I just picked up an old set from the fleMarket..
I have never had one this old before..
Heavy wood table top model, no speaker .
Lift up the top lid and see 9 pear shaped
tubes . Can't find a date on it ..
I don't want to plug it in till I'v replaced
some ot the worn cloth covered wires and maybe
some of the caps also.. Any one know about this type
of set ?
Airline... Model A.C.8-C
Ron , Weatherford, Texas

I see a reference to a refinished "Airline AC8C Neutrodyne" up for sale for $80 on this site.
http://www.antiqueradio.com/findley_auctionrpt_7-97.html
:

Anyone have a schematic for this
"Airline AC8C Neutrodyne" ?
I looked up all the resources on this site
and couldn't find one..

I'd like to get a road map before I start
so I know what all them thingy ma-bobs are for..

If it is an ac set, the tubes "may" be #26's, #71 and #80. This may be a radio from the late 1920's. If it uses #24's it would be, "I think", from the very late 1920's to early 1930's. If it has a bunch of battery wires and uses 201a' it would be from the mid to late 1920's. But you indicated it had a power cord. Be very carefull powering it up. Do some initial testing for shorted components. Use a variac if you can. Monitor the power transformer for excessive heating. Monitor the b+ voltage. You may need a horn speaker, old 1000-2000 ohm headphones, or a newer speaker with a matching transformer to get any sound out of this radio.
MRO

Tubes..
(5)UX226 (1) UY227 (2)UX171A (1) #80
It dose take a Horn, I will find one later..
The power supply has a box next to the tranformer
the size of a cigar box with 12 wires in and 10
out . the cabnet is in good condition ,factory
finish, Wood knobs, brass plate on front..

It has 6 large brass cylinders next to the tubes.
never seen any thing like it before. I pick up
a few 1950's radios now and then , I can make
them play for the most part and can find tubes
and caps my local junk store they stock 30,000+
tubes and tons of N.O.S...
If you ever need a Tube give me the # and I'll
check his stock pile.
Ron , Weatherford, Texas

I found one site on an internet search that said it was a 1928 model. The cylinders may be the filter capacitors for the power supply. Without a picture it is hard to tell.
MRO

I re-read your last posting. OOPs the cylinders are most likely not the filter capacitors but the RF coils for the TRF circuitry.
MRO

Where is this "local junk" store?
What's the name and address?
Do they advertise or are they on the net? How about a phone # or web address?

The junk store is a 2500 Sqr foot storage building
that belongs to crazy old radio station tech I met
years ago ,he has spent years buying up old and
out of date equipment and surplus and craming it
all in a large building on his property .. he is
in his 80's now and only lets a few people come
around and buy from him , sometimes I spend a
saturday digging in boxes and shelfs. he knows
what he has and sells most for a fair price
But, no warrantys .. 90% of the tubes he stocks
are still in the box, he has a few friends that
are into HAM radios , he has some radio station
transmitter parts , like these giant tubes and
coils , some of the equipment came from the
U.S.A.F and army .. I saw a vidio tape machine
that stands 7 feet tall, old Scopes, signal generators
radar stuff. Most of the parts are N.O.S ,
Caps, resistors, pots , diods,
I would give out info , But he's old man and
dosen't have internet. ..
I would be glad to check on tube #'s for anyone
Just send an e-mail and the next time I'm over
I'll check the price for you.. It just takes time
digging box after box , boxes in the back that
have been covered for 25 years .
Ron, Weatherford, Texas rockbumron@yahoo.com

Boy that's so interesting.
(Like every town has an old cat-lady ...)
We used to have an almost exact type of place around here in Paterson NJ for many years. It was called VetSalCo
for Veterans Salvage Co. It was run by a guy named Dave.
This place was like a warehouse. There were boxes of box on top of boxes. Transformers, Tubes, you name it. And old Dave knew where everything was. You could stop by and Dave would just be hanging around, he would never ask you if he could help you... you had to ask... but then he'd send you to a certain asile and shelf and he'd say it was under some stacks of chassis panels or boxes of meters... and that's exactly where your item would be. Nothing was ever more than a few bucks.
Hams from all around knew of this place. In fact I saw a few comments on the web reminicing about it and how everyone mourns the loss of the place.

