26-08-2017, 07:04 PM
It's not often I pickup a piece of vintage kit and sort things out fairly quickly, but last Sunday I picked up this radio at a boot sale.
I was assured it was working, and after a quick lookover, on powerup it seemed this was the case. It had the usual crackly controls, but otherwise seemed Ok. Shortly afterward it failed to work. A little bit of faultfinding determined that the power unit that was wired into it had the, not uncommon, intermittant connection on exit from the unit.
Deciding on returning the radio back to 'as supplied' (especially because I have a few recharegable batteries), I decided to build one of these battery units that printouts can be aquired of. After a little confusion on battery sizes (literally as I managed to obtain service information courtesy of the RadioMuseum), I decided on a PP9 and using seven cells for 9V (lower voltage of rechargeable than alkaline). I used the old yellow plug / socket block in the top of the battery for connection. The assembled battery pack just fits in the case and the assembly allows pushing the connectors together without issue. I left the bottom unfixed so that there is easy access to fit and remove cells. This means though a rubber band to hold together in use.
Further to this I cleaned the controls, dust form the case (resecuring failed joints) and generally tidied. I found 'May 1962' printed in the case which agrees with all information I have found.
On test, so far, the radio works well, and I am impressed with it, especially after such a time.
Photos shown include the connector used with the mains adaptor. It looks like some thought and time has gone into it. It would be interesting to know the history.
This has made a fairly relaxing week and I am happy to sort something this quickly. Most times it is an issue sorting components or nasty faults, which means I usually put to one side and get on with developing ideas.
I was assured it was working, and after a quick lookover, on powerup it seemed this was the case. It had the usual crackly controls, but otherwise seemed Ok. Shortly afterward it failed to work. A little bit of faultfinding determined that the power unit that was wired into it had the, not uncommon, intermittant connection on exit from the unit.
Deciding on returning the radio back to 'as supplied' (especially because I have a few recharegable batteries), I decided to build one of these battery units that printouts can be aquired of. After a little confusion on battery sizes (literally as I managed to obtain service information courtesy of the RadioMuseum), I decided on a PP9 and using seven cells for 9V (lower voltage of rechargeable than alkaline). I used the old yellow plug / socket block in the top of the battery for connection. The assembled battery pack just fits in the case and the assembly allows pushing the connectors together without issue. I left the bottom unfixed so that there is easy access to fit and remove cells. This means though a rubber band to hold together in use.
Further to this I cleaned the controls, dust form the case (resecuring failed joints) and generally tidied. I found 'May 1962' printed in the case which agrees with all information I have found.
On test, so far, the radio works well, and I am impressed with it, especially after such a time.
Photos shown include the connector used with the mains adaptor. It looks like some thought and time has gone into it. It would be interesting to know the history.
This has made a fairly relaxing week and I am happy to sort something this quickly. Most times it is an issue sorting components or nasty faults, which means I usually put to one side and get on with developing ideas.
