281 Split Grille

Detrola; Detroit (MI)

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  • Year
  • 1939
  • Category
  • Broadcast Receiver - or past WW2 Tuner
  • Radiomuseum.org ID
  • 37258

Click on the schematic thumbnail to request the schematic as a free document.

 Technical Specifications

  • Number of Tubes
  • 5
  • Main principle
  • Superheterodyne (common); ZF/IF 455 kHz; 2 AF stage(s)
  • Tuned circuits
  • 6 AM circuit(s)
  • Wave bands
  • Broadcast and Short Wave (SW).
  • Power type and voltage
  • AC/DC-set
  • Loudspeaker
  • Electro Magnetic Dynamic LS (moving-coil with field excitation coil)
  • Material
  • Catalin (a brand name for a thermosetting polymer popular in the 1930s and 1940s - a phenol formaldehyde resin - like Bakelite, but a two-stage process with a lot of work afterwards).
  • from Radiomuseum.org
  • Model: 281 [Split Grille] - Detrola; Detroit MI
  • Shape
  • Tablemodel, with any shape - general.
  • Notes

  • Built-in loop antenna used as first RF cuircuit on BC band. Catalin cabinets in various colours:
    - alabaster with dark green grille and knobs
    - alabaster with dark gray grille and knobs
    - alabaster with natural bone grille and knobs
    - onyx with blue grille and knobs

    Please note that Alabaster color always changed with time to an opaque yellowish tint, often called "butterscotch" or "virgin gold". If the surface layer is carefully ground off, the original color will come to light. But that is a strenuous process and not recommended by most collectors. The color alabaster is a metonym for "white things".
    Translucent Yellow is obviously original, but was not used for the present model.

    Plastic models are 274.

  • External source of data
  • Ernst Erb
  • Circuit diagram reference
  • Rider's Perpetual, Volume 11 = ca. 1940 and before

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