Portadyne A52

[Wijnand]

I came across this radio on Marktplaats (Dutch e-bay) in January 2023 and paid 25 euros for it, without knowing what brand and type of radio it was. When I got home I saw that it was a Portadyne A52. A brand I had never heard of.

The case had clear signs of wear, the glass window of the tuning scale and the rosette on the hands are missing. The radio was not in very good condition.
The wiring was a mess, components were missing, and electrolytic capacitors had been replaced with electrolytic capacitors with the wrong value.

The biggest problem was not being able to find information and a diagram of the Portadyne A52. After a lot of research I found information on this forum and on the Italian forum elettronicaaltramonto.
I have the schematic for a Portadyne J/A.C. Jubilee Superhet used as a starting point while revising this radio.

While overhauling this radio I came to appreciate the Portadyne brand more and more, this radio has a chassis as if it were a Landrover. Rock solid and simple, a real 'no nonsense' radio.

The old lacquer has been removed from the cabinet and re-varnished. All old Sator capacitors have been replaced, the electrolytic capacitors have been replaced and decayed wiring has been replaced. I used a convex glass from a clock as a new tuning window, and I made a rosette from the top of an old electrolytic cup for the tuning hands.

Ultimately I managed to restore this radio to its former glory, the radio works again and in the evening the sound of the BBC can be heard from the loudspeaker again. In short, a project that I learned from and had a lot of fun with.

Wijnand

[medge799]

What a lovely job you have made of that, Wijnand! Impressed!

[vinrads]

Hi Wijnand what a fantastic job you have made restoring the Portadyne I do like radios with the aeroplane dial looks lovely . Mick.

[dave walsh]

Yes a very nice restoration there If you search again in the top box Wijnand there are quite a few references to Portadyne items, including the A52. I have a radiogram with a classic heavy duty Bakelite arm on the deck plus one of their table top valve models. There are comments that giving the products a Model number wasn't always exactly a priority but I think the radios might have been few and far between as the brand name was passed on, like sets made by Ferranti in the North of England, which was mainly heavy engineering The Company goes back to 1925 and was set up by a British Scientist, Joshua Sieger, who'd invented a new portable radio system called the Olympus and wanted to sell it. He was involved in early projection television systems and secret war time work here and in America. He died in 1993.

Dave W

[Phil G4SPZ]

Excellent work! Well done.

[MurphyNut]

Well done! you've gone a step further than I have with mine. I've done the cabinet, it was in a bad state. But not got around to getting sound out of it as yet.
I like the styling of the set, when I first saw it I assumed it was American!