28-03-2012, 06:09 PM
A very nice looking set Al. As to the circuit, Defiant service info is very thin on the ground, which is rather a shame.
Defiant sets were made for the Co-Op by Plessey, who made sets for several firms but in the late 1920s lost their work with Marconiphone. Shortly afterwards, the Radio Manufacturer's Association refused to sell radios to the Co-Operative Wholsale Society because the RMA operated as a price-fixing cartel, outlawing discounting. Such monopolistic business practice would be unlawaful today . The Co-Op didn't discount radios or anything else but they did pay customers a 'dividend' (remember the Co-op 'divvie''?), which the RMA saw as a form of discounting.
The Co-Op invited Plessey to build sets for them, and in the depressed 1930s Plessey were glad to have the work. The RMA shot themselves in the foot somewhat, because they lost the opportunity for their members' sets to be displayed and sold in Co-Op stores throughout the land, and lost sales to 'Defiant' - a new competitor. (Many Defiant sets had cabinets made by the Co-Op's furniture division).
It was quite a bold move for Plessey to agree to produce the sets as much of its business was based of supplying RMA setmakers with components, and had the RMA decided to source them elsewhere, would have dealt quite a blow to Plessey. Ediswan also supplied Mazda valves for Co-Op radios against the policy of the British Radio Valve Association (BVA), itself a monpolistic protectionist outfit. For example, no-one who handled BVA valves were allowed to handle other manufactuerer's valves.
So the Co-Op's choice of 'Defiant' as the brand name for its radios was very apt.
The very first set I restored back in my teens in the late 1950s is a Defiant MSH248 - a little 'woodie' about 12" long and 7" high given to me by a neighbour who was going to chuck it out as it had gone faulty. I still have it, and think it's quite a nice little set, with Long Medium and Short waves, and a nice 'airplane' dial, which is good quality paint on metal and as good as the day it was new. (As with Al's set - no circuit available).
As a footnote to contrast the position today on price fixing as compared to yesteryear, attempts by manufacturers or suppliers to enforce a minimum price at which goods can be sold by dealers or retailers restrict competition and keep prices higher than they would otherwise be, is illegal under the Resale Prices Act unless the goods are granted an exemption. (Only books and certain pharmaceuticals are currently exempted).
The Act also makes it unlawful to stop supplies or offer less favourable terms to dealers whom the supplier believes to be price cutting. A supplier is, however, entitled to withhold goods from a dealer who is pricing them as 'loss leaders' (goods sold at a loss in order to attract customers towards profitable items).
The Director General has the power to seek a court injunction to force the parties involved to scrap a retail price agreement.
Good luck with the set Al!
Defiant sets were made for the Co-Op by Plessey, who made sets for several firms but in the late 1920s lost their work with Marconiphone. Shortly afterwards, the Radio Manufacturer's Association refused to sell radios to the Co-Operative Wholsale Society because the RMA operated as a price-fixing cartel, outlawing discounting. Such monopolistic business practice would be unlawaful today . The Co-Op didn't discount radios or anything else but they did pay customers a 'dividend' (remember the Co-op 'divvie''?), which the RMA saw as a form of discounting.
The Co-Op invited Plessey to build sets for them, and in the depressed 1930s Plessey were glad to have the work. The RMA shot themselves in the foot somewhat, because they lost the opportunity for their members' sets to be displayed and sold in Co-Op stores throughout the land, and lost sales to 'Defiant' - a new competitor. (Many Defiant sets had cabinets made by the Co-Op's furniture division).
It was quite a bold move for Plessey to agree to produce the sets as much of its business was based of supplying RMA setmakers with components, and had the RMA decided to source them elsewhere, would have dealt quite a blow to Plessey. Ediswan also supplied Mazda valves for Co-Op radios against the policy of the British Radio Valve Association (BVA), itself a monpolistic protectionist outfit. For example, no-one who handled BVA valves were allowed to handle other manufactuerer's valves.
So the Co-Op's choice of 'Defiant' as the brand name for its radios was very apt.
The very first set I restored back in my teens in the late 1950s is a Defiant MSH248 - a little 'woodie' about 12" long and 7" high given to me by a neighbour who was going to chuck it out as it had gone faulty. I still have it, and think it's quite a nice little set, with Long Medium and Short waves, and a nice 'airplane' dial, which is good quality paint on metal and as good as the day it was new. (As with Al's set - no circuit available).
As a footnote to contrast the position today on price fixing as compared to yesteryear, attempts by manufacturers or suppliers to enforce a minimum price at which goods can be sold by dealers or retailers restrict competition and keep prices higher than they would otherwise be, is illegal under the Resale Prices Act unless the goods are granted an exemption. (Only books and certain pharmaceuticals are currently exempted).
The Act also makes it unlawful to stop supplies or offer less favourable terms to dealers whom the supplier believes to be price cutting. A supplier is, however, entitled to withhold goods from a dealer who is pricing them as 'loss leaders' (goods sold at a loss in order to attract customers towards profitable items).
The Director General has the power to seek a court injunction to force the parties involved to scrap a retail price agreement.
Good luck with the set Al!
Regards, David.
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
