New HACKER in the house

[DIMBULB]

I suppose the title could be taken in a couple different ways.

I'm referring to a Hacker Mayflower RV14 that I acquired at a local antique auction.  
I liked the rather minimalistic style and have never worked on a UK radio so I was
the high bidder at $20.

I changed all the caps and many resistors thanks to information found on this site.  
Purchased a step-up transformer, plugged her in and was greeted with crisp reception
and beautiful tone quality.

The B+ was measured at only 170V so I replaced the bridge rectifier with another I
had on hand together with a resistor in series and the resultant B+ was raised to 245-250V.

The tuning indicator tube went dead intermittently so I replace it and all is well.

Just wanted to let you all know that your contributions to this forum helped me immensely
and you are very much appreciated.

Regards, Ed in the US

[Mark Hennessy]

Hi Ed, and welcome to the forum!

That's a lucky find. Those sets are relatively scarce, and are quite sought-after as a result. As you no-doubt know, the later RV20 is a very different beast in styling terms.

It's nice to hear that our previous ramblings have been of assistance - many thanks for taking the time to sign up and tell us. Hopefully this will be the first of many Hackers for you

All the best,

Mark

[Paul_RK]

Hello Ed,

A fine stroke of luck, and I'm glad you're enjoying the set's performance! There can't be many better sounding British table radios. I can vouch for their scarcity even over here. I'd been collecting such Hacker sets as came my way for 20 years or so in pre-internet days without ever catching sight of an RV14 or finding any sign that the model had ever existed, though the Mayflower II was familiar enough to me. I rather fancied that an enquiry to Hacker Radio Ltd. as to whether there was an original Mayflower would bring the response "Oh, yes, indeed. Sailed from Plymouth in 1620..." Then a friend turned up a yellowing copy of Gramophone magazine which included a review of the RV14, and I at least knew what manner of thing it was and that some examples of it might be out there.

Regards,
Paul