UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum - View Single Post

Mr 1936 · 11th Sep 2019, 9:34 am

I have a Ferguson 385RG Radiogram from the mid 1950's which bears a remarkable resemblance to the picture you posted. Which is rather strange as I think Invicta was part of Pye in Cambridge whereas Ferguson were part of the Thorn Group.

Anyway, typical of the time would be a VHF aerial socket with two closely spaced sockets, one a little larger than the other. Stapled inside the cabinet would be a "get you going" shortened and bent dipole with a flying lead and 2 pin plug plugged into said socket. If this wasn't up to the job, you could unplug it and substitute a better loft or outdoor dipole using 75 ohm coax. Bear in mind though that Invicta may have adopted a different setup.

On my 385 the LW/MW (AM) aerial is a ferrite rod, which were just coming into use in that period. There is no external AM aerial option. The rod can be rotated somewhat by a cunning toothed wheel accessible next to the autochanger. This avoided the problem of being unlucky and having the null of the aerial coinciding with your favourite station, as it wan't very practical to rotate the whole radiogram !

Good luck with the Resto !

11th Sep 2019, 9:34 am	#5
Mr 1936 Heptode Join Date: Mar 2017 Location: Romsey, Hampshire, UK. Posts: 521	Re: Invicta VHF Aerial. I have a Ferguson 385RG Radiogram from the mid 1950's which bears a remarkable resemblance to the picture you posted. Which is rather strange as I think Invicta was part of Pye in Cambridge whereas Ferguson were part of the Thorn Group. Anyway, typical of the time would be a VHF aerial socket with two closely spaced sockets, one a little larger than the other. Stapled inside the cabinet would be a "get you going" shortened and bent dipole with a flying lead and 2 pin plug plugged into said socket. If this wasn't up to the job, you could unplug it and substitute a better loft or outdoor dipole using 75 ohm coax. Bear in mind though that Invicta may have adopted a different setup. On my 385 the LW/MW (AM) aerial is a ferrite rod, which were just coming into use in that period. There is no external AM aerial option. The rod can be rotated somewhat by a cunning toothed wheel accessible next to the autochanger. This avoided the problem of being unlucky and having the null of the aerial coinciding with your favourite station, as it wan't very practical to rotate the whole radiogram ! Good luck with the Resto !