ArtDeco – M0AWS Amateur Radio

Back in January 2025 I wrote an article about a little RadioBerry Project I’d started that was based around a very old Philips 170A-15 receiver from 1946.

The idea of the project was to build a nice shortwave receiver for the radio shack based around the RadioBerry HAT on a RaspberryPi 4 housed in a vintage receiver cabinet.

The project has taken longer than I imagined due to getting side-tracked by other projects that I already had ongoing.

1946 Philips 170A-15 Shortwave Receiver Internal View

With the original internals removed there’s plenty of room inside for the RadioBerry, RaspberryPi 4 and the small 15w audio amplifier. The audio is delivered via a pair of Celestion speakers that I had that were originally part of an old surround sound TV system.

Power distribution is achieved very simply using a multi-plug adapter that also has USB A connections in it. The whole thing is then powered via one 240v mains cable.

The screen fits over the original opening for the glass tuning display and is held in place by two mounting screws on the rear of the LCD panel.

I purchased some new speaker grill cloth from Amazon and remade the speaker grill front with cut outs for the speakers. It looks really tidy and matches the rest of the bakelite cabinet nicely.

1946 Philips 170A-15 Shortwave Receiver RadioBerry HAT on RaspberryPi 4

To finish the project off I need to purchase 3 rotary encoders so that I can have a VFO knob and two more knobs for other things (to be determined). The Volume control is already in place with the original knob fitted to it. It will be nice to complete the 4 knob line up.

1946 Philips 170A-15 Shortwave Receiver Rear Panel

I had to make a couple of fittings top and bottom to hold the original rear panel in place but, it worked out just fine and I only had to fit an SO239 antenna connector and ethernet RJ45 port so that it can be connected to my local LAN.

Receiving radio Caroline on 648Khz

The audio quality from the little RadioBerry and 15w amp is pretty good. With the speakers hidden nicely behind the refurbished speaker grill the project looks quite tidy!

It also makes a great receiver for the HAM bands with it’s coverage of 100Khz to 30Mhz.

The DL1YCF Enhanced fork of PiHPSDR works really well on the touchscreen and provides a modern control interface to the RadioBerry HAT.

Listening to the 20m HAM Band

I’ll drop a final article once I have purchased the 3 rotary encoders to fill the 3 remaining holes in the front of the cabinet.

More soon …

Sometime back I purchased a RadioBerry HAT for my RaspberryPi 4 single board computer (SBC) to use as an experimental platform to test PiHPSDR software modifications and to test changes to the actual RadioBerry software. With these two projects completed I decided that the receiver on the RadioBerry was so good it would be a shame not to put it to good use.

For many decades I’ve been an avid Short Wave Listener (SWL) but, haven’t had a general coverage receiver for many years. The RadioBerry fills this gap in my radio lineup perfectly but, needs to be put into a suitable cabinet with speakers, display, control knobs and antenna connections.

Rather than just buy another bland square box I decided it would be nice to repurpose an old, vintage radio receiver from a bygone era and bring it into the 21st Century.

1950 Philips valve radio receiver — 1946 Philips valve radio receiver

After much searching on the popular auction sites online I eventually found the perfect old receiver for the project, a vintage Philips 170A-15 valve receiver from 1946.

This lovely old Art Deco looking receiver is made from Bakelite which was an early type of plastic made from phenol-formaldehyde resin, obtained from coal tar and methanol.

The full specification for the receiver can be found on the Radio Museum Website.

Sadly this is a non working example of this lovely old receiver and so I don’t feel so guilty stripping it out and replacing it’s internals with the RadioBerry.

1946 Philips receiver Serial Number plate

1946 Philips receiver Licence Plate — 1946 Philips receiver Serial Number plate

Having the original serial number and Licence plate on the radio is nice, it also makes it easy to search for information about the old receiver.

One nice thing I did discover during the disassembly of the receiver was the signature of the person that put the radio together during manufacture on the inside of the Bakelite cabinet.

Getting the internals out of the cabinet was fun, so many little screws holding the old valve electronics and tuning display in place.

1946 Philips Receiver - Internal View — 1946 Philips Receiver – Internal View

1946 Philips receiver - removing the original control knobs — 1946 Philips Receiver – Internal View

Once the electrical part of the radio was removed I gained access to the old speaker that was fitted to the front panel of the receiver. Unfortunately the speaker cone had a tear in it rendering it useless so I’ll need to get a new speaker(s) for the rebuild.

Once I got the speaker and fittings removed I set about cleaning the cabinet inside and out to remove the 79 years worth of dirt and grime that had collected within. The fascia of the receiver cabinet seems to have lost it’s shine and will need to be polished to get it back to it’s original beauty.

79 years worth of grime and dirt to be removed!

Washing the Bakelite receiver case — 79 years worth of grime and dirt to be removed!

It took 5 lots of fresh water and washing up liquid to get the cabinet clean. The first three lots of water looked like mud in no time at all such was the state of the cabinet.

With the cabinet now cleaned and put to one side to dry thoroughly I have started to search for the best type of polish to use to put the sheen back onto it.

Once I’ve got the cabinet looking good again I’ll start fitting the new internals. I also need to find a source for a new piece of material to cover the speaker hole at the front of the cabinet as the original material is looking somewhat tired.

The old Philips Emblem from 1946 on the receiver case

More soon …

Category: ArtDeco

1946 Philips 170A-15 RadioBerry Receiver Project

Breathing new life into a vintage receiver