Required, Pilot information.

[boater sam]

I cannot log in as a guest...

That I can understand, but visitors to the forum don't generally log in - I take it the option to log in as a guest is there to make possible (pre-moderated?) posting for non-members:  so you should be able to see the full forum without logging in at all. If there really is a mechanism to prevent you, I recommend the Tor browser, which as I understand it has websites "thinking" you're visiting from California, Iceland, Pakistan or wherever your connection that day happens to be. 

Paul

I have sent a PM Paul.

[boater sam]

Thanks to Paul I now have pictures of model X754.

It is very similar, the wood cabinet is the same with the tuning eye but the rest of the valve lineup is different as it is series heaters.

The closest chassis I have found is the T85M model which has the same valves but no eye and a frame aerial inside a bakelite cabinet.

It is a strange world in Pilot radio land.

[boater sam]

Pictures of Pilot X754H, the octal 6X5 rectifier, speaker, output transformer and 6U5G tuning eye are missing. There are several loose wires hanging about.                        

[Geordie McBoyne]

Service information for possibly similar the Pilot T854 can be found in the 1956/57 Radio and Television servicing book.
T854 receiver has four wavebands, LW, MW, SW and a "Trawler Band".
Also, an export model EX854.
12AH8 frequency changer. 6BJ6 IF amp. 6AT6 DDT. 6BW6 output. 6X5GT rectifier.

Geordie McBoyne.

[boater sam]

Service information for possibly similar the Pilot T854 can be found in the 1956/57 Radio and Television servicing book.                                                                                                     
      T854 receiver has four wavebands, LW, MW, SW and a "Trawler Band".
Also, an export model EX854.
12AH8 frequency changer. 6BJ6 IF amp. 6AT6 DDT. 6BW6 output. 6X5GT rectifier.

Geordie McBoyne.

Thanks Geordie,

Same valve line up in a different chassis with forward controls but without the tuning eye.  Possible the same circuit and components.
 Produced 1955/6 ish with all the similar sets.

4 wavebands, can't see the difference with the export EX854.

Getting there,

Sam.

[Geordie McBoyne]

Some details of the Pilot model 754. Receiver has four wavebands and was designed for use on AC/DC mains.

From the Radiomuseum: info about the 12AH8 frequency changer valve. Valve is unique to Brimar.
https://www.radiomuseum.org/tubes/tube_12ah8.html

An earlier Pilot four waveband receiver was the "Blue Peter". Valves employed in this model were the older octal series, 6K8, 6K7 etc.

Geordie McBoyne.

[boater sam]

Dredging up old radios from the pile of junk awaiting a see-ing to.

Thanks to all who worked out a possibly similar chassis, I can work off the T854,its identical without the tuning eye.

It has become its turn to be assaulted, so on the bench it went.

Seems to be reasonably complete. Missing the output transformer which I think was on the original speaker, the 6X5GT rectifier, and the 6U5G  tuning eye. No sign of anything been twiddled. The back and base cards are good. 4 original knobs.
There is a big round replacement speaker badly fixed on one stud and 2 clamps that will need to be better mounted.
The aerial and earth are just a pair of wires hanging out of a smooth hole in the chassis rear flange, no sign of a terminal block or socket.
There seems to be no mounting for the eye, just a right angle bracket screwed to the baffle board. The octal socket is complete with components and wires.
An odd mix of B7G. B9A and octal valves.

Run up with all valves out for an hour proved that the mains transformer is fine. Found a 6X5GT,  hung a 6V6 type output transformer on, ( its a 6BW6 output valve ) workshop speaker and aerial connected then run up with all the valves back in produced very little, just an extremely quiet  squeak of Radio 4 on what I take to be long wave. So the local oscillator is running and all the valves work.

Moving the aerial to the grid of the mixer produced stations on medium wave and Radio 4 on long wave at fair volume so there was some thing amiss with the front end. Turned out to be broken coils on both the medium and long aerial tuning transformers, they are open, no cans fitted like the short wave transformer, and have presumably suffered over the years.
Very careful removal and inspection found the long wave one broken near the connection to the feed through wire, easily re-soldered but the medium one needed the first 8 turns taken off till I found the break in the Litz wire. Now I have reception, the short wave will not pick anything up on the tiny aerial in the shop but the transformers check out OK so it should work with a decent aerial.

A quick check of the output valve grid showed a positive few volts so the coupling cap was changed along with the HT line decoupling caps, usual leaky waxies. The other waxies are cathode bypass and in minor low voltage places, they all seem to be happy as they are.
The electroytics in the can are fine, running cold.

Now there is good volume, for a while, then massive distortion. The tone corrector cap, a Hunts brown horror, is bubbling. It is 0.002mf 300v AC rated so out with it and in with a 1000v replacement. Still bad sound that faded out to nothing.  The output transformer has died! Not surprising, its an ancient one from the reclaimed parts bin. Another restored full and better sound.

So there we are to date. Needs an eye, 6U6G straight sided octal if I can be bothered finding one, a good cleaning, reassembly and another one saved.