1950 Murphy A170 Wireless - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

Daggers · 16th Aug 2010, 12:47 pm

Hi, I am attempting to renovate the A170 and would appreciate some advice on something which is now missing due to age/corrosion.

The 3 tuning scale arms, made of brass with a slot in the middle of each were originally covered in some kind of orange material to show up through the glass tuning scale. It looks like some kind of paint film that is bright orange with what looks like tissue paper spanning across the slots.

I am not sure if light from the bulbs was meant to shine through these slots so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

chipp1968 · 16th Aug 2010, 10:50 pm

Hello there .
Can you post some pictures. It may have just been paint on the pointers

Daggers · 17th Aug 2010, 11:23 am

Thank you for reply chipp1968:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f7.../P1020252e.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f7...20257ecopy.jpg

All 3 pointers looked like the first picture as seen from the front.

The last picture is of one of them (on the reverse side) where there was a tiny remaining piece of what looked like tracing paper (perhaps a coat of shellac or something) and was a strip between the 2 red marks at the bottom and you can still see the glue that may have been to hold it in place. You can also see the change in colour where the edge of the strip was, at the end of the red arrow above.

I assume that the light was supposed to shine through these slots but as it would have shined everywhere else as well I feel that there must be more to it than that.

I am thinking of using artists acrylic orange/red paint but wondering what else is required to get it all back as close as possible to the original appearance?

TIA

chipp1968 · 17th Aug 2010, 1:32 pm

It does look like something was stuck there looking at it. We need to find another member with the same set .Murphy mad should have some idea about it.
Re painting the other sides should be the best way to go there ,I wonder why its come off ?

TuningIndicator · 17th Aug 2010, 9:50 pm

I owned one of these some years ago, but sadly don't anymore.
I very vaguely, and I mean very vaguely, recall coloured discs, made of a very thin plastic.

Daggers · 18th Aug 2010, 1:50 pm

Chipp1968: 'why did the paint flake off?': Well it seems that after 60 years it just fell off and disintegrated like autumn leaves!

TuningIndicator: Can you tell me if the light beam was white or red, that shined through the glass scale where the stations are? If there was a beam that is, or was it just that red pointer!

Thanks guys, much appreciated!: thumbsup:

TuningIndicator · 18th Aug 2010, 9:44 pm

Any chance of some more close-up pics please?
Might help to jog my forgettory.

Daggers · 18th Aug 2010, 10:17 pm

Yes certainly, I will post up some more pix tomorrow morning.

Sounds like you belong to the same club as me.......I am 71 this year!

Daggers · 19th Aug 2010, 2:23 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by TuningIndicator

Any chance of some more close-up pics please?
Might help to jog my forgettory.

Pictures as requested, hope that is OK?

TuningIndicator · 21st Aug 2010, 5:32 pm

Oh dear! Forgettory is worse than I thought.
Any chance of a pic with the back off?

It's a beautiful radio, the A170, lovely, clean lines.

Leon Crampin · 21st Aug 2010, 7:42 pm

I had an A170. It's red.

As I remember, there was red translucent material covering the slots in the pointers. If you buy a box of Roses chocolates, you'll get the right material to replace it with.

Leon.

21st Aug 2010, 8:32 pm

And please the missus

Daggers · 21st Aug 2010, 10:37 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by TuningIndicator

Oh dear! Forgettory is worse than I thought.
Any chance of a pic with the back off?

It's a beautiful radio, the A170, lovely, clean lines.

TuningIndicator: Are you sure you want to see this?

As you can see the cabinet needed quite a bit of attention before I even started!

Leon Crampin: Thank you for that advice, exactly what I needed and I shall do just that!

merlinmaxwell:

Quite so!

TuningIndicator · 22nd Aug 2010, 7:59 pm

You've certainly got your work cut out!
Shame about the tuning scale.

Leon Crampin · 22nd Aug 2010, 8:16 pm

A problem I do remember with the A170 was arcing of the wavechange switch. On "gram" the HT supply to the oscillator is disabled and the switch contacts assigned to this function arc to the more earthy points on the switch.

