1939 Ever Ready portable.

[chipp1968]

I purchased this set at reasonable cost recently and it arrived this morning.

The cabinet was very faded and dirty. I cleaned it. The unfaded underside revealed that it was originally bright red and black crazed finish, quite vibrant and atractive, so I purchased some red spirit stain and by a miracle it completely revived the colour.

I gave it three applications, followed by three coats of melamine lacquer put on with a cloth, then wirewool and wax to finish.

I cleaned the chassis and renewed some perished wire.

The speaker was gritty so I dismantled it. One of the bolts sheared, but it went back together with ok with the three remaining. I had to heat the celluloid dial window to flatten it, I then polished it with T-cut and refitted it. I resoldered a few loose wires and refitted everything in cabinet.

By some miracle the thing seems to work perfectly with no component changes at all as yet! I am using one of Rod Burmans HT supplies plus LT. The set works very well, though the unit whines like a LOPT! I don't know whether it should or not. I haven't been able to use it until now.

I noticed it has had one or two Radiospares components in the past, though I doubt it has been in service for well over forty years. Quite a good days work for a change.

I noticed that the grille material was originally red as well, and I debated whether to stain that too. I decided not to as it has faded to a nice green and although the pic doesnt do it justice, the contrast is rather attractive with the red of the cabinet.

[Nickthedentist]

Wow, that's an incredible transoformation

What exactly is the "red spirit stain" which you mention?

Nick.

[chipp1968]

I got the stain from a local wood working place . It normally comes in wood type colours like walnut , but fortunately came in primary colours too ,and the red was nice and red . Made by Chestnut products . Spirit stain, quick drying and fade resistant

[Nickthedentist]

Thanks! I wonder how it would work on, say, a red Roberts R200. One to remember.

Nick.

[chipp1968]

It may do ok . you might need to seal it afterwards .

[Steve_P]

The cabinet is great, well done! I must remember that one.

If there is whining from the set or the PSU, I would check at least one capacitor though.

Cheers,

Steve P.

[Hermit6345]

That cabinet looks superb. What a transformation. Good tip on what to use to get it like that as well.

Ian

[geofy]

A very striking looking radio, excellent restoration. I like these portable sets. It is good to see that you made a repair to the speaker instead of scrapping it. The brass bolt might be removable if it was either chilled with freezer and/or some plus gas dripped in the thread but it would be difficult to get vice grips onto it. If the other three hold the magnet in place then it would not be worth trying. The broken off head could be glued on for appearance! The rust on the speaker could be treated with Jelonite or Hammerite Rust Beater (doesn’t seem to be called Finnigans anymore). There might only be one electrolytic and this could be the source of the whine if it has dried up. My Ferguson battery set did the same thing.

The Radiospares components are probably original, they where used as original parts on many radios back then. What is the valve line up in this one?

Geof

[chipp1968]

Thanks .I really an pleased with this set .It works really well . The wine is i hight pitch squeel from the power pack not from the set at all . Does this mean a problem ? I was loth to change anything as it was so good , but I dont want any damage to set or power pack of which wasnt cheap . I have run the set for quite a while though without any aparent probs . Steve which cap wouldyou check ? what you callthat cap ? which one is it ?
valves should be DK1 DF1 DAC1 DL2 though i think mone has had one changed for another base type

[geofy]

As long as the PSU is not showing signs of distress like getting hot then it is probably working ok. The capacitor is the grid coupler to the output valve, but for a battery set this is not going to be so highly stressed and if the radio is actually working and sounds ok then it is not causing a problem so why change it unnecessarily. Some output valves are push pull and transformer coupled so do not have 'that' cap. The HT current could be monitored to make sure it is at the correct level which would only be a few mA but a data sheet would give the correct value.

[chipp1968]

Thanks .The set does appear to work properly and sounds good as far as i can tell . It overloads at full vol . The power supply which uses two 4.5 v cells isnt even warm in use which is good , though it sings ! I have used it a few hours ,and just noticed some distortion , and so tested the 4.5 v cells which now read 4 v so it looks like it will eat them . Is this normal .I assumed it may do as its valve . but I dont know what to expect .Also I dont know how well the psu should behave in battery use . It was bought for later 50s sets,and designed for them ,so it may be underpowered slightly ?
Can you remind me how to test the MA ? I put+OF the meter on the +of the ht supply , neg onthe + pin so it flows through the meter which is switched to MA ?

[Nickthedentist]

Originally Posted by chipp1968

Can you remind me how to test the MA ? I put+OF the meter on the +of the ht supply , neg onthe + pin so it flows through the meter which is switched to MA ?

