Help identifying Pye Radiogram

[tyrestyres]

Hi all,
First time poster here so any help would be appreciated. I am looking to try and identify the model number of this Pye Radiogram that I picked up about 3 years ago.
When I bought it, it was just about playing a Vinyl and with that I left it be with the intention of getting it serviced and restored. Three years have passed and it stands as a very nice piece of furniture of anything in my living room.
Looking for help in sourcing an old manual or user guide as I have somebody local here in the West of Ireland lined up to take a look at it.
Any help appreciated.

Tyrestyres

[simpsons]

Well, this is an unusual radiogram in that it is am only. Please confirm MW; LW & SW is shown on the dial.

Possibly built in Ireland for that market only. The Garrard autoslim record deck dates it from around 1959

What also makes the gram unusual is, from the photo, the use of a printed circuit for the audio stage using an EABC80 and I guess EL84.

Also, the tuning capacitor usually found above the chassis must, I assume, to be underneath.

Should the issue be that you wish that the radio doesn't work, then it looks as though the ECH81 valve, the one with the white colouring at the top of the glass, has got air into it. This will need replacing before anything else.

Other members might be able to narrow down the model but, I would think, any general am radio circuit using the valve line up ECH81 etc is all you would need.

Chris

[tyrestyres]

Thanks Chris for your reply. Attached is photo of the radio interface. Trying to gather as much information as possible on it before I hand it over to a guy here that said he would take a look at it for me.
Appears to be LW/MW/TW/SW as opposed to sole AM.

[paulsherwin]

It's not unusual to find relatively upmarket radiograms and radios made for the Irish market which don't have FM, simply because FM broadcasting started fairly late there. The Pye factory in Dublin had a lot of autonomy, and their models often aren't closely related to British ones.

As Chris says, one of the valves appears to have gone to air (the white milky colour at the top is a giveaway). That will definitely need replacement.

[Techman]

Your radio guy, if he knows his stuff, should easily be able to work on this radiogram without a circuit diagram by using the readily available valve data on-line. A circuit is 'nice-to-have' and really helps with tracing difficult faults, but I suspect that just replacing that obvious 'gone to air' valve and several critical small paper capacitors on that piggy back circuit board will have the radiogram up and running in no time, unless you're unlucky and it needs the main electrolytic smoothing can replacing too, but that's not the end of the world and is easily done.

That type of cartridge in the pickup head with a 'turnover' that projects from the front of the head is likely to be faulty by now and even if it's not, it shouldn't really be used for playing stereo records, as it will likely spoil them, so budget for a new 'stereo compatible' cartridge, even though this is a 'mono' reproducing radiogram.

Please note that if the set works by just replacing the blown valve and fitting a new cartridge in the record player, there will still be probably at least couple of those small capacitors that will need replacing to stop it burning out after an hour or two of use, as it may turn out to be beyond repair if this happens - if the repair guy is not sure about these capacitors, then he needs to ask, or tell you to ask.

[Edward Huggins]

Interesting to see as I don't remember this at all. It does look as it was made in the Dundrum factory. If it were a Cambridge built export model, there would be a Blue Serial plate on the rear of the chassis. That Garrard "Autoslim" deck would date this to mid-1960 at the earliest. Yes, I can see that Acos turnover mono-only cartridge and this really should be changed. Hopefully, that's not a Stereo LP on the platter!

[simpsons]

Good morning County Galway.

Techman makes some very good points and his advice is spot on.

The letters LW, MW, TW and SW are shorthand for Long Wave. which is where you will find RTE Radio 1 on 252Khz. Medium Wave, which Spirit Radio on 549Khz seems to be still on air plus others not listed. Trawler Wave sometimes also called Trawler Band - I had to look up as it pre dates my interest in radio - was once where ship to shore, you guessed it, fishing vessels communicated using these frequencies. Short Wave, depending on the frequency covered will still reward you with "China Calling" and a host of radio stations around the world where it is needed to cover wide distance for local reception or to maintain links with nationals unable to log on to the internet service if provided. These are all AM or Amplitude Modulated radio frequencies. The other expression is FM or Frequency Modulated.

Good luck

Chris