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Midwest 181
1941
Midwest Radio Corporation,
909 - 911 Broadway,
Cincinnati, Ohio USA
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This
chassis features the original factory issued front panel, which is
considered a rare find today. Earlier models of Midwest radios,
such as the 18-35, 18-36, and the 18-37, had chasses that featured a
metal front panel that housed the dial, knobs and escutcheon. The
181, on the other hand, normally didn't feature a front panel and when
the chassis was mounted into one of the various models of Midwest
cabinets, the escutcheon was mounted onto the cabinet itself. In
the case of this receiver, it was originally sold as just the chassis,
speaker and loop antenna; therefore, a front panel was supplied to
provide a surface area for the dial, escutcheon and knobs. This
setup made it easy to have this receiver placed into an older radio
cabinet, custom cabinet, wall or just left as a stand alone
chassis. Earlier 18 tube Midwest radios had large chassis but this
model's chassis is quite compact. The push button tuning is
mechanical. A dial setting is programmed into each push button and
that dial setting is brought up upon the pushing of the button.
I purchased this receiver, in August 2005, from fellow
collector Jay Volke while attending the ARCI's "Radiofest" in
Bolingbrook, Illinois. This set is essentially a NOS piece since
it had remained in its original packing box since 1941 and there is no
evidence to indicate that it had ever been used.
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Tube Line Up:
6K7G...R.F. Amplifier
6J5G...Oscillator
6SA7G...Mixer
6K7G...1st. I.F. Amplifier
6K7G...2nd. I.F. Amplifier
7A7G...2nd. Detector / AVC
7C7G...?
6U5G...Tuning Indicator
7C7G...?
7C7G...1st. Audio Driver
6J5G...2nd. Audio Driver
6J5G...Inverter
6F6G x 4...Push - Pull / Parallel Audio Output
5Y3 x 2...Rectifiers
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Frequency Ranges:
LW Band (E)...125 kHz - 350 kHz
BC Band (A)...550 kHz - 1600 kHz
SW Band (B)...1.6 MHz - 4.3 MHz
SW Band (C)...4.6 MHz - 12.5 MHz
SW Band (D)...12 MHz - 30 MHz
I.F. Frequency...465 kHz
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Power Source:
AC...110 Volts
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Schematic and information
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This view of the chassis gives a clear indication of how a new chassis
looked like just after it's assembly. All of the tubes are
Sylvania.
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This
is the instruction and knob identification card that would have been
attached on all new Midwest 181 receivers before being shipped from the
factory. It was only meant to be a temporary fixture until the
owner became familiar with all of the sets knobs and their functions,
then it was to be discarded.
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The Midwest 181 sports a rather large dial measuring 11.5 inches
across. The dial is made up in two sections. One section
features bands B, C, D, and E which are all printed on a fancy, gold
foil, flat background. The other section is the outer curved glass
which features the A band. Illumination is accomplished by two
dial lamps illuminateing the front surface of the gold background and
the rear surface of the curved glass. Because the dial escutcheon
is made of Tortoise, the lower portion of the escutcheon
illuminates a deep red glow whenever the radio is on.
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Radio News
Vol. 25 No. 1
January 1941
Page 32
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This is the early version of the 1941 catalog. In this catalog
the top of the line chassis features 17 tubes and is referred to as the
model VT-17. The VT-17 is electronically the same as the VT-18
minus the 6J5G Audio Level Indicator Level Control. The insert
letter is dated October 1, 1940.
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This is the later version of the 1941 catalog. In this
catalog the top of the line chassis features 18 tubes and is referred to
as the model VT-18 although the VT-17 chassis is still used to
illustrate the 18 tube chassis. Also, at this time, the Models
K-18 and KR-18, which are housed in the model "K" cabinet, have been
added to the line.
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This web page was last updated: January 24, 2017
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