Tube clock radios

manu et deo

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Hello, I'm thinking about getting a old clock radio and was wonder if there were any insights y'all might have? Brands? Availability on parts? Something that might be specific to clock radios?
 
Every radio manufacturer back then made multiple models of that style. There's a million&3 to pick from. Biggest problems are clock works need lube & filter caps/ rectifiers for the radio.
 
There's guy out there who rebuilds the Telechron clock movements. I resurrected my old Emerson clock radio from the 60's and the movement was jammed. I traded mine and $10 for a rebuilt. Works great.
 
Yes, but most of the radios have series-string tube sets and no transformers. That brings up a few differences, like lower voltages throughout, low voltage filter cap requirements. And occasionally some weird tubes but most are available and are cheap.

Many of them used Telechron clocks. There are some very informative how-to articles about how to lube these clock mechanisms. Most involve heating the casing and drawing the lubricant into the gearing assembly.

I am partial to the Zenith clock radios, probably because my family had one. But there are lots to choose from. I would start with one that has good cosmetics and all of the knobs, good grill cloth. The electronics part can usually be made to work. And play.

Here is one I am about to work on:

Zenith front.jpg Zenith back.jpg
 
Those clock radios are usually just AM and use the "All American 5" setup which is very easy to recap and get going. If you search for AA5 you'll find the generic schematics for these. Just be careful of the live chassis arrangement (no power tranny). Retubing is inexpensive. GE bought Telechron so the clock mechanism might be marked GE but it would be the same general Telechron movement.
 
Neither the OP nor the Title says anything about specifically Antique tube clock radios, so I am going to mention my project, and link to my website.

http://linuxslate.com/Project_NodeMCU_Clock.html

VFD_Clock_04.jpg


It's tube since it uses a VFD display, But as it exists currently, it doesn't have a radio at all. In fact, the simple alarm files it plays sound horrible. (The PCM integrator is just the combination of a resistor and the DC block at the input of the amp module I used. -- Look, Ma -- No math!)

I have seriously considered using the same VFD tube (I have several), along with a little more CPU power, a dedicated DAC, and a basic tube amplifier to make a internet clock radio that is simultaneously high tech, and retro.

As the introduction mentions, there really aren't any products out there that meet my requirements for a clock radio.

It's not mentioned in the article, but an additional requirement that I have had in mind since I built that would, of course, be all tube amplification after the DAC.

A variation that might also meet my "requirements", could be a tube amplification smart speaker. There are plenty of projects out there to built Alexia or Google Assistant smart speakers, so building (or re-building a commercial product) with a VFD (or better yet -- Nixie) display, and tube audio should be fairly easy.

There is a 12V powered SE stereo tube amp sold on ebay (can't find link at the moment) that I would use for the amplifier.

One "free" benefit of using tube audio is that the warm-up of the tube would give a "natural" or "soft" wake-up with out needing to do it in the software.

It would use external bookshelf speakers.

I'm sure the Chinese, or somebody is going to make a "retro" smart speaker in the near future.
 
The main issues are noisy clock motors, and silver mica disease in the IF cans (google it) of course all the paper and electrolytic caps will need to be changed, but that's true of any old tube electronics.

The parts that are hard to find, are mostly cosmetic parts, and coils. Coils rarely go bad though and you will notice by looking at it if any cosmetic parts are bad.

I bought the Panasonic above because I wanted FM and I like old Japanese radios. I would say if you find something you like the looks of and it works, just jump right in and buy it... They're all kind of cheaply made, sure Zenith is better quality than most, but it doesn't mean others aren't worth having.

One thing to be aware of is radioactive clock hands. If you look at my Panasonic up close you will see I changed the hands to clock hands from a dollar store alarm clock. I just didn't want to worry about having a source of radiation that close to my head every night.
 
One thing to be aware of is radioactive clock hands. If you look at my Panasonic up close you will see I changed the hands to clock hands from a dollar store alarm clock. I just didn't want to worry about having a source of radiation that close to my head every night.

If the hands have tritium, then the radiation is of little concern- it's energy is so weak that it won't penetrate the clear cover of the clock. In addition, it has a 10 year half life so there is about 3% or so left...so you won't get much light out of it. If the hands are radium, that would be a different story.
 
Make sure yours has FM. For my money, Zenith's nicer table and clock radios are hard to beat. Good sounding, well built. And usually lasted many years.
 
If the hands have tritium, then the radiation is of little concern- it's energy is so weak that it won't penetrate the clear cover of the clock. In addition, it has a 10 year half life so there is about 3% or so left...so you won't get much light out of it. If the hands are radium, that would be a different story.

I remember it making a lot of activity on a borrowed geiger counter, when I went anywhere near my early 60s Zenith clock radio. Now, if that actually means anything is hard to know, but paranoia is just as bad a problem as radiation, and my bed side table is so close to where I spend a lot of time.
 
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