I picked up the free RCA

[hermitcrab]

Well.... I should not say free, seeing the price of gas ... but it was a nice ride up to Rogers City to meet member (Basilio) or Mitch for about an hour today. Lucky guy lives two blocks from lake Huron. He showed me a few things he has , he is into portable record players , and has a few of them. He likes them with VM tables. He was kind enough to give me this RCA with extra parts, I think it is model SHC-8, don't know what the year is ... he said he replaced the electrolytics but that was about it, he went through the changer already but has a tendency to foul up ...he even gave me a extra tone arm , because i guess these can warp?... He has the Mono version of this set in his living room ... Anyone happen to have a schematic for this? here are a few snaps
Thanks Mitch!

[electra225]

I'm glad to see you got it, Elton. I hope we hear from Mitch as well. Good luck.

[TC Chris]

Handsome device. Have fun!

Chris Campbell

[William]

You must have your tire/wheel issue resolved it you made the trip to Mitch's? I'm glad it worked out and now you have an RCA to play with. I have the same model, but my cabinet is not in good shape. It was a mouse hotel, sat by a window at one point and I think it was used as a plant stand. I can't remember if I have a schematic or not. I will check and let you know.

Portables, VM, I hope Mitch shares his portable toys with us. I would like to see a few photos of what he has.

Bill

[hermitcrab]

Yes I found a rim at the last minute from a junkyard... I still think I was the sucker of the day at the place... if I was thinking ...I should have told them to put my old tires back on and forget the whole deal...but it is done and over with. The more I read about these consoles, the more confused I get, does this model use the out of phase cartridge?... the whole out of phase / in phase aspect has me scratching my head ... the radio and tape inputs must be out of phase and then are put in phase at the output transformers? and the speakers are wired out of phase.... confusing. where do you find those little 3 pin plugs for the inputs...anyplace reproduce them?

[Firedome]

Nice looking RCA! I love the lighter wood models of the '50s.
A lot of RCAs had those weird out-of-phase setups, I think the cartridge itself was also unique.

[Motorola minion]

Nice catch! RP205 player is in nice condition, almost an expert on those having done 3-4 already. Those idler wheels and speed turrets are available from VM. Those cartridges taking "airplane" needles are NOT available but easily replaced.

I don't think its SHF or SHC but it is an HF model, with a mono, separate amp. Get the right chassis numbers RC and RS before we comment on the myriad of ways this unit achieves "stereo" if so equipped.

If it has a cartridge at all, its either mono or its the reverse wired ceramic stereo.

The best replacement is the Tetrad (plug-on) with a wiring plug you can configure based on what the preamp/amp needs.

[hermitcrab]

The tag in the back says SHC-8 A, the radio chassis is a 9-T-2, don't see a model for the amp, it just says for use with the 9-T-2 tuner?..., both arms have the cartridge and the needles do they work?... don't know yet , just running the changer by hand though the cycle it does not shut off , just continues to cycle ...so it needs work

[basilio]

Hey! I'm back after more life got in the way. How did the restoration go on the orthophonic, or is it still underway? I am finally converting the coal room into a functional shop to fix my radios and record players (and get my stuff out of my wife's way).

[electra225]

It sure is good to see you on the forum! We hope you will share your projects and make yourself right at home....

There has been some remodeling done to the forum since you were here last. Check out Downloads, which is in the navbar right under the logo. There is a lot of good information there, and we invite you to share anything you have appropriate to the topics listed.

[TC Chris]

I'm wondering how many even know what a "coal room" is any more? The house I grew up in, my Mom's house, and both principal residences I've owned have all had former coal rooms. Two of those also had cisterns, but that's another story. My shop in my Lansing house was in the coal room.

Chris Campbell

[William]

Welcome back, Mitch, and yes, we hope you share all of your upcoming projects. As Greg mentioned, a lot as changed and all for the better so jump in and reacquaint yourself with all the changes and posts.

Chris, I know what a coal room is as both of my grandparents homes had them. I also know what a cistern is as a good friends house had one of those along with a coal room.