You can disable this quite easily by disconnecting the 2 wires from the switch carrying HT and joining them together. There was no sign whatever of radio breakthrough on "gram" following this modification as the audio is properly switched on this chassis - detector output earthed and AF amplifier input connected to gram sockets.

The variable selectivity is a nice feature on this set and it works very well. Note that in order to get the widest possible bandwidth, the detector load resistor is reduced in value on the wide band setting. This has the apparent effect of reducing the gain of the set and causes the eye to open slightly. As usual, Murphy got it right.

Good luck with your restoration - I once gave away a good A170 scale so it's always worth asking.

Leon.

Daggers · 22nd Aug 2010, 10:28 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by TuningIndicator

You've certainly got your work cut out!
Shame about the tuning scale.

Thank you guys for replies, but I must say that the white strip on the above tuning scale is just the reflection of my fluorescent light in the workshop, so nothing wrong with the scale.

To be honest this is just a one off fun project and I don't have any expectations of getting the set back into working order, but I am keeping an open mind. The set was given to me about 30 years ago and I put it in the loft meaning to see if I could get it going one day and just got round to it.

It was just a case of bin it or try and restore it, so I am doing my best not to bin it. Don't see a problem with the case, shall make a new back for it, and cleaning up the chassis etc., is a challenge but workable. Almost all of the wiring has lost its insulation and I aim to unsolder one end of every wire and clean and cover with the same colour heatshrink tubing and sold it back again. I suppose that is the obvious thing to do?

I have only worked on building robots so my electronic experience is limited to modern ic's and low voltage working. But have watched my father and gleaned a little knowledge as that was his trade. I think it unlikely that I will ever connect it up to the mains and therefore just trying to make it all look the part, if I could get it working as well then that would be a big bonus, but it would be a steep learning curve.

Looking at the mains transformer condition I think I should have a concealed modern one to replace it for safety as I have seen suggested on here.

sploshy · 24th Aug 2010, 3:28 pm

I've just got my old A170 down from the loft.

Here are a couple of photos of the tuning scale arms which I hope will help.

Daggers · 24th Aug 2010, 10:55 pm

Oh that is just what I needed sploshy! How wonderful to see it lit up as well, thank you so much!

I shall indeed buy a box of Cadbury's Roses and thank you for that Leon Crampin, and thank you Chip1968 and TuningIndicator.

16th Aug 2010, 12:47 pm	#1
Daggers Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Hockley, Essex Posts: 8	1950 Murphy A170 Wireless Hi, I am attempting to renovate the A170 and would appreciate some advice on something which is now missing due to age/corrosion. The 3 tuning scale arms, made of brass with a slot in the middle of each were originally covered in some kind of orange material to show up through the glass tuning scale. It looks like some kind of paint film that is bright orange with what looks like tissue paper spanning across the slots. I am not sure if light from the bulbs was meant to shine through these slots so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

16th Aug 2010, 10:50 pm	#2
chipp1968 Rest in Peace Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Somerset, UK. Posts: 2,356	Re: 1950 Murphy A170 Wireless Hello there . Can you post some pictures. It may have just been paint on the pointers

17th Aug 2010, 11:23 am	#3
Daggers Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Hockley, Essex Posts: 8	Re: 1950 Murphy A170 Wireless Thank you for reply chipp1968: http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f7.../P1020252e.jpg http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f7...20257ecopy.jpg All 3 pointers looked like the first picture as seen from the front. The last picture is of one of them (on the reverse side) where there was a tiny remaining piece of what looked like tracing paper (perhaps a coat of shellac or something) and was a strip between the 2 red marks at the bottom and you can still see the glue that may have been to hold it in place. You can also see the change in colour where the edge of the strip was, at the end of the red arrow above. I assume that the light was supposed to shine through these slots but as it would have shined everywhere else as well I feel that there must be more to it than that. I am thinking of using artists acrylic orange/red paint but wondering what else is required to get it all back as close as possible to the original appearance? TIA

17th Aug 2010, 1:32 pm	#4
chipp1968 Rest in Peace Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Somerset, UK. Posts: 2,356	Re: 1950 Murphy A170 Wireless It does look like something was stuck there looking at it. We need to find another member with the same set .Murphy mad should have some idea about it. Re painting the other sides should be the best way to go there ,I wonder why its come off ?

