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Success Stories If you have successfully repaired or restored a piece of equipment, why not write up what you did and post details here. Particularly if it was interesting, unusual or challenging. PLEASE DO NOT POST REQUESTS FOR HELP HERE! |
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13th Sep 2011, 11:45 pm | #1 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: 1966-1976 Coverack in Cornwall and Helston Cornwall. 1976-present Bristol/Bath area.
Posts: 2,967
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Wien 2
Not much of a restoration I know but I received this 8 transistor Wien 2 Hong Kong special today. I was going to use it as a donor set to try and get one of 4 other cheapy 1960's far east trannys going. First impressions were not good the tuning dial was loose and although the set was working the speaker sounded very shakey. I dismantled the set and found that the tuning gang was only held in by one screw which was about to fall out. I found a suitable sized minature screw from one of my scrap sets. As for the speaker again one of the mounting screws was loose. So with the tuning gauge and speaker now firmly in place it was time to refit the PP3 Battery and give it a try. All the available stations on both long and medium wave bands were picked up clearly and the RF alignment was spot on. All the IF coils looked untampered and still sealed. There are a few oscillation squeaks heard on tuning though the bands with a few medium wave stations appearing on the longwave band, but as this was not interfering with any of the national or local stations I am leaving well alone. I suspect this is quite normal for sets of this calibre. Refitting the pcb back into the small case proved to be a bit fiddly but we got there. I gave the set a good clean, inside and outside the case and it is now blasting out the late show from Radio Bristol as I write this. It's a bit tinny but not unbearable as some sets of this size can be.
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Simon BVWS member |
14th Sep 2011, 12:06 am | #2 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,970
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Re: Wien 2
Most of these 60s Hong Kong pocket sets use pretty conventional circuitry and perform quite well. That one may even have Si transistors. I think Wien was a house brand for one of the Dixons / Currys / Rumbelows brigade in the 60s - they all went through a phase of using Germanic sounding house brands before moving to pseudo Japanese names in the 70s.
I suspect it originally had a leather case. |
15th Sep 2011, 4:23 pm | #3 |
Nonode
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Dukinfield, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 2,038
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Re: Wien 2
Does that say '8 Transistors' on the front? That's a lot for a little pocket set!
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Andy G1HBE. |
15th Sep 2011, 5:23 pm | #4 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,970
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Re: Wien 2
They were almost all conventional 6 transistor superhets, though some used an additional AF preamp transistor. The extra transistors were used instead of diodes or sometimes not used at all, and sometimes faulty or subspec transistors were used. The number of transistors was a selling point at one time regardless of the actual impact on performance.
It's analogous to the number of 'jewels' in cheap wind up watches of the same period. |
16th Sep 2011, 9:30 am | #5 |
Nonode
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Dukinfield, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 2,038
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Re: Wien 2
Yes Paul, I've been studying the photo of the innards and it seems one of the transistors may be used as a detector and the other as temperature compensation in the output stage. Hard to tell just from looking, but that's the impression I get.
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Andy G1HBE. |
16th Sep 2011, 9:51 am | #6 |
Hexode
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Cambridge, Cambs. UK.
Posts: 469
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Re: Wien 2
I have one of these where someone has disconnected all the leads from the ferite aerial coils from the pcb! I have no idea now where to solder them back to on the pcb.
This one is badged as "Boots" though but pcb looks the same as Hybrid Tellies radio.
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If smoking is so bad for you, how come it cures kippers? |
27th Sep 2011, 6:02 pm | #7 |
Tetrode
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Bristol, UK.
Posts: 86
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Re: Wien 2
Hi Simon
I have a Wien 22. look the same from the outside (except the extra 2 in 22) but uses 2 AA batteries. PCB is a slightly different layout and the transistors are different. Radio gives good results. They were supplied with a leather look case black with white stitching and red velvet lined. Keith
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30th Sep 2011, 9:12 pm | #8 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: 1966-1976 Coverack in Cornwall and Helston Cornwall. 1976-present Bristol/Bath area.
