[Boatanchors] Need more info on this radio

[hwhall@aol.com]

Try asking at https://antiqueradios.com/ 
There's a lot of old radio restoration knowledge over there. And a sometimes surprising ability to find information & identify set models with just a photo or tube lineup.

Wayne
WB4OGM

On Friday, December 26, 2025 at 11:00:36 PM MST, Philip Atchley via Boatanchors <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net> wrote: 

Hello,

For Christmas my niece gave me an old Belmont 6P11 "PORTABLE?" radio. 
She knew that I was on a Nostalgia trip to get back into working on old 
radios. I'm 82 and first got hooked on radio back in '53 when I was 10 
years old and given an old console radio by the neighbor (it saved him 
lugging it to the junk yard ;-)  It didn't work, but after it threw me 
across the room a few times when I touched things I shouldn't, and burnt 
my fingers on hot tubes, I got that thing working.  Must have been 
something simple like a loose wire or tube in a tube socket as I knew 
NOTHING about working on them. I started listening to stations like BBC 
London, Quito Ecuador and so forth and goodness, for a 10 year old kid 
at the time that was really something!

Anyway, this set is a "portable" with 6 tubes, BCB only, no shortwave 
and I can't imagine how heavy it must have been with a battery pack 
installed.  I have a small (500 Watt) variac and an isolation Xformer 
coming (yes, it's AC/DC too) and I intend to bring it up slowly.  Who 
knows how many years it sat unplugged in the antique shop they found it 
in, in Virginia City NV (they go there maybe once a year on a weekend 
vacation).

The tube lineup is 35Z5 Rectifier, 1A7GT Converter, 1N5GT IF Amp, 1N5GT 
2nd IF Amp, 1H5GT diode detector & audio, 3Q5GT Audio Output (speced at 
a mighty 165 M.W. output).

I found the schematic and alignment instructions online and downloaded 
it, but the schematic shows no actual values for the resistors/caps and 
so forth (seems odd to me).  I suspect the set was probably made in the 
'40s as the only Belmont Radio Corp sets I was able to see in the model 
list I found online were all from the '30s to the '40s.

I look at this as a rather long-term project, just hope the tubes are 
good as I suspect some may be made out of "unobtainium". . .

HELP!!  Anybody here have any info on this set?  Yes, I know that it 
isn't a "boatanchor" in the usual sense of the word, but it is certainly 
a boatanchor in the portable radio field, large and heavy.

-- 
<>< 73 From "The Beaconeer's Lair" ><>
Specializing in DXing NDBs (Longwave Beacons)
Phil, KO6BB,http://www.qsl.net/ko6bb/

(\__/)
(=’.'=)  Keep the bunny alive do CW (Carrots, whole).
(”)_(”)

EQUIPMENT:
YAESU:    FTDX-101MP HF Xceiver, Dual SDR Receivers (~2020)
YAESU:    FTDX-3000  HF Xceiver, DSP IF, 300Hz Roofing filter (~2019).
Xiegu:    Xiegu G90  HF Xceiver, 20W, for the "Go-Box" (~2024).
Portables: Eton Elite 750, AKA Grundig Satelite 750 (2020)
            Sangean ATS-909X2 (2021), Tecsun PL-990 (2021)
SDRs:      CommRadio CR1, RSPdx-R2, Perseus
ACC:      MFJ-993B Auto Antenna Matcher.
            HOMEBREW 4 Port Antenna Multicoupler, Feeds 4 RX's.
            Timewave DSP-599zx Audio Filter.
            Ratzlaff AF Filter, 440Hz CF, 7Hz Bandwidth
            
ANTENNAS:  88 foot Long Ladder-line fed dipole, ~35 feet AGL for MW/HF.
            Top Loaded Tee (Dipole fed as single element).
            Butternut HF-6V 6 Band Vertical, ~12 Feet AGL for 75-10M
            Ratzlaff Active whip, 5 Foot Long, ~22 Feet AGL For LF/MW/HF.
            Wellbrook ALA1530LN Loop For LF/MW/HF at ~17 Feet AGL
            Discone at ~35 Feet AGL For Scanner
QTH:      Merced, California, 37, 18, 37N  120, 30, 6W CM97rh
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