Hey that guy who found the remote was me. I'm glad someone got it. This is perhaps the most ridiculous piece of vintage electronics I've ever seen and I gotta see it working in all its Rube Goldbergian glory. 🤣

Shango sent me here. Great video! This is what Einstein referred to as "Spooky Action."

Saba made a large German radio with automated station finding and a WIRED remote control. Both station and volume knobs were motorized. It was quite amazing to watch it find a strong station, driven by a motor and vacuum tubes.

I appreciate your approach and the fact you wanted to see it work. Old stuff like this is remarkable when you think of what they had to work with. I believe they understood theory very very well. So glad someone located that remote as it seems to me it would be a rare accessorie to locate on a good day. Thanks for your post, thoroughly enjoyed what you did.

Crazy that the designer's in 1940 thought that up! Thanks for posting!

I've got this very radio and remote wrapped up and in storage in my side garage. It belonged to my grandfather, who gave it to my dad, and we were listening to it the night Cassius Clay aka Mohammad Ali beat Sonny Liston. The last time i was ever used was maybe in the 1970s. There was another duplicate model radio/remote pair at their friends home, but their basement was deluged by the 1965 flood and the lower half of the unit was water damaged beyond salvage and rather than keep the upper electronics, the complete radio was hauled to the dump. I have no idea what happened to the remote. I remember my grandfather demonstrating the operation of the remote.

I'm 8 mins 39 seconds into your video, so apologies if what I say here is worked out later in the video: The reason they keep the filament off is to save the battery. A 3 volt tube starts working almost instantly so can be used like that I'm guessing. Now to watch the rest to see my theory blown out the water lol.... edit: Glad to see you've got it working. It will probably be more responsive and reliable once re-capped, rewired, maybe re-aligned, cleaned and all the shielding fitted and back in the cabinet with all the stuff in place. Amazing innovation for the time it was made, however gimmicky it may seem.

Seems to work ok considering it's age and that in its day the radio spectrum looked alot different back then. Thanks for sharing this it's kewl to see where one of shangos projects ended up ;)

Hey. I went to visit a teacher of mine years ago. She had a very similar remote using a cord to change the sound and channel of her TV. It was amazing. I'm 61 now and I still remember dialing in a TV station.

It’s quite common for the rotary dials on the mystery remotes to be warped due to the type of plastic they were made of. You’re is actually in much nicer than most. Some are so badly distorted they don’t rotate.

There is a book by Riders on alignment of Philco receivers. See volume 2 where they have two special alignment discussions near the end on alignment of Mystery Control for frequency amplifier and reception of stations. Lots to learn about it and the book is available at the worldradiohistory's site. Might answer some eventual questions there. Damn interesting piece of ancient remote control technology.

Coolest remote ever!!

Very cool! Good luck on the restore 👍

There is a lot of information on the remote system and servicing it if you can find a 39-55RX / 39-116RX manual. It was covered in a Riders but I don't remember what model had the more detailed service information. Good Luck.

Remarkably while watching an old "Mr. Fong the Fatal Hour" circa 1934 this same set was featured as a murder mystery link in a murder. Look up the show and go to about the 55 min mark and the radio with its remote feature was showcased.

The Frequency of the remote was determined by the original seller at the radio store where it was originally bought, The frequency setpoint was kind of scattered to eliminate your remote from controlling your neighbors radio!!

The radio and remotes are classy looking pices of art deco furniture. The idea that it's "gimmicky" makes for its appeal. This radio was a rich gadget lovers radio in its day. It's as much an icon of electrical engineering and industrial design as the later Philco Predictas. 8:25

Talk about contemporary design! I thought it would act like a rotary phone. God, that thing is such jank I love it.

Great you've got it working to some degree.

That is neat to see it working

For volume up and down you’re supposed to hold down the fingerstop when you release the dial and it’ll keep advancing the motor until released. Watch KZfaqr Robert Gartaz’s video titled “Philco Mystery Control Demonstration”

I have a 40-206 model from 1940 which has similar RF front end with push-buttons for selecting station presets. Like your model it also incorporates a SW band. The band select switch seems somewhat sloppy in these models. There is not a positive detent feel as the bandswitch is rotated. Cleaning the switch with some contact cleaner will likely help. Good luck!

That remote WILL have to be tuned to the radio's REMOTE receive frequency! You will have to determine the resonant frequency of the radio's (TANK) circuit. its large antenna coil is found in the bottom of the radios cabinet wound in a horizontal loop parallel to the floor a trimmer cap will be found at this coil and is the adjustment point for received frequency! -- Hope this helps!!

I recall in shangos video there is a wire off on the upper a tenna for the remote

Looks like you will have to clean and lubricate the stepper relay that controls the rotary selector switch, and replace those caps in the thyratron circuit, I had to replacwe all of them in my radio that I have!! I had found about half the caps were leaky and or shorted!

Don't have allot of experience with these but I have that remote and it's warped as well. I thought heat may have got to it but now that I see yours is the same I'm wondering if the material used just has a tendency to do that over time

Here's a demonstration of how the remote works. I found it on Robert Gatarz channel. "Philco Mystery Control "

Hi, have you ever measured the inductance of the remote antenna loop in the cabinet? Mine is damaged with crumbled insulation and a few broken spots so I need to rewind a new one but I do not know where the connections going to the radio are tapped. I would appreciate it.

Hell yes love shango66

You have to wonder how the Philco engineers thought having a rotary dial and a tube powered remote was more effective than the later ultrasonic remotes such as the Zenith Space Command. I'm probably missing something...

That remote is probably tolerable if the radio is on the other end of the room and the room is a 40 foot long library in your mansion.

I got repro mystery packs if you need one

The word you're looking for is decadic dialer.

Black wire if i recall

It did not seem “Mickey mouse” to me. Seems ingenious for what they had to work with 80 years ago.

Hey mechtrician, my name is Thomas. I have a 65 falcon. I am currently wiring in a new alternator and could greatly use your wisdom. I have searched and searched the web and I’m still having trouble making my final calls on how I want to wire it. I’m not sure if maybe you would be interested in emailing me or something but I would appreciate it a lot! Thank you and god bless.

Young people used to instant gratification and response time measured in milliseconds can't appreciate tube era innovation and just call it a gimmick because it's slower than an iPhone.

Pity the poor radio repairman called out on a service call on this thing in 1941. Guess it beats being at Pearl Harbor.