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Vintage Amateur and Military Radio Amateur/military receivers and transmitters, morse, and any other related vintage comms equipment. |
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4th Jun 2018, 2:00 pm | #1 |
Triode
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: New Holland, North Lincolnshire, UK.
Posts: 10
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Would like info on this please. "EMI (Hayes Middlesex) ALL WAVE RECEIVER TYPE RR20".
I assume that this set is military just from its appearance. The label plate has been removed and all that is left is an EMI radio sales plate. Help please. Fuzz
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4th Jun 2018, 2:24 pm | #2 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 14,010
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Re: Would like info on this please
Looks to me more like something where the electronics/chassis intended for original fitment in a radiogram have been fitted to a metal front-plate.
The wavechange-switch has the ordinary shortwave-broadcast-bands identified in Metres; military stuff would cover non-broadcast bands and be calibrated in Megacycles/Megahertz. |
4th Jun 2018, 2:31 pm | #3 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,970
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Re: Would like info on this please
It's certainly an odd thing. The radio section seems a bit OTT for a radiogram chassis, having a tuned RF stage and lots of bandspreaded SW bands. On the other hand it does look like a broadcast receiver rather than a strictly military set. My first reaction was that it might have come from a ship, but it looks as if it's fitted with a conventional mains transformer which would be unusual for maritime gear.
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4th Jun 2018, 2:40 pm | #4 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Surrey, UK.
Posts: 4,400
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Re: Would like info on this please
Perhaps a member of a small but eclectic club, the "broadcast monitor", not quite a comms receiver but nonetheless a quality tuner. A tuned RF stage goes almost without saying and refinements like 2 IF stages, possibly a separate LO valve also sometimes feature. Possibly it has history with someone like the BBC?
That tuning scale Bakelite surround bezel looks very pre-war EMI (Marconi/HMV), the scalloping in the middle normally accommodates an end-on magic eye. Perhaps a pragmatic production choice of a plentiful item for a low-run radio? Certainly an above-average set that's worth restoring- though with a steadily-diminishing choice of broadcast stations to pick up! |
4th Jun 2018, 9:48 pm | #5 |
Nonode
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Cambridge, Cambs. UK.
Posts: 2,198
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Re: Would like info on this please
There are two important clues here:
1. It's adapted for 19-inch rack mounting, suggesting that the rack could have contained power amplifier(s) feeding a speaker network. 2. The multi-waveband tuner is unusual, extending way beyond the usual MW and LW BBC stations It might have served as the basis of a factory 'Music While You Work' system, so popular in the immediate post-war years, though the short-wave bands would then have been superfluous. Through its power amplifiers, it might have fed a 'Rediffusion' type of radio relay system feeding a large network of speakers in peoples' homes. Such systems, with their powerful audio amplifiers of 1kW or so, were popular not only in Britain, but also in the outposts of Empire; remnants of such a system are, for example, to be found throughout Barbados. The short-wave radio tuner would then have received the BBC World Service, or the Empire Service as it was then known. Just a series of guesses, but may give some clues. Martin
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4th Jun 2018, 10:17 pm | #6 |
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Re: Would like info on this please
Could it possibly be an entertainment radio for a passenger liner?
It's not of the grade that marine or military purposes would need, but the provision of plenty of SW broadcast bands would start to make sense on a vessel that wandered the world, but passengers or crew would need entertainment and news from 'back home'. Dynatron did such things. David
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4th Jun 2018, 10:26 pm | #7 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,970
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Re: Would like info on this please
That was my thought too, but didn't ships have different power supply arrangements?
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4th Jun 2018, 10:57 pm | #8 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Ramsbottom (Nr Bury) Lancs or Bexhill (Nr Hastings) Sussex.
Posts: 5,817
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Re: Would like info on this please
My first thought this afternoon was the RGD Ether Conqueror, a Radiogram I [annoyingly] failed to buy in the Battle Auctions a few years back. This has a half moon SW orientated scale when previous ones had been oblong and more conventional. I've mentioned this a few times as it eventually transpired that the "RGD" Tuner had been marketed as a stand alone unit in a nice wooden cabinet.
It was based though on a commercial RX unit [Marconi origin?] as advertised in W World. I can't find my posts on this or print outs at the moment but it is a relatively sophisticated RX. The OP's item has an EMI nameplate at the rear. I doubt I'm on the right track [after all this] because the scale/knobs pattern doesn't seem match enough and the tuner unit I identified is not as large or square to my recollection. An intriguing enquiry non the less! Dave |
4th Jun 2018, 11:30 pm | #9 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Fakenham, Norfolk, UK.
Posts: 4,259
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Re: Would like info on this please
Hello Dave,
I think the difficulty in finding your former posts will be because the manufacturer involved was Dynatron, not RGD - https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...ad.php?t=90451 is one relevant thread. The metal-cased Marconi receiver was based, if memory serves, on a chassis designed for Dynatron radiograms, rather than the other way round. The present set is certainly reminiscent of the Marconi and would have had a similar purpose, but I doubt Dynatron were involved in it. Paul |
5th Jun 2018, 12:35 am | #10 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Ramsbottom (Nr Bury) Lancs or Bexhill (Nr Hastings) Sussex.
Posts: 5,817
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Re: Would like info on this please
Thank you very much for that info Paul spot on! Same name -different Company. I was hoping that somebody would put their finger on the problem when my brain fades [It's doing that a lot at present] This is the benefit of being in an enthusiasts Forum as opposed to just a bog standard website in my opinion. Good man .
Dave Last edited by dave walsh; 5th Jun 2018 at 12:50 am. |
5th Jun 2018, 12:37 am | #11 |
Octode
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Gloucestershire, UK.
Posts: 1,043
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Re: Would like info on this please
Hello,
I have one of these but I don't have access to it as it is at at my other address at the moment. However from my ebay purchase history it is an "EMI (Hayes Middlesex) ALL WAVE RECEIVER TYPE RR20". Yours, Richard |
5th Jun 2018, 12:49 am | #12 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Ramsbottom (Nr Bury) Lancs or Bexhill (Nr Hastings) Sussex.
Posts: 5,817
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Re: Would like info on this please
Well that's conclusive Richard. I could only make out EMI on the photo-well done! As for the thread linked in by Paul, it is invaluable in illustrating how complex and interesting the question of ID can be. As I said [in 2012] it would have been very difficult for me to learn anything without all the input from other members. A very satisfying result I think!
Dave |
6th Jun 2018, 12:03 pm | #13 |
Triode
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: New Holland, North Lincolnshire, UK.
Posts: 10
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Re: Would like info on this please. "EMI (Hayes Middlesex) ALL WAVE RECEIVER TYPE RR2
Thank you all for your help and info as to the origin of the radio. Fuzz
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