it hummed over the music, despite the slow introduction of increasing voltage. I backed it off at one point, back down to silence, and then back up to 75 volts. That diminished the hum for a little while. But on the way back up to 90 volts, it went right back to humming after a bit of pop and crackle. So filter caps are in order.

When I say “barn radio,” I mean that the radio was clearly stored either in a barn or a garage or shed. It was an ebay purchase from a seller in Vermont. So, a ‘Vermont barn radio.’ It was part of a 1949 Philco console set. The seller took the guts out of the furniture, reporting the furniture beyond repair. I wanted the 78 rpm changer for a ’48 console I’m working on in tandem. But after scraping the crud off the radio, I thought it might make a good candidate for repackaging and restoration.

But so far, it has not made it up to 120 volts.

Pictures, worth a thousand words:

The “barn radio” on the bench, with variac. Philco 1949.

The 1948 Philco project, alignment set up.