07-08-2015, 06:07 PM
Thanks for reading the update Tony & Gary.
I did indeed talk to Blore Edwards, (it may have been you who suggested them to me Gary), but at the time couldn't help with an anti-log track, so I spoke to Omeg who are based in East Grinstead. They could have made them, but if the model selected consists of parts already in existence (as they were at the time), then the minimum order quantity is 10 pieces and the minimum order value is £25 + carriage + VAT if applicable. The very helpful lady to whom I spoke said she'd wave the MOQ but couldn't budge on the MOV. Hence, the price with carriage as I recall came to close of £40.00, which was way beyond what I was prepared to pay for a not very special radio - well two actually, counting the Portadyne Princess. As with anything, economies of scale come into play with larger orders. I dare say that if Id ordered twenty I'd have got them for less than a fiver each, but I'd have been lumbered with them. (I did ask if any of their usual clients bought anti-log switched pots, but none did).
OMEG make most of the pots supplied by the likes of Maplin, Farnell, RS etc. OMEG pots are Similarity to Radiohm potentiometers. From 1958 to 1983 East Grinstead Electronic Components Ltd, under the direction of the company's founder, imported component parts from the Radiohm factories in France (Melek) and Tunisia (Tunirama) and assembled potentiometers in Sussex for the UK market. The current managing director gradually steered the company away from reliance on the Radiohm components by encouraging in-house development of a technology and ethos that is now evident in the current product range. The trade name of Omeg was established and at the end of 1993 the company trading name was changed from East Grinstead Electronics Components Limited to Omeg Limited. Nowadays their pots are 95% made in the UK. They manufactures a range of 16mm and 20mm potentiometers that are equivalent to original Radiohm products. Worth a look at their website:
http://www.omeg.co.uk/profile.htm
I must say that I was actually quite impressed with the performance of this simple little TRF, given that it only uses a handful of components. So few in fact that I can imagine that they designed a radio that worked, then started removing parts till it stopped working, then put the last part back! the caps and resistors together only amount to about twenty. I would have been a convenient set to tune in, with no reaction control in the conventional sense - just the combined volume/reaction control. As with many AC/DC sets of that era, it has a single pole switch in the neutral line - not the live. I think the reason they did that was due to arcing of the contacts when the sets were used on DC mains, but I could be mistaken - I often am
. The downside to this is that when the set is switched off, part of it is live.
I think it's the same basic set sold in kit form in the late 50s/early 60s - presumably bought up as surplus stock by the likes of Premier.
I did indeed talk to Blore Edwards, (it may have been you who suggested them to me Gary), but at the time couldn't help with an anti-log track, so I spoke to Omeg who are based in East Grinstead. They could have made them, but if the model selected consists of parts already in existence (as they were at the time), then the minimum order quantity is 10 pieces and the minimum order value is £25 + carriage + VAT if applicable. The very helpful lady to whom I spoke said she'd wave the MOQ but couldn't budge on the MOV. Hence, the price with carriage as I recall came to close of £40.00, which was way beyond what I was prepared to pay for a not very special radio - well two actually, counting the Portadyne Princess. As with anything, economies of scale come into play with larger orders. I dare say that if Id ordered twenty I'd have got them for less than a fiver each, but I'd have been lumbered with them. (I did ask if any of their usual clients bought anti-log switched pots, but none did).
OMEG make most of the pots supplied by the likes of Maplin, Farnell, RS etc. OMEG pots are Similarity to Radiohm potentiometers. From 1958 to 1983 East Grinstead Electronic Components Ltd, under the direction of the company's founder, imported component parts from the Radiohm factories in France (Melek) and Tunisia (Tunirama) and assembled potentiometers in Sussex for the UK market. The current managing director gradually steered the company away from reliance on the Radiohm components by encouraging in-house development of a technology and ethos that is now evident in the current product range. The trade name of Omeg was established and at the end of 1993 the company trading name was changed from East Grinstead Electronics Components Limited to Omeg Limited. Nowadays their pots are 95% made in the UK. They manufactures a range of 16mm and 20mm potentiometers that are equivalent to original Radiohm products. Worth a look at their website:
http://www.omeg.co.uk/profile.htm
I must say that I was actually quite impressed with the performance of this simple little TRF, given that it only uses a handful of components. So few in fact that I can imagine that they designed a radio that worked, then started removing parts till it stopped working, then put the last part back! the caps and resistors together only amount to about twenty. I would have been a convenient set to tune in, with no reaction control in the conventional sense - just the combined volume/reaction control. As with many AC/DC sets of that era, it has a single pole switch in the neutral line - not the live. I think the reason they did that was due to arcing of the contacts when the sets were used on DC mains, but I could be mistaken - I often am
. The downside to this is that when the set is switched off, part of it is live.I think it's the same basic set sold in kit form in the late 50s/early 60s - presumably bought up as surplus stock by the likes of Premier.
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'
