1935 Wards Airline 62-123 Console Restoration Page

This past week, a classified ad popped up on one of the classified ad groups for "Radio." It was an interesting-looking console with a very Art Deco skyscraper style. The cabinet's a bit on the cheap side, unlike the Philco 87 or the Stromberg Carlson corner console that I picked up a few years ago. Still, I thought it had some potential. 

I sent a message to the seller & asked if the radio was still available, the make and model number, and if I could see it. He said it was a Montgomery Wards Airline 62-123. Much to my surprise, he also sent a video of it playing a local AM station loud and strong! Pretty good for a 1935 console in fairly average unrestored condition.

I drove about 45 minutes to an hour away, out into Pennsylvania farm country. The owner had the radio in his garage. He said it was his father's mother's radio and he estimated it to be at least 100  years old (actually, 1935). He said that she's still alive, in a nursing home, and 105 years old! He also said the his aunt or uncle told him that the grille cloth had that big hole in the front for as long as he or she could remember.

The owner had asked for $50. I offered $40 and he seemed anxious to sell it. I loaded it into the back of the car and drove off. I wonder why he was in such a hurry to unload a piece of family history? I guess people don't value old radios or family history as much as I do.

Now, the radio itself. This is a 7-tube radio that covers from 530 to 1740 kHz and 5800 to 18300 kHz in two bands. Seven tubes isn't bad and I love the fact that it has a large SW band and covers 43 meters. Knob twiddlers will appreciate that on the front panel are dials for volume and tone. Very cool. I don't know who manufactured this receiver or if the chassis is identical to some other model of radio.

The dial cord is slipping badly and the radio can presently only be tuned by hand through the back of the cabinet. The power cord was replaced. The former owners covered the back of the cabinet with a sheet of cardboard decades ago, so the chassis is nice and clean. I haven't yet checked to see if the shortwave band works.

And now some photos of the radio:

I'm a bit disappointed that the front panel doesn't have as nicely burled veneer as some of the 62-123s that I've seen online.

Tuning in the center, volume of the left dial and tone on the right.

A view of the make-shift cardboard back

The name "LESTER" scratched into the cardboard

A nice-looking chassis

Saturday updates

I have a few things to update over the next week or so. As you know if you follow this blog, the next Global HF Weekend is coming up next weekend. A couple things that I want to write entries about this week are some propagation maps and also some comments about the pirate radio bill that's in Congress right now.

I've received a few e-mails from stations who plan to be on the air for the Global HF Weekend, so listening is looking up already.

I picked up a 1935 Wards Airline 62-123 console this week and want to start an entry about that radio. Now, we'll see how long it takes for me to actually restore it! I have a lot of other projects waiting ahead of it.

I heard UNID Radio last night and also KOOT this morning. Also heard someone throwing carriers on 6925 kHz and the carrier from a different station on 6955 kHz. Not sure I'll post any loggings tonight or tomorrow, but maybe.

Calvin Coolidge

HF Underground was reporting that Dave Valko heard a station on 9025 kHz that was playing a repeating clip of a Calvin Coolidge speech. On Sunday, the station was logged by a number of listeners on 9025 with the same clip repeating.

The last time that I heard something like this, it was the Aggressive Policeman station, which played the short audio clip for hours.

These types of stations tend to disappear quickly & no one logged Coolidge in the past two days, so I thought I missed it. I remembered to turn on the radio this morning before work & I let the recorder run. Just checked the recording. Around 1300, the Coolidge clips started to come through & lasted for about an hour before fading out. The mast of my inverted V got taken out in the first Nor'easter this month, so I'm sure it's not working optimally. Signal was fair at best.

I assume that whoever identified this station must have typed in some phrases that matched up the correct speech. Or maybe someone's a huge Calvin Coolidge fan and has been listening to his old speeches in the car when commuting.

Skipmuck posted a link to what he believes is the exact audio source used for the file. I didn't hear it well enough to verify if this is it but it could well be.

Lots of people have speculated about these types of stations, going back to at least the Yosemite Sam station from 2004 and 2005. But the databurst and use of multiple frequencies in DSB were tip offs that this was a military operation of some sort. Aggressive Policeman & Calvin Coolidge seem less like military stations, but they could well be.

The great thing is that they're all complete mysteries with odd, random "programming."

Sloppy Joe Radio

Didn't want to say too much about Sloppy Joe Radio in my post about National Sloppy Joe day, but I had hoped they'd appear today. Writing the entry for the station inspired us to have sloppy joes today . . . and I heard the station with a good signal this afternoon on 6925 kHz USB.

