A very fine condition Jewel case radio, first produced in August 1955 costing £9 9s 6d and batteries cost extra.
The radio is very sensistive and comes complete with a copy of the original user instructions and Gurantee.The radio comes complete with Ever Ready B126 90 Volt and AD35 1.5 Volt LT batteries so ready to go. The radio offeres two bands Medium Wave and Long Wave
This early transistor portable radio, has all its original guarantee card and repair/service receipts from 1964 & 1966.
The radio was first produced by E.K.Cole Ltd in 1960 and costing £10 6s 8d plus tax, so was quite exspensive, but allowing the owner to have a small portable radio of only 8 inches width. The circuit uses the OC range of transistors and now with the standard 470 Khz I.F frequency. It offeres tunuable Medium wave and fixed Long wave reception. The radio is in overall good condition with only wear to the EKCO label on the front case. The radio has had all the de-coubling components repaced including all the electorolitic capacitors as well. Often when a radio in this case 55 years old age related issues start to show. The radio works very well and very selective to the positioning of the Ferrite aerial. The radio originaly would have had a PP4 9.0Volt battery this has been replaced to fit the standard PP3 today.
The radio comes complete with its original presentation box, see photo's as well as original documentation and service history and 1 years gurantee.
Very nice clean example of the popular Bush DAC range this being the early version in Walnut finish, as it is not in black this must be a slightly later production run and has the unusal gold finish behind the tuning dial plateI would place this around 1948.
The popular DAC 90 series started off with the 90 and was produced from 1946, though i cannot find a month when production started. As the A version was produced in 1950 these were soon upgraded and the reasons why are offered here. First of all the larger mains dropper was installed to the rear and perhaps this was to reduce in the Bakerlite case the heat given off by this, and therfore reducing stress. The valves installed at this time had lower heater operating voltages so clearly the mains dropper resistor to reduce the voltage down would have to be quite large in size, within a short period higher heater voltage valves were produced and helped to aid in the reduction of the size of this resistor and was installed in the new A series away from the rear cover. The tuning control is fitted on the right hand side and is fitted to the tuning capacitor via its long shaft through the MW and LW aerial so pending stray capacitance from your hand it is possible to notice a slight alignment movement of the signal as your hand moves away from this, though slight,perhaps on weak stations this might be more noticable. These first models have the speaker connected to its chassis, and later to aid in production costs the A series had this fitted seperately, again the speaker grill here cloth in this model was replaced with a punched out metal grill, (more cost effective). And just a matter of interest , the pilot lamp used for the display was fitted in the centre only, while the A series models had two one either side.
That aside of the historic development, how does this radio compare today. It was a hit then and these little radio's are still sought after today, it works very well indeed and as standard all de-coupling components replaced,all electrolitic capacitors, a number of cathode resistors were replaced. The mains dropper has been replaced with new old stock. All the valves were tested and only one was out of specification. The two I.F coils were replaced as the original Ferrite tuning cores had come loose, a lot of new wire around the HT side has also been renewed and then I.F and RF alignment undertaken, so its now good as it gets. Comes with its original 2 pin mains plug and 6 months guarantee.
The photos reveils the original speaker cloth, as this has only starting to show some sign of wear I felt it was part of its history and deserves to stay
The most popular classic radio availible is the Iconic Bush DAC90A. A five valve radio, AC/DC transportable superhetrodyne receiver which has Medium Wave and Long wave switchable from the side. These receivers are small in size 9.25 inches height, 7.5 inches depth and 12.75 inches in width and therefore fit comfortably in any modern home.To ensure reliabilty as standard all the components that would require replacement have been done. The radio had never been opened, and the original light fitting attachment was still connected to the rear socket, the audio output transformer primary had gone open circuit and the 250 ohm current reducer to the half wave rectifier was also open circuit, so it looks as this fault was resonsible for the radio being stored away sometime in the 60's. The I.F section and RF sections have been aligned and therefore is very sensistive and responsive.
