[Boatanchors] A VERY Interesting "Mini-Boatanchor" -Longish-

Sat Apr 1 18:06:45 EST 2006

Hi Phil,

The more I read your email it sounded Real familiar.  A couple of years 
ago at our local clubs "Octoberfest swap and feed I bought something 
that sounded like what you were talking about. Went back to the very 
back shelves and yep there was a GE 250 just as you described. Mine is 
a green with sort of mottled look.

I haven't tried to fire it up but will one of these days I will.  Let 
me know what you hear from others and if you fire yours up.
73 Larry WA9VRH

On Saturday, April 1, 2006, at 03:09  PM, Philip Atchley wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> Today I drove up to Manteca (~50 miles) to meet a gentleman from the 
> bay area and do a radio swap.  Picked up a couple small, low end 
> simple general coverage sets (Hallicrafters S-120 & a Heathkit SW-717) 
> along with a Autek QF-1A that I really wanted.  Anyway, the gentleman 
> had an extra, condition unknown, "Mystery Radio" that he brought along 
> and tossed in just for grins. He said he had no idea of it's overall 
> condition or even if it was worth messing with, possibly good for 
> parts only!  It was closed up and secured with a tie wrap. So being 
> ever the "packrat" I didn't even bother to open it up, just said 
> "sure, I'll take it".
>
> Well, I just got home with my unexpected "treasure" a little while 
> ago, and being ever curious just had to take a peek.  Even before 
> trying out the treasures I drove up there to get!  What I found it to 
> be is a General Electric "Portable" radio model 250, VERY heavy for 
> it's size.  The top folds up to display the controls and dial on the 
> top of the unit.  At first glance, what is interesting is the power 
> switch, which says "Off, On, Charge"!  Hmm, so this critter must have 
> a rechargeable battery pack.
>
> Popping open the back cover (hinged) revealed 5 battery tubes (no 
> rectifier) a rolled up power cord and a compartment with a cast 
> aluminum cover.  This brings up another point.  ONE reason this puppy 
> is so heavy is that the chassis AND the case and covers all appear to 
> be CAST aluminum, no funky plastic rice box!  The cabinet is painted 
> Hammertone Gray and naturally has some skinned spots in the paint, but 
> is otherwise very nice condition. Removing the aluminum plate from the 
> internal cast compartment revealed a couple of items in two separate 
> compartments, again, cast aluminum.  It also revealed a folded up 
> original of the correct SAMS Photofact folder for this radio, dated 
> 9-46.  It ONLY tunes the Medium wave broadcast band.
>
> The largest compartment contained a single 2 Volt Willard WET cell 
> measuring about 3x2.75x6 inches tall.  It is clear plastic, the front 
> has an hydrometer with two "state of charge balls", a vent hole and a 
> fill hole with a red plastic screw plug.  The rear has a pair of 
> banana plug sized female connectors that mate with the radio.  Of 
> course the battery is bad, there isn't drop of fluid in it and it's 
> all covered with brownish and white powder inside.  The compartment 
> for the battery has very LITTLE corrosion inside, which will clean up 
> easily, so the fluid didn't all leak out at once.  In fact it appears 
> that the water probably evaporated and left the chemical residue 
> (white and brown stuff) in the cell proper.
>
> The second compartment contains the battery charger and power supply.  
> This consists of a small AC Power transformer that feeds a pair of 
> disk (??) rectifiers to charge the battery.  There is NO provision to 
> actually operate the radio off the AC mains.  Putting the AC power 
> switch in the Charge Position connects the charger to the battery.  
> Turning the radio on disconnects the charger and connects the battery 
> to the tube filaments (through appropriate dropping resistors) AND to 
> a small "vibra-pack" with a square 2 Volt vibrator that generates the 
> B+ for the radio.  According to the schematic about 85 to 90 Volts.  
> At least one didn't need to buy "B" batteries for this critter.
>
> As I stated earlier, the set has 5 tubes.  They are.
>
> 1.  1LN5 RF amplifier (Loctal).
> 2.  1LC6 Converter (Loctal).
> 3.  1LN5 IF Amplifier (455kc) (Loctal).
> 4.  1LH4 Detector/1st AF amplifier (Loctal).
> 5.  3Q5GT Output (Octal).
>
> With a SAMS date of 9-46 I have to 'presume' that this was probably 
> one of GE's first POST war consumer radios.  With the Cast Aluminum 
> case and chassis, compartments etc. it was definitely NO LOW END 
> product and I suspect that it fetched a fair number of those Post-war 
> dollars to buy.  I kind of wonder of it wasn't originally intended for 
> the military as a morale radio, but the war ended too soon?
>
> Thoughts?
>
> 73 de Phil,  KO6BB
> DX begins at the noise floor!
>
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> Merced, Central California,    37.3N  120.48W  CM97sh
>
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