Ekco AD77 - Tuning Dial

[YoungManGW]

The tuning dial on my AD77 has lost from its dial a fair amount of the painted station markings. Does anyone know whether it is possible to get hold of a transfer on a clear ground? Or perhaps have such a thing? Many thanks.

[Robert Darwent]

I've only just come across your thread whilst searching the forum for another Ekco model. Are your aware of Ben Djikmans's website? I recommended the folllowing link to another forum member some time ago;

http://www.bendijkman.nl/index.php?o...mid=53&lang=en

The only thing of note is that I believe Ben's dial is the one fitted to the AC77/AD77 sets intended for the European market. As such I don't think it has the familiar BBC regional markings on it, etc.

Ben is also a UKVRR forum member so perhaps he can confirm whether I'm correct on not if you drop him a PM.

Hope that's of help.

Regards

[David G4EBT]

I recently bought a new dial from Ben for an AC77 that I'm presently restoring. Excellent quality screen printed lettering and reasonably priced. I can confirm that some of the station markings have European spelling, but personally, I'm quite content with that. Ben stated that if he could get 20 or so orders he would get dials made for the English version, and even offered to take my dial back in return should sufficient orders for an English version arise. I took the view that for an Ekco which - unlike the circular ones, isn't sought after or vauable - the liklihood of twenty or more UK restorers wanting a new dial was slim to non-existant.

I'm grateful to Robert for having tipped me off about Ben's AC77.

The markings had disappeared from my old dial so the prospect of creating a new dial and water slide transfer wasn't a runner.

(I presume that the AD77 has a similar dial and cabinet, but an AC/DC chassis).

Hope that helps.

[YoungManGW]

Robert, thank-you for that - very helpful. I may indent for one of Ben's dials.

David, yes, the cabinets and dial formats of the AD77 and the AC77 are the same, with the former having an AC/DC chassis. I'm unable to comment re. the respective dial contents though, as there's virtually no lettering left on mine!

[David G4EBT]

Originally Posted by YoungManGW

Robert, thank-you for that - very helpful. I may indent for one of Ben's dials.

I'm unable to comment re. the respective dial contents though, as there's virtually no lettering left on mine!

Same in my case, so there was no possibility of doing a scan and cleaning it up to for example make a water slide transfer, and without a scan or picture of the dial it would be impossible to create a dial from scratch, which would in any event be a tedious exercise.

I've attached a pic of what was left of the lettering on my dial. (not a lot!). I guess they're all in a similar state after 80 or so years.

I imagine that the dial will be the same for both sets as there would be no point in differentiating them.

I'm quite content with the continental dial as I doubt these unloved sets have much residual value. The differences in spelling are fairly minor - Londres not London, Hambourg not Hamburg, Moscou not Moscow, Franfourt not Frankfurt, Vienne not Vienna. But many are English spellings such as Scottish Reg, Droitwich, West Reg, and several stations are spelt the same, be it here or on mainland Europe, such as Budapest, Paris, Prague, Florence, Lille, Lyon etc.

I can live with that, but had I not have been able to have got Ben's version, the set would have been a non-starter. I restore sets for my own satisfaction and don't take the hobby to the point of borderline OCD. (Safety, functionality, originality in that order is my approach). It's an old radio I'm restoring - it's not as though I'm stripping a Chippendale Chair and giving it two coats of Ronseal!

Good luck with the restoration.