Posts: 2,967
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Re: Wien 2
I am sure this set uses Ge transistors with a Mullard OC81D used as the audio driver transistor, I don't think this can be original but it works well enough. In fact it works very well for a set of this era giving very clear reception on all available stations. It reminds me very much of my first medium wave only 6 transistor radio that I was given when I was a boy with the same tinny output but this set is much more sensitive and has long wave. I must admitt that because of the memories that it evokes from my younger days I have been happily using it every day.
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Simon BVWS member |
30th Sep 2011, 9:19 pm | #9 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: 1966-1976 Coverack in Cornwall and Helston Cornwall. 1976-present Bristol/Bath area.
Posts: 2,967
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Re: Wien 2
I can try and take a better picture of the PCB if it will be of any help.
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Simon BVWS member |
1st Oct 2011, 11:00 am | #10 |
Hexode
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Cambridge, Cambs. UK.
Posts: 469
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Re: Wien 2
Thank you as that would be very helpful but please dont risk breaking your set for me !
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If smoking is so bad for you, how come it cures kippers? |
2nd Oct 2011, 8:32 pm | #11 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK.
Posts: 78
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Re: Wien 2
The first transistor radio I ever owned was a Wien.
I inherited it from my grandmother after she died in 1969. From memory, I believe it was purchased from a catalogue,possibly Great Universal, a few years before. |
4th Oct 2011, 3:02 pm | #12 | |
Nonode
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: 1966-1976 Coverack in Cornwall and Helston Cornwall. 1976-present Bristol/Bath area.
Posts: 2,967
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Re: Wien 2
Quote:
We use to use either Great Universal or Burlington mail order companies. The Burlington catalogue always had a better write up or review of their radios. As a kid I spent hours thumbing through the radio section of their catalogue looking at the latest transistor radios and dreaming the dream.
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Simon BVWS member |
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6th Oct 2011, 9:28 pm | #13 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: 1966-1976 Coverack in Cornwall and Helston Cornwall. 1976-present Bristol/Bath area.
Posts: 2,967
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Re: Wien 2
I managed to dismantle the set again and took pictures. Hopefully they are clear enough apologies if they are not, they are the best I could do with my 4 year old phone camera. Whilst doing this I noticed one of the ferrit rod leads to the wavechange switch the solder connection was looking a bit dry. A carefull and cautious peice of soldering hopefully solved a potential problem. If you have one of these radios take great care when refitting the pcb back into the tiny case, it really is a shoehorn job.
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Simon BVWS member |
6th Oct 2011, 11:21 pm | #14 |
Hexode
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Cambridge, Cambs. UK.
Posts: 469
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Re: Wien 2
Thank you so much for doing that! I am sure that your pictures will be a great help to me.
Thanks again and regards Jon..
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If smoking is so bad for you, how come it cures kippers? |
17th Oct 2011, 12:17 pm | #15 | |
Nonode
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: 1966-1976 Coverack in Cornwall and Helston Cornwall. 1976-present Bristol/Bath area.
Posts: 2,967
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Re: Wien 2
Quote:
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Simon BVWS member |
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13th Nov 2011, 8:52 pm | #16 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: 1966-1976 Coverack in Cornwall and Helston Cornwall. 1976-present Bristol/Bath area.
Posts: 2,967
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Re: Wien 2
I managed to sneak this little radio down with us when we had a few days break in west Cornwall very close to where I was bought up. This little Wien was so like the little radio that I owned when I lived down here I was intrigued to see how well it would work. Back in the early 1970's such radios would pick up Radio 4 on 1052KHz from Start Point and Radio 2 from Droitwich on 200Khz, at night it would pick up the stronger continental stations including Luxembourg on 208m or 1440KHz. Well this one performed as expected picking up clearly BBC R5L on 693Khz from Start Pont on BBC R4 from Droitwich on 198Khz and RTE1 from Clarkstown on 252Khz. I could also just hear BBC R4 ON 756kHz BBC R Cornwall on 630Khz and Absolute on 1215Khz all from Redruth. At night the medium wave band was awash with European stations making tuning very critical, just like it was on my little radio all those years ago. This did bring back a few happy memeories.
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Simon BVWS member |