Radiophile.com - Silvertone 6197

Silvertone 6197, 1939

Tube complement: 6K7 RF, 6F5 detector, 25L6 audio output, 25Z6 rectifier.

Approximately 6-1/4 inches / 16 cm wide.

The tuning knob, of translucent plastic (probably tenite) is lit from behind by the pilot light. That penumbral shadow on the lower part of the knob is cast by the tuning condenser's shaft.

The model-number label is missing on my set, so I had to do some detective work to figure it out. Mark Stein's Machine Age to Jet Age identifies this radio as model 6106, but I didn't stop there as the collector guides are rife with errors of detail. A bit of research through the Riders Perpetual Troubleshooter's Manuals shows that the chassis associated with model 6106 was indeed used in this cabinet (in fact that chassis is used in my model 6107, which is part of the same model-number series), so Stein's identification is valid for some radios that look like this. But this radio here uses chassis no. 109.216, which does not go with model 6106. More Riders research shows it was used in models 6195, 6196 and 6197. I'm guessing that this brown radio's model number is the third one in the sequence, since I know the brown radio is the third one in the 6105-6106-6107-6116 (black-ivory-"walnut"-red) sequence. Flash! Radiophile.com visitor David Parker has one of these radios with the model-number label, and was kind enough to write and tell me that my guess is correct—this brown radio is indeed model 6197.

[My home-made back.]

I made this back myself. I have a friend (thanks Johnny) who has this model with its original back. I scanned the back, and printed it out actual-size onto a piece of paper. I glued the paper onto a sheet of heavy cardboard, where it became both a template for, and the actual visible surface of, the reproduction back. I carefully cut the cardboard to size, and cut and punched out all the holes.