Cossor 234 Empire Melody Maker

Firstly, many thanks for all the information I have gleaned from this forum. But to the main business of this post, my restored Melody maker.

I got this set in a sorry state for the princely sum of 28 quid, all was there and original but very grubby and the wires were all perished. Step one was to take the whole thing apart and clean the bits. The mechanical components (variable caps, rheostat, valve holders and switch) were ultrasonicaly cleaned, dryed and lubricated, the case needed a complete refinish I took it back to the wood and a couple of coats of polyeurathane later looks like new. I know some of you like a bit of patina that would be too dark for me. The chassis was very rusty so lots of elbow grease and some spray Hamerite silver, again another new part. I used the old motorcycle engine trick of boiling the coil cans in strong washing powder solution to clean them. The last restoration bit was the capacitors, usual method of replacing the insides with new, oddly the grid leak was fine.

Now I had a kit to make...

All wires where replaced with the black core out of 1mm T&E, I imagined myself in the '30s making my own radio, quite good fun, I could almost feel the excitement of those days. Finished I needed a power supply so I made one, the LT is at 2.6V dropped by a Schottky diode to a Cyclon in the Ediswan case (to stop flattening it when the mains is off) and a futher diode to get to 1.9V treating the valves kindly.

The 'speaker was found for a tenner and the table a few quid from a junk shop.

All in all a nice working display in my kitchen, even the management like it. I do use it quite often, makes a change from all that treble of modern sets.

Attached a few photos, the GB battery is named Ethelred after a comment by Humph on ISIHAC.

And yes I have installed a dedicated aerial socket for it. This is fed from my amateur radio dipole in the garden. The Radio Times is there purely for decoration, an interesting read too.

[Steve_P]

That looks (and I bet sounds) great. Internally and externally.

Well done that man!

Cheers,

Steve P.

[Nickthedentist]

Nice work! And that table really sets it all off.

Go on, tell us what Humph said (by private message if need be)

Nick.

[Station X]

Wonderful. I love these really old sets.

And to top it all I am poping to Crothorne Tubes on Saturday to pick up an output pentode and holder. This modification was in the original kit instructions for more audio power.

[chipp1968]

That all fits together very nicely ,well done .

Thanks for that! I could go on for ages but won't because it would be way OT.

I have found a transcript of the Humph quote.

With the building of the cathedral, the city became the venue for Royal weddings. In 1002, Emma, the daughter of the Duke of Normandy, came here to marry Ethelred The Unready, who used the occasion to launch his unsuccessful range of torch batteries.

[kalee20]

That's really nice, it pays a deserving tribute to the hours you must have spent to achieve it!

I'm not usually a fan of replacing the innards of old components with new, so that they look what they ain't. However, with the baseboard-mountable Bakelite mouldings (as per your originals), I'd definitely make an exception!

Here's to the next 80 years of your Cossor's existence...

I have a spare set of valves, so I it might make it!

If I make an extra 80 years I will have to build my own transmitter, by then I am sure that LW/MW would have been abandoned. Mind you I would be happy to do so 128 years old seems a good target, I wonder if the news quiz will still be going then (it's on in a couple of minutes, I will be listening on the Cossor).

The pentode (well a KT2 not bad for a fiver), has been got and installed, much more audio with more treble, maybe too much, maybe an RC across the output primary is called for, I will leave it a while see if I get used to it.

With all that 'top' I can now hear the 9kHz beat of other carriers and some line output beat too (5.125kHz on 198 LW), these days it is getting less objectionable with the introduction of flat panel TVs. I may put a 9kHz tuned circuit across the output instead of the RC (I will hide it in the 'speaker), that will knock out the carrier interference and reduce the top a wee bit. This is described in the 1932 BBC Year Book (p403).

Worth doing for a set that is used in anger, not really anger in a set of this venerable age more like mild annoyance. I must say getting this set working and using it has been and is a real joy, good job I like Radio 4!