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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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Old 4th Jun 2018, 2:00 pm   #1
trainee joskin
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Default 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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Old 4th Jun 2018, 2:24 pm   #2
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Default 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.
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Old 4th Jun 2018, 2:31 pm   #3
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Default 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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Old 4th Jun 2018, 2:40 pm   #4
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Default 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!
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Old 4th Jun 2018, 9:48 pm   #5
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Default 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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Old 4th Jun 2018, 10:17 pm   #6
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Default 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.

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Old 4th Jun 2018, 10:26 pm   #7
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Default 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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Old 4th Jun 2018, 10:57 pm   #8
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Default 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
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Old 4th Jun 2018, 11:30 pm   #9
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Default 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
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Old 5th Jun 2018, 12:35 am   #10
dave walsh
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Default 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

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Old 5th Jun 2018, 12:37 am   #11
Mr Moose
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Default 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
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Old 5th Jun 2018, 12:49 am   #12
dave walsh
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Default 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
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Old 6th Jun 2018, 12:03 pm   #13
trainee joskin
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Default 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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