17th Aug 2010, 9:50 pm	#5
TuningIndicator Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Sussex, UK. Posts: 161	Re: 1950 Murphy A170 Wireless I owned one of these some years ago, but sadly don't anymore. I very vaguely, and I mean very vaguely, recall coloured discs, made of a very thin plastic.

18th Aug 2010, 1:50 pm	#6
Daggers Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Hockley, Essex Posts: 8	Re: 1950 Murphy A170 Wireless Chipp1968: 'why did the paint flake off?': Well it seems that after 60 years it just fell off and disintegrated like autumn leaves! TuningIndicator: Can you tell me if the light beam was white or red, that shined through the glass scale where the stations are? If there was a beam that is, or was it just that red pointer! Thanks guys, much appreciated!: thumbsup:

18th Aug 2010, 9:44 pm	#7
TuningIndicator Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Sussex, UK. Posts: 161	Re: 1950 Murphy A170 Wireless Any chance of some more close-up pics please? Might help to jog my forgettory.

18th Aug 2010, 10:17 pm	#8
Daggers Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Hockley, Essex Posts: 8	Re: 1950 Murphy A170 Wireless Yes certainly, I will post up some more pix tomorrow morning. Sounds like you belong to the same club as me.......I am 71 this year! Last edited by Station X; 19th Aug 2010 at 8:52 am.

21st Aug 2010, 5:32 pm	#10
TuningIndicator Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Sussex, UK. Posts: 161	Re: 1950 Murphy A170 Wireless Oh dear! Forgettory is worse than I thought. Any chance of a pic with the back off? It's a beautiful radio, the A170, lovely, clean lines.

21st Aug 2010, 7:42 pm	#11
Leon Crampin Octode Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Surrey, UK. Posts: 1,874	Re: 1950 Murphy A170 Wireless I had an A170. It's red. As I remember, there was red translucent material covering the slots in the pointers. If you buy a box of Roses chocolates, you'll get the right material to replace it with. Leon.

21st Aug 2010, 8:32 pm	#12
Guest Guest Posts: n/a	Re: 1950 Murphy A170 Wireless And please the missus

22nd Aug 2010, 7:59 pm	#14
TuningIndicator Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Sussex, UK. Posts: 161	Re: 1950 Murphy A170 Wireless You've certainly got your work cut out! Shame about the tuning scale.

22nd Aug 2010, 8:16 pm	#15
Leon Crampin Octode Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Surrey, UK. Posts: 1,874	Re: 1950 Murphy A170 Wireless A problem I do remember with the A170 was arcing of the wavechange switch. On "gram" the HT supply to the oscillator is disabled and the switch contacts assigned to this function arc to the more earthy points on the switch. You can disable this quite easily by disconnecting the 2 wires from the switch carrying HT and joining them together. There was no sign whatever of radio breakthrough on "gram" following this modification as the audio is properly switched on this chassis - detector output earthed and AF amplifier input connected to gram sockets. The variable selectivity is a nice feature on this set and it works very well. Note that in order to get the widest possible bandwidth, the detector load resistor is reduced in value on the wide band setting. This has the apparent effect of reducing the gain of the set and causes the eye to open slightly. As usual, Murphy got it right. Good luck with your restoration - I once gave away a good A170 scale so it's always worth asking. Leon.

24th Aug 2010, 3:28 pm	#17
sploshy Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Hemel Hempstead Posts: 1	Re: 1950 Murphy A170 Wireless I've just got my old A170 down from the loft. Here are a couple of photos of the tuning scale arms which I hope will help. Attached Thumbnails

24th Aug 2010, 10:55 pm	#18
Daggers Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Hockley, Essex Posts: 8	Re: 1950 Murphy A170 Wireless Oh that is just what I needed sploshy! How wonderful to see it lit up as well, thank you so much! I shall indeed buy a box of Cadbury's Roses and thank you for that Leon Crampin, and thank you Chip1968 and TuningIndicator.