[Lloyd 1985]

I always fancied one of these sets, I missed out on one at college, along with its transmitter T1154. A few years back I finally managed to get hold of a really scruffy looking one, I paid £165 for it, some might say I’d been ripped off, especially when seeing it in its very poor condition! Much to my surprise it was fairly complete, the DF valves had been removed, but the circuitry underneath was still intact, there was a bonus audio output stage tucked into a tiny space under the chassis too. On removing a metal plate on the front of the set I discovered the Jones connectors too! All it needed was a damn good clean and polish, and it came up lovely, the dial surround had a coat of paint and the set now looks great. It even works to some extent! I did start replacing capacitors, but ran out of wire, so it’s been on hold for a little while now. I also purchased another one, at RetroTech last year for all of £25! It was going to be a parts set, to rob a few bits for the first one, but then I discovered it was more intact than I first thought, and it also works too, so it’s being restored!

I did do a lot of research before buying one, I also wanted it to be as original as possible, so I didn’t have to mess about rebuilding the DF stages, or undoing any serious bodgery, I think I got lucky with my two! There are some ‘optimistically’ priced sets on auction sites at the moment, I saw one at £400 not long ago, and it was a total shed! You might spend ages shopping around for one, but it’s worth waiting for a good one to pop up.

Good luck with your search, and the move to Banbury! I used to live not far from there, in a town called Daventry, now I live right under the flight path of the BBMF Lancaster bomber!

Regards
Lloyd