Hi just purchased a radio at an auction and need some help identifying it as for age etc.
Sparton Model 10140
10 Tube Superheterodyne Receiver
Thanks
Doug

Doug, I can find no reference to such a model number in my guides. With 10 tubes, I'd guess prewar. Make sure that what you're reading is in fact the model number and not the chassis number, etc.

Can you describe it? A console? Wood? Shape? No. of bands? Pushbuttons? No. of knobs? Better yet, can you post a photo and link it here?

:Doug, I can find no reference to such a model number in my guides. With 10 tubes, I'd guess prewar. Make sure that what you're reading is in fact the model number and not the chassis number, etc.
:
:Can you describe it? A console? Wood? Shape? No. of bands? Pushbuttons? No. of knobs? Better yet, can you post a photo and link it here?

Doug, thanks for the reply. It is a wood console model, has 3 knobs(on/off/volume, band selection and as of now unknown function) below the new "swing tune" method of selecting stations,and has 4 push-buttons to use for preset stations.Operation is on the AM broadcast and two short wave bands(police/aircraft)It is also unique in that it has a connection spot for hooking up a television and or a phonograph so you could play the sound through the radio speaker.Label says it is from Sparton of Canada, London Ontario. Thanks for your help and I will try to get a picture in the next few days.

OK, Canadian models are not well covered in my guides. You might contact Dave at www.justradios.com and see if he has access to a schematic. There is another potential source, perhaps in B.C., but I can't recall for sure - you can Google around.

The TV connection, in my mind, puts it in the late '30s or early pre-war '40s. Of course, there was no consumer TV available or even in the immediate future, but it was regarded as the coming thing, marketing-wise. Zenith did this in spades.

Of course, the TV connection was nothing more than a phono connection. The idea was to promote radios as "TV ready." That was silly because, predictably, when TVs did become available, they were equipped with their own speakers. And even if the radio had better sound, who would want to feed their TV's audio into a 10-year-old radio?

Since it's Canadian, it occurs to me that this might be a 25-Hz set. The nameplate should say.

25-Hz sets have beefier power xfmrs and will work fine on 60-Hz, and should run a little cooler.

Also, you can contact Syl at: http://www.oldradioz.com/forum/ He's in Quebec, so you might need to brush up on your French :>) You can tell him I said that.

If the radio has G style tubes, then it is most likely pre-war. If it uses say a 6V6G as opposed to a 6V6GT, it is more likely pre-war. Most radios prior to 1940 had all G style tubes or metal tubes. Mixing began around 1939-1940. G style tubes like the 6V6G were used post-war sometimes, though not all the time, so this may not tell all. The smaller tubes (power wise) were quicker to change to the smaller tubular style than the big power tubes. You may still find a 5U4G or a 6V6G (as said before, 6L6G, etc.) in a post-war set. Also, the use of peanut tubes (miniature 7 and 9 pin all glass tubes) means that the set is almost certainly post-war, though there were a few peanut tubes available pre-war. I don't know why they're called peanut tubes. They're small, but they don't really look like peanuts. Maybe it's just a local thing, though I've seen such a reference on here before.

....Also, by the mid-to late 1930s most radios did not use standard base (4, 5, 6, and 7 pins) tubes anymore. Octal was predominant. By 1940 standard base tubes in a set were incredibly rare, save the eye tube.

Thomas

::Doug, I can find no reference to such a model number in my guides. With 10 tubes, I'd guess prewar. Make sure that what you're reading is in fact the model number and not the chassis number, etc.
::
::Can you describe it? A console? Wood? Shape? No. of bands? Pushbuttons? No. of knobs? Better yet, can you post a photo and link it here?
:
:Doug, thanks for the reply. It is a wood console model, has 3 knobs(on/off/volume, band selection and as of now unknown function) below the new "swing tune" method of selecting stations,and has 4 push-buttons to use for preset stations.Operation is on the AM broadcast and two short wave bands(police/aircraft)It is also unique in that it has a connection spot for hooking up a television and or a phonograph so you could play the sound through the radio speaker.Label says it is from Sparton of Canada, London Ontario. Thanks for your help and I will try to get a picture in the next few days.

Hello Doug, I'm writing to you because I actually have been employed at Sparton of Canada in London for over 7 years now, that sounds like one of our radio's. Need any more info let me know what i can do o.k.
sincerely Crystal Duncan

Doug,

It is a 1939/40 model.
I've sent you the info from RCC.

Don

Hi Doug,

It is circa 1939-40.
I have the schematic for it, tube Lineup is 6SA7, 6K7G (2), 6J5G (2), 6K5G, 6F6G(2), 5Y4G, 6E5.

Send me your email address and I will send it to you.

Gary

:Hi just purchased a radio at an auction and need some help identifying it as for age etc.
:Sparton Model 10140
:10 Tube Superheterodyne Receiver
:Thanks
:Doug