UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Powered By Google Custom Search Vintage Radio and TV Service Data

Go Back   UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum > Specific Vintage Equipment > Vintage Amateur and Military Radio

Notices

Vintage Amateur and Military Radio Amateur/military receivers and transmitters, morse, and any other related vintage comms equipment.

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old 20th Aug 2017, 5:07 pm   #1
saddlestone-man
Hexode
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Cirencester, Gloucestershire, UK.
Posts: 391
Default Identify this Radio?

Hello All

I picked up this interesting (to me anyway) radio at the Rugby rally today. It looks like something from the US that's found its way over here. There's a three gang tuning capacitor so it has an RF amplifier. It looks military, but not rugged enough to used anywhere near combat.

The valves are: 7A7, 7Q7, 7A7, 7B6, 7C5.

It's rigged to work off external power, but it looks like it could have originally been fitted with a mains transformer and rectifier.

It has SC 6732A printed on the rear panel. Can anyone put a date and make/model number to it.

best regards ... Stef
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	P8201439.jpg
Views:	462
Size:	88.1 KB
ID:	148159   Click image for larger version

Name:	P8201440.jpg
Views:	376
Size:	107.6 KB
ID:	148160  
saddlestone-man is offline  
Old 20th Aug 2017, 5:30 pm   #2
Cobaltblue
Moderator
 
Cobaltblue's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Exeter, Devon and Poole, Dorset UK.
Posts: 6,823
Default Re: Identify this Radio?

I can't help you with this particular set but it looks like what is often referred to as a NAAFI Set.

Cheers

Mike T
__________________
Invisible airwaves crackle with life or at least they used to
Mike T BVWS member.
www.cossor.co.uk
Cobaltblue is online now  
Old 20th Aug 2017, 5:32 pm   #3
G6Tanuki
Dekatron
 
G6Tanuki's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 13,951
Default Re: Identify this Radio?

Looks intriguing: the use of "Loktal" valves [rather than mid-WWII-era B7G types] would put it early in WWII timescales.

Definitely not a 'portable' - by the early-1940s Hallicrafters etc. had the likes of the "SKy Traveler" S29 on the market to address the niche: http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/hallicr..._s_29_s29.html

Lack of a BFO, however, marks it out as an 'entertainment' radio rather than a communications-set.

What are its power-supply needs? The big transformer-shaped hole in the chassis and empty valve-socket make me think it was originally intended to run on AC supplies.
G6Tanuki is offline  
Old 20th Aug 2017, 7:47 pm   #4
turretslug
Dekatron
 
turretslug's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Surrey, UK.
Posts: 4,385
Default Re: Identify this Radio?

It's a near-certainty that "SC" is a Signal Corps (i.e. US) designation- a query on one of the American vintage websites might be fruitful, I wouldn't be surprised of lots of these were made for field "morale" purposes and then dumped NOS on the market post-war.

In a sympathy-for-the-underdog sort of way, I quite like the loktal valve series- like the rimlock series, the presentation may have been misconceived, but the valves per se do a perfecrly good job for the most part. The main short-coming is short pins, leading to contact dependability problems. Quite a bit of the more "peripheral" US military kit seemed to use them- could it be that the earlier but tough and proven metal octal types were favoured for front-line kit and loktals, appearing in quantity for civilian use just pre-war, were used for less critical kit to ease possible production bottle-necks?

Maybe the original mains transformer was a 110V-only type, or just a commercial quality item that expired at some point.? I'd say this set ought to be a good performer, but the elephant in the room is the declining AM transmitter scene! Shame about the lack of LW, but hardly surprising in a US-originated set.

The B9a valve-socket on the LHS suggests something like a 7Y4-to-EZ80 adaptation?

Last edited by turretslug; 20th Aug 2017 at 7:55 pm. Reason: Supplement.
turretslug is offline  
Old 20th Aug 2017, 8:32 pm   #5
G3VKM_Roger
Heptode
 
G3VKM_Roger's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Southeast Norfolk, UK.
Posts: 772
Default Re: Identify this Radio?

I did a search on US WW2 morale radios and a lot of images came up. This link shows something like yours:


http://www.ohio.edu/people/postr/bapix/6000-bac.htm

Google images was my search engine.

73

Roger
G3VKM_Roger is offline  
Old 20th Aug 2017, 8:32 pm   #6
Alf
Hexode
 
Alf's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 479
Default Re: Identify this Radio?

Another clue as to its American origin is the use of BC for Broadcast instead of medium wave.
Alf is offline  
Old 20th Aug 2017, 8:41 pm   #7
saddlestone-man
Hexode
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Cirencester, Gloucestershire, UK.
Posts: 391
Default Re: Identify this Radio?

Thanks Roger, that looks very like my radio, but a different version. Well spotted!

My radio is powered by flying leads for the HT and LT, obviously after the original power supply was stripped out.

best regards ... Stef
saddlestone-man is offline  
Old 20th Aug 2017, 9:03 pm   #8
ms660
Dekatron
 
ms660's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Cornwall, UK.
Posts: 13,454
Default Re: Identify this Radio?