Hi, Ron. You've got a TRF from the late 1920s, I think.

I can't recall encountering a 9-tube AC-powered TRF. Seems a little unusual.

A very common tube line-up would be: three '26s as RF amps, a '27 dectector, a '26 first audio, one 171A second audio, and the '80 rectifier. You've got one additional '71A and one more '26, which is interesting.

Between each RF stage, including the detector, there should be an RF coil. These are usually OK. Between the detector and each audio stage, there should be an audio interstage xfmr. These are often bad.

Unless you have some TRF experience, getting this thing running without a schematic might be a chore. I wouldn't think of trying to troubleshoot it without a speaker attached because: a) your B+ voltages will be thrown off, and b) you can't tell whether it's working, or the symptoms if it isn't working.

You don't need a horn speaker. Any vintage high-impedance speaker will be OK, like an RCA 100A, Atwater-Kent E series, or even with a modern PM speaker and an audio xfmr.

:Tubes..
:(5)UX226 (1) UY227 (2)UX171A (1) #80
:It dose take a Horn, I will find one later..

:Hi, Ron. You've got a TRF from the late 1920s, I think.
:
:I can't recall encountering a 9-tube AC-powered TRF. Seems a little unusual.
:
:A very common tube line-up would be: three '26s as RF amps, a '27 dectector, a '26 first audio, one 171A second audio, and the '80 rectifier. You've got one additional '71A and one more '26, which is interesting.
:
:Between each RF stage, including the detector, there should be an RF coil. These are usually OK. Between the detector and each audio stage, there should be an audio interstage xfmr. These are often bad.
:
:Unless you have some TRF experience, getting this thing running without a schematic might be a chore. I wouldn't think of trying to troubleshoot it without a speaker attached because: a) your B+ voltages will be thrown off, and b) you can't tell whether it's working, or the symptoms if it isn't working.
:
:You don't need a horn speaker. Any vintage high-impedance speaker will be OK, like an RCA 100A, Atwater-Kent E series, or even with a modern PM speaker and an audio xfmr.
:
::Tubes..
::(5)UX226 (1) UY227 (2)UX171A (1) #80
::It dose take a Horn, I will find one later..
:

::Hi, Ron. You've got a TRF from the late 1920s, I think.
::
::I can't recall encountering a 9-tube AC-powered TRF. Seems a little unusual.
::
::A very common tube line-up would be: three '26s as RF amps, a '27 dectector, a '26 first audio, one 171A second audio, and the '80 rectifier. You've got one additional '71A and one more '26, which is interesting.
::
::Between each RF stage, including the detector, there should be an RF coil. These are usually OK. Between the detector and each audio stage, there should be an audio interstage xfmr. These are often bad.
::
::Unless you have some TRF experience, getting this thing running without a schematic might be a chore. I wouldn't think of trying to troubleshoot it without a speaker attached because: a) your B+ voltages will be thrown off, and b) you can't tell whether it's working, or the symptoms if it isn't working.
::
::You don't need a horn speaker. Any vintage high-impedance speaker will be OK, like an RCA 100A, Atwater-Kent E series, or even with a modern PM speaker and an audio xfmr.
::
:::Tubes..
:::(5)UX226 (1) UY227 (2)UX171A (1) #80
:::It dose take a Horn, I will find one later..
::

The extra '71-A is used in the audio output stage. This set has a balanced (push-pull) output for better fidelity, less hum and distortion, and higher power output. The extra '26 is probably an "antenna coupler" stage. A longwire antenna affects the tuning of the first rf stage, and the use of an extra tube, set up with a resistance coupled input (from the antenna and ground circuit) with a low gain (approaching unity, in fact) isolates the tuned circuits from any antenna capacity or inductance effects, and insures that the tuning system "tracks" properly over the entire dial.

Thanks, Bob - your explantation makes sense to me. This would have been a very deluxe set, I think.

Can you explain the five copper cans that Mike describes? I'm sure they wouldn't have been filter caps, and the number of RF/AF xfmrs doesn't seem to match your circuit explanation.

I'm unfamiliar with Airlines from this era. In later years, I've found Airline sets (Montgomery Ward) to be somewhat higher quality than Silvertones (Sears, Roebuck).