Whats Your Heaviest Biggest Radio Move

[ChristianFletcher]

Reading on from another thread I wondered what the heaviest biggest mighty move of a radio that the forum members have undertaken. Having just picked up a Murphy B40 I don’t see how one of these ever saw the inside of a loft . Some of you guys must be really strong.

I have three R107s in the garage with a RA17 on the top just to stop them from blowing away!

Regards Chris

[newlite4]

I remember in 1973 when I would have been twelve, I carted a Murphy A28C (very large console receiver) home through the streets, a distance of about half a mile, they made trolley wheels stronger in those days.
Neil

[Steve_P]

Well, at the age of 16 I carried a B28 (CR100) home from school. Partly. Then I realised that there was a supermarket across the road, so I borrowed a trolley...

Then there were TV sets - the first large screen colour set that Dilys and I had was a 25 inch Pye Hybrid. I carried in in all by myself - must have been mad.

Cheers,

Steve P.

[ChristianFletcher]

Its becoming quite a problem storing and using my boat anchor collection. You really do struggle to move these around. Not buying anymore - Honest!!

[valvekits]

Steve that was risky!
In the run up to Christmas of 1975 ( memory is a bit rusty) all of our TV sales shops were running a competition with big prizes for the crew that sold and installed the most colour TV’s before Dec 25. My first service visit after that Christmas was a very large mahogany 26” colour television with folding doors. I can’t remember the make now but probably a Decca or a Bush. Anyway since this was a brand new television, it just needed a couple of small tweaks, but the lady customer sobbed throughout. The poor woman had big black rings around her eyes and had obviously not slept for days. When I was finished she signed my job card; looked at me long and hard; and then told me a pitiful tale. It turned out that the salesman had arrived with the TV earlier than arranged and went to sit in his van until her husband got home. When the customer’s husband arrived home the salesman was dead on the driveway with the TV on top of him!

Eddie

[vinrads]

Hi i remember in about 1960 i swapped a smiths pocket watch for a bush tv22 i took the wheelbarrow to bring it home in it was two mile journey and it worked,i would be about twelve years old. Happy days. regds Mick.

[high_vacuum_house]

Hello there,
I remember years ago carrying an early Beetamax all the way through the centre of Cheltenham on my own from Hardings to the railway station My hands were sore!

I also found a Ferranti all wave radio on top of a dustbin in Stroud and carried that for miles across the hills and fields to get it home.

My Philips 663 is the heaviest telly I have with quite a substantial transformer bolted to the bottom chassis. I asked a friend to help me get it up the stairs where I live now (Only just goes through the front door!!)

Christopher Capener

[Ian B]

A few years ago I bought a HMV 580 radiogram. Had help loading it in the back of my car (Rover 400 hatchback) but unloaded it and got it across the back garden and into the workshop on my own. The trolley I used kept getting stuck on the lawn! I had to put a plywood "road" down for it. And of course it had started raining as soon as the beast was out of the car. The fun we have with our hobby!

Ian Blackbourn

[Boom]

In my younger day I spent a period working for a rental company in East London. Our customers lived mainly in blocks of flats. These places often had no lifts and I would happily carry a 26" Decca or Korting up five flights of stairs on my own.

I didn't mind as it kept me fit. As much as I can do to carry a case of beer home these days.

Dave

[chipp1968]

Moving a Murphy A28 c around the house on my own ! Back in the 80s I used to buy radios at the antiques markets in Bath ,and the carry them to the train station and from there to home , even a couple of acoustic HMv oak case table grams too ,not at the same time I remember it was very painful on the elbow joints and having to keep stopping

[murphyv310]

Hi.
In my younger days I often would lift BRC 3500 and 26 inch G8's onto the top shelf (head height) single handed. In my last house I carried my B40 up the stairs.
One set though is the Samsung 32 inch slimfit possibly one of the heaviest tv's I have carried.
I still do stupid things with heavy sets no doubt I will learn someday
Trevor

[Sean Williams]

Hmm, well, I could really cheat here, as I have been involved with shifting all sorts of things!

Heaviest domestic set, would have to be a stereo Decola - had to help collect two of these, along with a Mono Decola, HMV800, and an AMI rockola Jukebox....

As for Boatanchor.....

Heaviest item that I had here would be a Racal TA1816 Linear amplifier - around 450-500lbs

I have moved a SWB8 transmitter, that is seriously heavy, but the winner must be the AA3 mk 7 that now resides at IWM Duxford - the generator is around 4 tons, and the radar trailer is around 3 tons - I have moved both of these several times!