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...iver-246029409

Lawrence.
ms660 is offline  
Old 20th Aug 2017, 9:10 pm   #9
G3VKM_Roger
Heptode
 
G3VKM_Roger's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Southeast Norfolk, UK.
Posts: 772
Default Re: Identify this Radio?

Ummm, no doubt these radios were occasionally carried or used in jeeps, but to describe it as a "Jeep Radio" is pushing it a little! Having said that, I do have a photo of a BC-610 transmitter in a jeep but I'd hardly describe the '610 as a jeep radio!

Roger

Last edited by G3VKM_Roger; 20th Aug 2017 at 9:14 pm. Reason: add
G3VKM_Roger is offline  
Old 20th Aug 2017, 9:19 pm   #10
Station X
Moderator
 
Station X's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4, UK.
Posts: 21,192
Default Re: Identify this Radio?

Looks like it may have originally been fitted with a vibrator and associated transformer.
__________________
Graham. Forum Moderator

Reach for your meter before you reach for your soldering iron.
Station X is online now  
Old 20th Aug 2017, 9:32 pm   #11
saddlestone-man
Hexode
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Cirencester, Gloucestershire, UK.
Posts: 391
Default Re: Identify this Radio?

I've just been looking at some pictures of radio installations in Jeeps and as expected, they are all of rugged transmitter/receiver/control unit combinations. Judging by the sort of bumps and shaking about that jeeps typically endured, I don't think my radio would have lasted very long.
saddlestone-man is offline  
Old 20th Aug 2017, 9:44 pm   #12
ms660
Dekatron
 
ms660's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Cornwall, UK.
Posts: 13,454
Default Re: Identify this Radio?

It's hardly an "installation" type radio, neither is it a comms set, quite likely they were carried around in some Jeeps just as much as in any other vehicle for general entertainment.

Lawrence.
ms660 is offline  
Old 26th Aug 2017, 10:45 pm   #13
majoconz
Heptode
 
majoconz's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Ashhurst, Manawatu, New Zealand
Posts: 570
Default Re: Identify this Radio?

The transformer and other power supply components were perhaps stripped out as it may have been for 117v 60Hz - not that the frequency matters much.
__________________
Cheers - Martin ZL2MC
majoconz is offline  
Old 26th Aug 2017, 11:50 pm   #14
Herald1360
Dekatron
 
Herald1360's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK.
Posts: 16,526
Default Re: Identify this Radio?

Quote:
Originally Posted by majoconz View Post
......... it may have been for 117v 60Hz - not that the frequency matters much.
It can, if the 60Hz transformer design is cheesepared to the limit it will overheat on 117V 50Hz supplies.
__________________
....__________
....|____||__|__\_____
.=.| _---\__|__|_---_|.
.........O..Chris....O
Herald1360 is offline  
Old 15th Sep 2017, 8:35 am   #15
jsbhavsar
Pentode
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Mumbai, India
Posts: 148
Default Re: Identify this Radio?

Does the 3-section tuning gang indicate that the radio had a "tuned RF stage"?
jsbhavsar is offline  
Old 15th Sep 2017, 3:16 pm   #16
AC/HL
Dekatron
 
AC/HL's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 9,637
Default Re: Identify this Radio?

The circuit diagram linked to in post 8, although it's only a thumbnail, shows an RF stage.
AC/HL is offline  
Old 15th Sep 2017, 4:53 pm   #17
turretslug
Dekatron
 
turretslug's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Surrey, UK.
Posts: 4,385
Default Re: Identify this Radio?

Whilst it's a straightforward-to-use broadcast receiver, it's intended role could have involved it being sat on the ground on a remote Pacific island with whatever handy bit of wire could be found as an aerial, and with a fair amount of military comms rattling around in the vicinity at various frequencies- so both the extra sensitivity and front-end selectivity resulting from an RF stage would have been considered worthwhile.
turretslug is offline  
Old 23rd Oct 2017, 11:43 am   #18
boxdoctor
Rest in Peace
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Ripley, Derbyshire, UK.
Posts: 785
Default Re: Identify this Radio?

Quote:
Originally Posted by G3VKM_Roger View Post
Ummm, no doubt these radios were occasionally carried or used in jeeps, but to describe it as a "Jeep Radio" is pushing it a little! Having said that, I do have a photo of a BC-610 transmitter in a jeep but I'd hardly describe the '610 as a jeep radio!
As I understand it, the term "Jeep" was originally a U.S. military slang abbreviation for General Purpose, and subsequently became mostly associated with the ubiquitous Pick-up truck usually referred to as a "Jeep", as it was a general purpose vehicle. So Jeep in the original context could well apply to your radio. Tony
boxdoctor is offline  
Closed Thread

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 6:41 pm.


All information and advice on this forum is subject to the WARNING AND DISCLAIMER located at https://www.vintage-radio.net/rules.html.
Failure to heed this warning may result in death or serious injury to yourself and/or others.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 - 2023, Paul Stenning.