18th Aug 2017, 3:22 pm | #1 |
Hexode
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Stourbridge, West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 434
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Ekco U195
I have just restored an Ekco U195 and wonder why Ekco really made these sets as pre-selection instead of the normal tuning arrangement?
I would imagine the blind would benefit from these sets, as well as those with any type of handicap that would make a normally tuned set a challenge to operate? I personally like them, the rapid station change is very handy! |
18th Aug 2017, 3:32 pm | #2 |
Banned
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Middlewich, Cheshire, UK. & Winter in the Philippines.
Posts: 3,897
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Re: Ekco U195
It was a fashion of the times, didn't last long as folks wanted to tune in to other stations as well.
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18th Aug 2017, 3:44 pm | #3 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,966
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Re: Ekco U195
Plenty of people only ever listened to one or two BBC stations, so a preset radio made sense to them. A great aunt of mine only listened to the Light Programme / R2 and was incapable of tuning in a radio herself. She was reasonably competent in other respects, running a large primary school for a decade in the 60s.
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18th Aug 2017, 3:56 pm | #4 |
Hexode
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Stourbridge, West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 434
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Re: Ekco U195
That would make sense because when this set was made,there really was only 3 BBC stations to choose from, my nan only ever listened to R2.
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18th Aug 2017, 8:07 pm | #5 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Biggin Hill, London, UK.
Posts: 5,215
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Re: Ekco U195
There was a clock-radio version of the U195 called the A222. It is the same radio chassis with a Smiths electic clock/switch/alarm buzzer added. It's AC-only due to the clock motor, but the radio is the same AC/DC live chassis unit. Not one of my favourite sets to work on as there's the frame aerial on the inside of the back cover connected to the chassis by 3 fairly short wires which have the annoying habit of coming adrift when you least expect it
There are a couple of feet -- rectangular bakelite things the full depth of the case -- screwed to the bottom. These cover the chassis mounting screws. They can break away from the mountings and get lost at which point the radio still works fine but those exposed chassis screws could be live. And of course 3 of the 4 valves are B8A types, so remove the spring ring from the holders before you break the locator 'pip' and ruin a valve. |