Many thanks to Sloppy Joe Radio for the broadcast!

And a question for blog readers outside of the US & Canada: Do you know what sloppy joes are or is this strictly a North American food?

Next Global HF Weekend: March 30, 31, and April 1, 2018

I can't believe how quickly time has passed! I wrote the National Sloppy Joe post, then planned to post about the Global HF Weekend, but I was away last weekend and the weekend before was the SWL Winterfest. Suddenly, it's a couple of weeks before the Global HF Weekend and I haven't mentioned it to anyone yet. I'll try to post on here regularly over the next few weeks with propagation reports and schedules.

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Next Global HF Weekend: March 30, 31, and April 1, 2018
It's still a couple weeks away, so be sure to mark the next Global HF Pirate Weekend on your calendar.

The idea behind the Global HF Weekends are to promote friendship through radio around the world. The hope is that listeners will be able to hear different stations and for broadcasters to reach distant locations. Anyone may participate.

The last one, which occurred during the first weekend of November 2017, was very successful. A handful of North American stations were reported on Europe and vice versa. And South American stations were heard in the North. Other stations were active specifically for the weekend, but just for a local or regional audience.

We'll see how many stations show up during the next GHFW. It seems unlikely that stations will be using 13 meters this time and much more likely that stations will be trying the 6900-kHz range and possibly 31 and 25 meters.

March 30, 31, & April 1, 2018
Maybe 15010-15090 kHz, probably 6200-6400 kHz and 6800-6990 kHz

Of course, these were general frequency ranges used by pirates during prior Global HF Pirate weekends. Some stations will surely operate on frequencies and times outside of these ranges. In fact, the way conditions have been lately, frequencies at or below 15 MHz seem like they will be more effective for intercontinental broadcasting. These will be updated on the Hobby Broadcasting (http://hobbybroadcasting.blogspot.com/) blog as it happens and also check the loggings on HF Underground (https://www.hfunderground.com/).

March 18: National Sloppy Joe Day

I was writing the entry for Sloppy Joe Radio on Sunday. I find it hard to believe that sloppy joes weren't created until some time in the 1930s. They just seem like they should date back much further. I won't go too deep into the history of the the sandwich but I will say that I plan to celebrate on March 18 with sloppy joes.

Couple of updates, 2/11/18

Finally, after years of things piling up after building an addition on the house, I'm starting to catch up with some radio stuff. I cleaned layers of stuff off my desk. Among other things, at different layers, I found Corsette oscillators, parts, QSLs, photos, etc. I also printed QSLs that I received from the past 18 months or so and got those into albums.

One thing that I found in the mess was an unaddressed package. I cut it open & it's a 2014 Pirate Radio Annual. This one sold out a while back & a number of people asked about its availability. So, if anyone reading this wants it, it's $18 including shipping. Send an e-mail to me & I'll let you know if you were the 1st to ask. Then, you can either pay me via PayPal, check, etc.

I've had a chance to listen to the radio a bit over the past week while working in there. I've heard The Relay Station, Nuttin' on Shortwave, Yetti Radio, Deez Nuts Radio, etc. Good stuff.

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About two years, I bought an old navy rack at a local auction. I didn't go to the viewing, but I saw the photos. It had a couple of speaker slots, an open place with a shelf that held an amplifier, and a blank panel. A lot of things at the auction sold for pretty high prices, but amazingly the rack went for $16. Couldn't believe I got a full-sized rack for $16! I got there and went to move it and it didn't budge. Not a bit. I went to the backside and the former owner had replaced the speakers with projects: each speaker panel contained one side of an enormous power supply. The blank panel wasn't wired together, but it had a modulation transformer (that I looked up later & saw is good for 500 watts out). 

In all, this beast weighed somewhere around 600 lbs. and I needed to get it out. To shorten the story a bit, a good samaritan helped out & we were able to get it up a few basement steps & into the back of the van.

I disassembled the whole thing, painted the cabinet, & finally moved the cabinet into my upstairs radio room. Last night, I discovered a problem. How do you lift a Hammarlund SP-600 up over your shoulders in height and screw it into the front panel of the cabinet? 

Anyone have any techniques for mounting boat anchors into full-size cabinets?

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I've been working on the CD for the 2017-18 PRA. I have clips done for about 35 stations now. It's been fun re-listening to bunches of stations from the past few years.