This set - now almost 80 years old - has been in my possession for more than thirty years, so has grown old with me! Apart from the set needing a total strip-down and rebuild, including de-rusting the two chassis and spraying them, I was put off from restoring it as the dial has lost its markings. However, forum member Robert Darwent had recalled that I’d mentioned this some time ago, and has alerted me to the fact that Ben Djikman in Holland is presently able to supply replacement dials, so I though I’d take a fresh look at the set to see what other issues there might be with it. It has to be said that though it’s old, and a Bakelite Ekco, it wouldn’t win any beauty contests and isn’t sought after in the same way that circular Ekcos are.
First, the good points about the set:
Though the brown Bakelite cabinet has a hairline crack near the dial, it’s hardly noticeable and could be disguised. I’ve cleaned and polished a small area of the cabinet, which indicates that when cleaned and polished, it will come up nicely. The set has not been tampered with, and is complete. The knobs are original and it has its back, which is in good condition. All the valves are present and the heaters test good. Though I’ve yet to test the valves, at least that’s a good sign. Even the speaker fabric may clean up if treated with care.
Now the bad points: The field coil (2,000 Ohms) of the mains energised speaker is open circuit. Field coils consist of many thousands of turns of fine wire (48SWG?) and are prone to failure caused when DC blocking capacitors go leaky and the HT current – all of which flows through the field coil, which doubles as a smoothing choke – become excessive. A re-wind – even if self-wound - will not be cheap, so along with the need for a new dial, already this is starting to look like an expensive restoration. But on the other had, it’s just possible that the rest of the set was fine when the field coil went O/C, so maybe the valves will still have life in them.
The next obvious things to check will be the mains transformer and output transformer, because if either or both have open circuit windings, I think that will effectively make this set a non-runner. Although I never restore sets with an eye to their resale value, on the other hand, sets such as this can soon become a 'money pit' and however enjoyable it is to restore them, there comes a point at which the cost far exceeds to worth of the set. That said, I’d certainly prefer to restore it than to pop it back in the garage loft to languish and be forgotten about until eventually, it become just another item of ‘granddad’s junk’ to be confined to a skip.
It’s a quirky set in some respects. It’s a four valve + rectifier valve superhet covering LW & MW, with an IF frequency of 126.5 KHz. The main chassis and the power supply are constructed as two separate units, making it easier to work on as the PSU can be restored and tested separately from the rest of the set. The dial light bulb is 200V 12 Watts, and I’ve yet to gain access to it to see what it consists of. (EG is it like a sewing machine of ‘fridge bulb?). One ominous comment in the Ekco service sheet is: ‘The wave-change switch is incorporated in the same screening can as the bandpass input filter. Should the switch or filter unit give trouble, no attempt at repair should be made – the complete unit must be returned to Ekco Works for replacement’.
The Service Sheet indicates the ‘closed shop’ approach that the makers and dealers had to divulging information. It states: ‘For the information of Ekco Registered Dealers Only. NOT TO BE COPIED, or disclosed to any third party’. To some extent, I guess that the makers didn’t want inept people to attempt repairs, making their sets unreliable, and having to deal with a host of requests for spares from individuals in an era when make do and mend was in vogue, in the mid 1930s. On the other hand, it was a cosy symbiotic relationship between dealers and makers to the exclusion of others.
As time permits, I’ll have a further poke around with the multi-meter to check the continuity of other transformer windings etc, leaving the ultimate fate of this set in the balance.
First, the good points about the set:
Though the brown Bakelite cabinet has a hairline crack near the dial, it’s hardly noticeable and could be disguised. I’ve cleaned and polished a small area of the cabinet, which indicates that when cleaned and polished, it will come up nicely. The set has not been tampered with, and is complete. The knobs are original and it has its back, which is in good condition. All the valves are present and the heaters test good. Though I’ve yet to test the valves, at least that’s a good sign. Even the speaker fabric may clean up if treated with care.
Now the bad points: The field coil (2,000 Ohms) of the mains energised speaker is open circuit. Field coils consist of many thousands of turns of fine wire (48SWG?) and are prone to failure caused when DC blocking capacitors go leaky and the HT current – all of which flows through the field coil, which doubles as a smoothing choke – become excessive. A re-wind – even if self-wound - will not be cheap, so along with the need for a new dial, already this is starting to look like an expensive restoration. But on the other had, it’s just possible that the rest of the set was fine when the field coil went O/C, so maybe the valves will still have life in them.
The next obvious things to check will be the mains transformer and output transformer, because if either or both have open circuit windings, I think that will effectively make this set a non-runner. Although I never restore sets with an eye to their resale value, on the other hand, sets such as this can soon become a 'money pit' and however enjoyable it is to restore them, there comes a point at which the cost far exceeds to worth of the set. That said, I’d certainly prefer to restore it than to pop it back in the garage loft to languish and be forgotten about until eventually, it become just another item of ‘granddad’s junk’ to be confined to a skip.
It’s a quirky set in some respects. It’s a four valve + rectifier valve superhet covering LW & MW, with an IF frequency of 126.5 KHz. The main chassis and the power supply are constructed as two separate units, making it easier to work on as the PSU can be restored and tested separately from the rest of the set. The dial light bulb is 200V 12 Watts, and I’ve yet to gain access to it to see what it consists of. (EG is it like a sewing machine of ‘fridge bulb?). One ominous comment in the Ekco service sheet is: ‘The wave-change switch is incorporated in the same screening can as the bandpass input filter. Should the switch or filter unit give trouble, no attempt at repair should be made – the complete unit must be returned to Ekco Works for replacement’.
The Service Sheet indicates the ‘closed shop’ approach that the makers and dealers had to divulging information. It states: ‘For the information of Ekco Registered Dealers Only. NOT TO BE COPIED, or disclosed to any third party’. To some extent, I guess that the makers didn’t want inept people to attempt repairs, making their sets unreliable, and having to deal with a host of requests for spares from individuals in an era when make do and mend was in vogue, in the mid 1930s. On the other hand, it was a cosy symbiotic relationship between dealers and makers to the exclusion of others.
As time permits, I’ll have a further poke around with the multi-meter to check the continuity of other transformer windings etc, leaving the ultimate fate of this set in the balance.
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'
