Manufacturer: Northern Electric, Toronto, Canada
Model: 5404
Approximate Date Of Manufacture: 1950-51
Type: 5-tube Superheterodyne AM BC band radio
Tube lineup: 12BE6, 12BA6, 12AT6, 50B5, 35W4
Status: working, restored
Where purchased: eBay, August 2005
"Panda - sensational '51 set - ideal personal 'pet' ...
in Turquoise, Brown or Ivory.
Phono-Jack and Switch"
- from an advertisement in Maclean's magazine.
This radio was purchased on ebay. It was from the same buyer that I bought a Northern Electric 5200 set from. It is a model 5404 made in 1950-51. The schematic is found in the RCC supplement pages 51 and 52. It is your basic 5 tube AA5 radio using miniature tubes. It has a phono jack and switch (did anyone actually use these by the 1950's?. It was really more of a marketing feature I'm sure.)
This set was known as the "Panda". It came in various colours - turquoise, brown, and ivory. See this site for a magazine ad showing this radio.
It uses "capristors" -- a cap and resistor in one package - a cost saving measure but it makes it harder to recap since every replaced cap requires a resistor to be installed too (but less parts overall). By this time in the development of the AA5 radio the design was highly optimized for low cost - it only has 19 electrical components. The only way to cut costs much further was to reduce the labour, which happened in the 1960s when printed circuits were introduced.
From the description and pictures on ebay the case appeared in good condition (possibly repainted though) but it was not working (apparently completely dead which usually indicates something easy to fix).
The paint on the case looks to be original.
There is a three part electrolytic cap (as is usual). The two filter portions have been disconnected and replaced with a newer two-element cap. A couple of other paper caps may have been replaced. There are some amateur looking solder joints and the line cord was partly melted from a soldering iron. So clearly the radio has had some work over the years.
The antenna coil was loose and held in place with masking tape. This will be easy to glue back on.
The chassis is a little dusty, but no rust.
The speaker is on the small side, 4 inches in diameter.
The line cord was open circuit at the plug, explaining why it was dead.I cut off the plug and gave it a smoke test with the variac and a current meter. The radio works fine -- no hum, good reception, and adequate volume.
Looks like I don't need to replace the capristors, just three paper caps and three electrolytic caps.
One quirk of the radio - no pilot lamp! Because of the type of dial used it is not needed (and is a cost saving).