Due to its simple chassis and good design this is a radio you can use and enjoy every day, another added bonus is now the avaliabilty of the original 3.5 Volt dial lamps to improve the tuning dial though still rather dim. This one as can be seen in the photo is finished in a Walnut stylel (Bakelite) though a plastic variation of Bakelite (Catalin) can be found in the Ivory version though, these are in fact trade names of the product, but Catlin is more brittle and models are often shown with either cracks or chips to the body, this model is a perfect example
As with all these models the power supply is a simple half wave rectifier but works very well. These use a UL41 as an audio output valve, if at times you hear a slight mains hum, often the fault will be due to a cathode to heater leak, I have found this on many of these valves hence a new replacement valve has been fitted.
This model is in very good condition with no marking to the polished cabinet, the contol knobs are perfect. I haver never quite understood why you see damage to these as often as you do it would be the last thing to get misuse and comes complete with the original 2 pin plug, including the 12 months guarantee, would make either a great present or why not just treat yourself.
This is for the serious early transistor radio collector the Pye P191BQ type chassis , though it is not identical in layout, electronicaly its the same , there is even one at the Science Musuem in London. The radio needed minimum work undertaken to ensure it works to the original specification with just 4 coupling components and all the electrolitics replaced. This must be a mid concept model as the voltage required is the same as the first units, but within 3 years 9.0 Volt was standard
The chassis is different to the first model but still runs on 6.0 Volt
The radio is tuneable on medium wave and LW . On the broadcast bands the radio work very well and the Ferrite rod aerial is very sensitive in direction.The audio output is very good and clear. The I.F circuit has been re-aligned to peak it to full performance
Overall condition is very good and comes complete with its original battery holder. Comes complete with 4 AA battery's and full 1 years gurantee
Chassis exposed with the top speaker cover removed , the variable tuning capacitor is fitted via the top plate, within a space of a year the ferrite rod has now been upgraded to circular version, the 150 mw or so of audio output is taken from the push/pull audio transistors visible on the lower left hand side of the picture, again far left is the output transformer, the green components are the 0.1 uf capacitors that were replaced.
Another early portable transistor radio, the specification is identical to the previous model shown above. The radio has had all the work required to ensure it works well on both Medium and Long wave. The transistors are all original and this runs off from a 9.0Volt PP3 supplied.
General condition is good, with slight ware to one of the rear press studs, the only difference is the leather case is in red.
offered with 1 years gurantee
This is for the serious early transistor radio collector the Pye P191BQ, there is even one at the Science Musuem in London. One of the pioneering models. This radio has had a lot of work undertaken to ensure it works to the original specification with some general coupling components and one audio output transistor where the base lead came off after works were completed replaced.
The chassis is the same as the P160BQ and the radio uses a 6 volt supply, the transistors of this period are identified as to there purpose by just a single number 1 to 6 and the output transistors were supplied by Newmarket Transistor co.
The radio is tuneable on medium wave and preset to LW channel 1500m, which means its slightly off frequency to Radio 4 these days. The local oscillator coil L4 tuning slug has been glued in place, so I'm reluctant to attempt to re-tuning it as damage would mean no replacement possible, though the Pye P123BQ is a similar chassis the oscillator coil though similar is not suitable. On Medium wave the radio work very well and the Ferrite rod aerial is very sensitive in direction. The I.F circuit has been set and interesting that the sensitivity limits to around 80 - 100 micro-volt input, unlike slightly later radio's of the 1960 - 61 period which you can acheive 10 - 20 micro volt sensitivity. The radio general condition is good and good volume is possible from the 50 mm loud speaker.
The radio is part of early transistor design and would have been very exspensive to have purchased, the 6 volt supply is via 4 1.5 volt AA cells supplied.
The radio comes complete with 6 months warranty
The Pye P191BQ chassis , interesting when fault finding this radio part of the return circuit, in this period postive uses the aluminium case to connect the circuits together, if not known the first I.F stage is in fact not operating, As can be seen in the picture the phase splitter audio transformer is on the far left hand side , while the centre tapped audio output transformer is in the middle. The space between to allow the speaker to fit. The local oscillator coil L4 is just to the left of the audio output transformer.
The Pye P191BQ with the cover plate now installed, again the tuning capacitor only is connected when fitted to this plate. There are holes in the plate to allow final tuning of the I.F coils and Local oscillator coil.
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