Hence, an RA17, or AR88 in the loft is really quite simple!

[Top Cap]

Sean, I also worked on SWB8's and SWB11's, thankfully not having to move them . My hardest task was to carry Ten B40's (not all at once ) from wireless office on-board ship to dockyard service depot, a trip of about half a mile in the scorching tropics. After two journeys (Phew! only eight left), I was so knackered that I decided to remove the power packs and make these a separate journey. Took ages to complete the mission. Thankfully the service depot delivered them when the ship was ready for sea after replacement of her prop shaft (another story). I am still awaiting my Malayan Campaign Medal though I think I deserved it more for the B40's than stifling President Sukarno's antics.
Les

[Dave Moll]

The two heaviest radios which I have shifted here at Moll Towers (why is it that the only space I have for them is upstairs?) are an AR88 communications receiver and a Regentone radiogram (both pushing the boundaries somewhat).

I remember being glad that the destination of the AR88 was a bedroom - as I was able to lie on the bed until I got my breath back. I don't have quite the stamina of some other members.

[Peter.N.]

I think there are still a number of fairly fit TV engineers out there as most colour sets weighed around 30 - 40 kilos, some over one hundredweight, contrary to health and safty guidelines we had to carry them by ourselves, sometimes ,as mentioned, up several flights of stairs. I think that the 29" Sony must have been one of the heaviest, but once you had a grip on it you could manage as long as you didn't walk into a door frame! I think years of carrying the things definitly benifited our health even if we did need the occaisional trip to the oestopath.

Peter

[Hybrid tellies]

I can remember carrying 22" ctv's on my own. The problems were whilst working in central Bath because of the parking restrictions etc. Not only would you have a long way to carry the thing from wherever you could park the van but often you would have to climb 4 or 5 flights of narrow twisty stairs to to top floor flat. I was a lot fitter in those days.
Going back even further to when I was a lad of 13 I bought my HMV1124 from a second hand shop in Helston (Cornwall) then carried it through town to the bus stop. As the local bus stopped at the end of the village, where I lived, I then had to cart this rather large heavy woody half a mile home. For my efforts I got some interesting looks from the locals and visitors, but no offer of help.

[mickjjo]

My AR88D came from Greenwich market in the min 90s (£5), I got help loading it into the boot of a Mini but getting it out and indoors single-handed was a major struggle, I've not moved it much since . Collecting five hundredweight of 78s from a local auction room after a winning bid of £2 was a real test of stamina!..
Last year a "Bootsale Bargain" Dynatron "Transpower 90" with GL75 deck made my arms ache carrying it around a field after forgetting where I had parked... .

Regards, Mick.

[dave walsh]

These older sets are heavy there is no doubt but I remember that an AR88 was such an ambition years ago that weight didn't really seem to be a concern when they seemed to be so out of reach [no pun intended]. Now, of course, we do a comparison with 50 years of much smaller/lighter "black boxes". I once had one of the little known DST 100 sets which [at 1 cwt] is comparable to the 88 or a B40 but somehow seemed "heavier", especially going up to a third floor attic. The tuning dial was a thick cast circle and even the case was heavy metal and not the usual thin plate. I always managed to catch my foot on it as well.
If you've got the space I recommend an ex office desk of the type that have substantial wheels, a square tubular frame and matching guard rail with a built in plug board. I did one up for my daughter but then it got passed back and became the mount for my AR88 and other heavy items. The sets could be rotated en-masse for examination round the back etc or easily transported elsewhere. Needless to say there is nowhere to move them anymore but that's a different problem.
Dave Walsh

[Big Band Heaven]

The heavest machine I have ever had to move is my latest project. Its an american radiogram in a carved walnut case measuring 5foot by 5 foot and weights 300lbs! Ouch. I hasten to say I cant move it by myself. When the "beast" was delivered it took three of us to move it from the truck into the garage - and that was with gravity helping. So that you can see a similar machine here is a picture of what mine will look like one day! Mine is currently still a work in progress!

http://www.myvintagetv.com/victor_ve955.htm

[60 oldjohn]

My heaviest set is a Philips EL3400 video recorder from the 1960s. It weighs nearly 50kg. The easy way to lift risks smashing the flimsy plastic grill, so it's arms over the sharp wooden ends and lift. Now my son is big enough to help it is a lot easier with two of us when I take it to display at the local steam rallies. John