My latest addition - Radialva Groom

[Yorkie]

Thanks for updating us John - what a challenge it turned out to be - hopefully your neighbour will be suitably impressed. What a near miss the dial had with customs - had he declared the value on he package you wouldn't have had that hassle. It wasn't my idea of 'well packed' - I'd have cut a piece of hardboard or ply to cover the dial and fixed it with duct tape, and would have put rather more packing around the cabinet than the seller did, so it did well to survive the trip. That humongous transformer is so ludicrous that it just beggars belief. You've lumbered yourself with another ambitious restoration project because you just know in your heart that there's enough of the set to make it whole again!

Sincere congratulations on a first class restoration - now what's on the agenda?

[Geaney]

Sincere congratulations on a first class restoration - now what's on the agenda?

Thanks David,
Well I still have to make a new back for it so that's top of the list. I also have to make one for the big Siemens set. As regards the donor Groom set, I often thought about doing a complete strip of a chassis down to bare metal and doing a re-build from scratch. Since I don't have too much to lose with this set it just might be the one I'll try it out on. That would make an interesting little project!

Alas the day job is getting hectic these days and since I work across all three major time zones I'm struggling to find bench time.

Cheers, John.

[Geaney]

A little follow up job has come to light. I've been using the Radialva quite a bit as it's sensitivity on shortwave is excellent. I noticed that the top of the glass dial is below the top of the oval window in the cab so assumed it would be a simple matter of raising the glass. No such luck! The problem is caused by the metal panel (upon which the glass dial fits) having dropped down on the left side. This I found is because the rubber mount where it bolts to the chassis has deteriorated and crumbled away - probably exacerbated by me using the set.

So, now I have to figure a way to make a replacement rubber mount and try to fit it without taking the panel off (would mean removing the dial cord!). Of course I'll have a look on the donor set tomorrow just in case I can rob one from there but since they're both the same age I can't believe it will be any better.

Looks like my stars/planets are not well aligned at the moment - the Siemens developed a fault yesterday so that will be back on the bench again soon.

Time to pause and reflect - start again tomorrow after a good night's sleep

Cheers, John