That sounds right

If you're using a digital meter, the polarity (+ and -) isn't important, you'll just see a minus sign before the numbers if the wires are backwards.

Note that on many meters, you have to plug the probes into different sockets too, when you're measuring current (mA).

Nick.

[chipp1968]

Just looked at the circuit and the only electrolytic is an 8mfd which is conected to the HT+ and to a common connection . would this cause early drain of batteries if not right ?and or thecause of the squeel ?

[Nickthedentist]

You could always lift one end and solder a modern replacement in and see if it makes any difference

[chipp1968]

I thought of that . I now need an 8mfd 150v electrolytic. I havnt got one

[geofy]

Originally Posted by geofy

There might only be one electrolytic and this could be the source of the whine if it has dried up. My Ferguson battery set did the same thing.

The Radiospares components are probably original, they where used as original parts on many radios back then. What is the valve line up in this one?

Geof

This is to decouple the HT line and is not a critical value, a modern 10uF will do as long as the DC Volts is similar.

Geof

[Tim]

Nice one Chipp
I hope you get it sorted. I think 10uF 100v available from Rapid and/or Cricklewood.
The only other one of these I have ever seen was a complete wreck(just a bare chassis and part of a case). All the useful parts had gone, so I am glad to see another in such a good condition.

[David G4EBT]

I think you might find that it's a "Model A" (which had a valve line-up of DK32, DF33, DAC32, DL35). If so, it went into production immediately after the war, in 1945. I was given one recently but it had no model ID on it, so I did a bit of research. The Ever Ready site has some interesting info about the history of the company and its sets at this link:
http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac..../EverReady.htm

This clip from the link below provides the following information:

Quote:

In 1945 the Forces Comfort Sets were face lifted to become the civilian Model A, a ponderous 4-valve superhet radio in a wooden cabinet with crackle paint finish and carrying handle on top, powered by a B103 battery. A very heavy portable radio by any standards.

The elegant Type 'C' followed, equally heavy but easier to carry and, with its rounded contours, the forerunner of a whole range of valve radio receivers. The Type 'C' had wooden side panels and a perspex front panel that was internally painted to give the radio its body-colour.

Unquote.

http://www.portabletubes.co.uk/sitefiles/pthistory.htm

Even with the liberal standards of advertsing back in the 1940s, the term "portable" radio is stretching it a bit, with no attempt to lighten its weight. I suspect it was more often than not used as a "transportable" table radio, taken (or rather "lugged"!) from one room to another.

Radios were far too expensive to have more than one in the house, so from the customer's perspective, it made it versatile, and from Every Ready's perspective, it provided a market for their batteries! Also, back then, there were still a lot of homes not yet connected to mains electricity.

As the cabinet is quite large, it lent itself to a frame aerial - several loops of wire around the inside of the cabinet, and of course ferrite rod aerials didn't come into use much before the mid to late 1950s anyway.

It's an interesting paint finish, and an interesting piece of history - not just of radio or the Ever Ready Company, but the post-war austerity years, when such a set would have doubtless been considered a luxury item. I wonder if there was a waiting list!

The one I have looks pristine inside, but when I tried to hook it up to my battery radio PSU to test it, I found that the PSU had a fault, so I've first had to repair that. Grrrrr.

Regards,

David. G4EBT

[chipp1968]

Its not the post war model ,as it has side contact valves the only valve it has that david mentions DAC32 it has is a replacement with a different loctal? base . which i assume has been changed n the war due to shortages .So i think it is the 1939 model .It has the lineup i stated earlier except the Dac32 replaces the DAC1 i think .
I had to go to a funeral today so only worked two hours this morn .I took the set with me to work and at low vol it worked ok, with no loss of power and plenty of gain if turned up

[David G4EBT]

Yes, if the valve line-up is DK1, DF1, DAC1 and DL2, it's a 1939 model. This is covered by Trader Sheet No 450 - Every Ready models 5214/5/6/ which differ only in cabinet colour, and the 5218 "table model" which has a larger cabinet, and hence, larger frame aerial and speaker. The colours are 5214 red/black, 5215 gold/black, 5216 blue/black. The 5214-6 were released in June 1939, and the 5218 in Sept 1939, at the outbreak of war.

No idea how long domestic sets remained in production or on sale before the Wartime Civilian receiver in its battery and mains versions became the only set available. Not long ould be my guess, so I suppose that if not rare, this set will certainly be uncommon.

David,
G4EBT