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Vintage Radio (domestic) Domestic vintage radio (wireless) receivers only.

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Old 4th Jun 2020, 8:25 pm   #1
Niechcial,Steve
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Default Oceanic Surcouf

A friend who lives in France picked up this radio at a flea market. It dates from 1957 and Googling around shows it went through several changes. My model, one of the mid-production ones, is a 4 valve + rectifier + magic eye AC superhet with piano key wave change switches. The later circuit diagram from 1958 shows an additional EF85 used as an RF amp. before the mixer/osc. My version has two SW bands in addition to the usual MW/LW.
The circuitry is pretty bog standard, but the set has some interesting features, The first is a large cardboard tube of about 5 inch diameter and nine inches high on the top of the chassis (see pics). This contains the MW and LW frame aerials mounted at right angles to each other on a vertical spindle. The tuning knob has two concentric spindles and knobs. The inner knob turns the tuning gang drive cord in the normal way, but there is a cam also turned by it which acts as a firm end stop at both ends of the dial (see pic). The outer spindle knob turns a Bowden cable to rotate the frame aerials in their tube (see pic). It's a great solution to the directivity problem of a mains table set, Of course, if you just plug in an external aerial the problem is solved anyway. A final interesting tuning feature is another cam on the tuning drive spindle which operates a two way switch as you get to a certain part of the dial. The circuit diagram unfortunately just shows all the tuning circuits as a switch unit with wires coming out- no details of tuning coils etc. So I am left guessing what this two way switch does. As far as I can see, it seems to be switched in on the shortest waveband. Anyone got any ideas? The aerial tube is bigger than the hole in the back of the set so manipulating the chassis in or out of the case is a bit of a nightmare. Another problem getting the chassis out was that the knobs had steel retaining bands and grub screws which were rusted solid. I was forced to break the knobs off in the end and then rebuild them.
Talking of the case, it is a rather gaudy design which I guess you might call late 'Arts Noveau'. The whole fascia is illuminated from behind when you switch it on (see pic).
All that was stopping the set working was an o/c mains switch, but beyond that it needed a fair bit of work, Apart from the usual Cs needing replacement, most of the Rs had also gone sky high. It makes a pleasant enough sound and seems quite sensitive. Another little foible is that the tone control interacts quite a lot with the volume level.
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Old 4th Jun 2020, 8:30 pm   #2
paulsherwin
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Default Re: Oceanic Surcouf

French radios of the 50s are amazing things - I wish I saw more of them.
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Old 4th Jun 2020, 8:37 pm   #3
Niechcial,Steve
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Default Re: Oceanic Surcouf

They don't seem to believe in putting flats on control spindles- just wrench those grub screws a bit tighter!
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Old 4th Jun 2020, 10:23 pm   #4
Herald1360
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Default Re: Oceanic Surcouf

If a fleamarket price was paid, someone's got a bargain. Decent ones fetch anything from about £200-£1000 on the open market!

I'd love one- they're about as OTT as '50s French radios got
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Old 5th Jun 2020, 9:26 am   #5
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Default Re: Oceanic Surcouf

Very collectable radios. Years ago before I knew about these things, I saw one at a flea market on offer for €50. It seemed very expensive so I didn't buy it. Now I could kick myself. As for OTT, it has a way to go to beat the SNR Excelsior.
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