The AM Forum

Well it is a mystery to me anyhow....I found this front panel the other day at the site of the collapsed winterman's house at the old Graveyard cannery about 5 miles north of Naknek, Alaska.. Anyone recognize this?  It looks like the speaker was mounted on the left side and the panel itself appears to be aluminum. This cannery was in operation from the late 1800's to around 1950 or so...

thats a National velvet vernier dial. the rest is so corroded I have no idea.

I was going to hazard a guess that it was an old marine crystal receiver, Steve. The style if reminiscent of some of the old Radiomarine components and finding it at a cannery could indicate it came off a fishing boat. Headphone jack and hook are clearly visible.

However, your comments on a speaker possibly mounted on the left at one time (looks like there was a pattern of holes to the left of the dial along with screws) and the green pilot lamp jewel above the dial would rule out being an old emergency marine receiver I think. You'd need some kind of amp to drive a speaker.

Whatever it was, time and the elements have not been kind to it. The level of deterioration bears a striking similarity to gear found in WWII aircraft wrecks and the like.

Yeah you must have some nasty water up there.
(http://www.city-data.com/w8/bgm699.gif)

http://www.city-data.com/city/Naknek-Alaska.html (http://www.city-data.com/city/Naknek-Alaska.html)

I'd love to see how some of the ebay radio rug merchants would describe it. Lets see, the top five would be:

*I am sure it works but could not test because the cord was broken

*Front panel has a fine patina from age

*From my own personal collection of unique radios

*Up for bid from the original owner ! Very clean just a few small marks He said he used it daily until 2 years ago. This is not to say that the radio is new or to factory spec


*It just needs a little time spending in cleansing up the cabinet, it has some paint loss as can be seen in the pictures, usually I would strip it down to bare metal and re-finish it but I don't have the time at the moment.
All the knobs are fully functional, the receiver is very nice to use.

MINTY!

 ;D

Is that a radio or the Antikythera mechanism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism)?

Carl, how about:

*This was the standard field radio used during the American Revolution.

SK