7 hours ago
I said that I would never condone or work on one of these radios.
I regard them as a sad poor copy of the originals, made in China for a rock bottom price, a blatant copy of a much loved model, iconic for its time and still regarded as outstanding.
What is it?
Well, its the bent "U" retro copy Bush TR82.
Yes, one of those horrors, all plastic, next to no electronics inside and low, low quality I assumed.
For those that don't know, the Chinees got hold of a TR82 that had been heated, by sun presumably, and the "U" on the from had softened and sagged. So they faithfully copied it!
This example came to me very cheap, in fact free, as it came with another set that I wanted, I would never have gone out and bought one of these.
It was filthy but not scratched about and it worked just fine considering the lack of components ( I think the circuit is a basic 2 chip affair ) and the small cheap speaker.
The mains lead was present with the obligatory white emulsion spots, ( why do folk do this? ) and no signs of leaked PP9 battery inside. The handle was not even bent surprisingly and there was no damage due to it being dropped either.
The plastic wood grain finish is different, not very Bush, as is the white tuning dial. The extending aerial is whole and straight.
Having worked out how to take the back off, the normal big screw in the center but then it has to slide vertically to unhook, I found the inside to be very clean and undamaged. I doubt that anyone has ever opened this radio.
The filthy outside meant that it would have to come completely apart for a thorough soak and clean which involved taking out the mains power module, the main pcb and the speaker. The inner panel which is a large plastic moulding is held together in the front panel with lots of screws, I left the brown top panel with the holes for the knobs and buttons in place, it seemed to be stuck.
Taking the pcb out involved removing the reduction cord drives for the tuning and the tuning knob and pointer.
This cord arrangement is quite clever, two strings on one tuning drum to two different diameter pulleys on the tuning dial assembly gives the required slow motion tuning without any gears. It looked terrifying to restring so I photographed the lot and taped the cords to the pulleys before lifting them off. It all went back together easily then.
I changed the battery snap on connector to a small PP3 type so that it will take a 6 AA pack instead of the exorbitantly priced PP9.
So what about it as a radio? Well it works very well, reception on MW LW and FM is very good. The sound is OK considering.
Would I buy one for real money? No, but it did surprise me how well made it was and how well it works.
Sam.
I regard them as a sad poor copy of the originals, made in China for a rock bottom price, a blatant copy of a much loved model, iconic for its time and still regarded as outstanding.
What is it?
Well, its the bent "U" retro copy Bush TR82.
Yes, one of those horrors, all plastic, next to no electronics inside and low, low quality I assumed.
For those that don't know, the Chinees got hold of a TR82 that had been heated, by sun presumably, and the "U" on the from had softened and sagged. So they faithfully copied it!
This example came to me very cheap, in fact free, as it came with another set that I wanted, I would never have gone out and bought one of these.
It was filthy but not scratched about and it worked just fine considering the lack of components ( I think the circuit is a basic 2 chip affair ) and the small cheap speaker.
The mains lead was present with the obligatory white emulsion spots, ( why do folk do this? ) and no signs of leaked PP9 battery inside. The handle was not even bent surprisingly and there was no damage due to it being dropped either.
The plastic wood grain finish is different, not very Bush, as is the white tuning dial. The extending aerial is whole and straight.
Having worked out how to take the back off, the normal big screw in the center but then it has to slide vertically to unhook, I found the inside to be very clean and undamaged. I doubt that anyone has ever opened this radio.
The filthy outside meant that it would have to come completely apart for a thorough soak and clean which involved taking out the mains power module, the main pcb and the speaker. The inner panel which is a large plastic moulding is held together in the front panel with lots of screws, I left the brown top panel with the holes for the knobs and buttons in place, it seemed to be stuck.
Taking the pcb out involved removing the reduction cord drives for the tuning and the tuning knob and pointer.
This cord arrangement is quite clever, two strings on one tuning drum to two different diameter pulleys on the tuning dial assembly gives the required slow motion tuning without any gears. It looked terrifying to restring so I photographed the lot and taped the cords to the pulleys before lifting them off. It all went back together easily then.
I changed the battery snap on connector to a small PP3 type so that it will take a 6 AA pack instead of the exorbitantly priced PP9.
So what about it as a radio? Well it works very well, reception on MW LW and FM is very good. The sound is OK considering.
Would I buy one for real money? No, but it did surprise me how well made it was and how well it works.
Sam.
Boater Sam.