Bill

[hermitcrab]

The RCA is still in line for the bench , I will need the help of the forum when I start working on it... most on here deal with these late 50's sets more than I do...

[TC Chris]

I was just looking at your photos again. One shows the power amp/power supply in the upper left the image. RCA mounted it so the tubes are UNDER the filter caps and maybe an OPT, so the tubes will tend to cook those components. I've always wondered why the companies did not take more care about heat management. It's not really a bean counter issue because orientation in most cases does not have any significant cost effect. A thoughtful engineer could have placed the amp so it did not cook itself, giving his company a chance at a better reputation for durability.

Chris Campbell

[19&41]

I'm wondering how many even know what a "coal room" is any more? The house I grew up in, my Mom's house, and both principal residences I've owned have all had former coal rooms. Two of those also had cisterns, but that's another story. My shop in my Lansing house was in the coal room.

Chris Campbell

When I was little, my grandparents had a coal room stocked with genuine coal. they'd start off the fall with a ton of coal. I'd always try to get in there and play. I'd climb up the heap to reach the coal door. I'd always try to stay so clean. I couldn't figure how they'd always know I'd been playing down there!

[TC Chris]

My only experience with coal heat was when I was 4. My parents had moved to Michigan and rented a small house. It had a coal hot-air furnace. The furnace had a chain-operated damper to control combustion air--the closest thing to a thermostat on those devices. It was a twist device above the basement furnace on the first floor, operated by chains. I have a memory of trying to turn the handle and not having the strength to do it. A year later they bought a house with a hot-water boiler fired by a natural gas conversion unit. It had been a coal fired boiler originally.

Twenty-some years later they bought another house, this one with a massive 1922 cast-iron, asbestos-covered steam boiler that had been coal fired but by then had a fuel oil conversion burner. One day my Mom has some ladies over and the boiler had an explosion of some kind. Oil was quickly replaced by a gas conversion burner. The gas burner served for another 25+ years with various amendments and repairs but after Dad died we decided Mom needed a boiler that needed less attention and had greater efficiency so we had a modern one installed. The 1922 boiler itself was still boiling happily but the peripherals like the gas burner and water feeder needed looking after. The modern boiler lasted 10 years before it rusted through. Now the house is on modern boiler #2. I suspect that it was just a bad casting, with an inclusion of some kind, but we did not want to try a repair and have another section give up. We can file this in the "modern stuff ain't as good as the old stuff" file.

Chris Campbell

[19&41]

My folks had a lake cottage when I was born, and they kept it 'til about 1980. It had a coal furnace also with one of those chain operated dampers. I think about that every time I see Darren McGavin going down to the basement in A Christmas Story. Those things always seemed to bring out the magic words.

[hermitcrab]

Ah ha.... a clinker!... @$6%*79%@!

[electra225]

It was a custom to haul coal ash in a burlap sack in the trunk of the car. It was handy for putting under the back wheels if you got stuck on ice. You'd put the clinkers in the sack, then whack it real good to break the clinkers up a bit. Grandpa had an Iron Fireman stoker furnace that burned crushed and oiled coal. Oiled coal was nasty to mess with, but it was crushed so it was lighter for a little kid to scoop into the stoker. IIRC, the coal room held five tons and the stoker held 200 (?) pounds of coal.

[TC Chris]

Granny and Grandaddy's house in Birmingham had an Iron Fireman for their boiler. We were always fair-weather visitors so I never saw it in action. They had a vast old house for the family of 8, one they moved into after they lost the big fancy house in the Depression. In addition to steam, each room had a coal-grate fireplace, and most rooms also has gas nipples. They had portable gas heaters. You'd plug the rubber end of the heater's hose over the gas nipple, open the valve, and light the burner. Wouldn't pass code these days and the insurance co. would say "no way."

Looking back, all those fireplace flues must have sucked enormous amounts of warm air up and out, even when not burning anything. Fireplaces may be attractive but they produce negative heat in most cases.

Chris Campbell