Ekco PT208 restorations - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

howard · 14th Mar 2006, 8:07 am

Hello,

I recently acquired four of these Ekco PT208 radios in various states of repair.
I had two two-tone green ones both in quite good condition, a two tone blue one which cost me nothing as the seller dropped and smashed it prior to sending it, and a red one which was showing signs of serious wear. So far I have managed to restore two nice PT208s from the pile as as I only had two good dials. These are very similar to the Ekco PT378s, except they have an earphone socket, different badges and dials and a dedicated Luxembourg circuit in addition to MW and LW.

I decided to restore the two green ones as they had by far the best cases. I dismantled them, removed the dials by undoing the brass domed bolts, lifting off the top clear perspex top part, and then the lower part of the dial once the D shaped holes lined up with the top part of the spindle and then removed the side plates which are held on by two tiny brass screws. The chassis then come out after undoing the screw under the dial and the single screw in the middle of the PCB and unsoldering the wires to the earphone and aerial sockets and removal of the loudspeakers. I removed the handles which are held on by two nuts inside the case. The brass trims around the speaker grilles are different to those on the PT378s, these arent solid and dont have the little wires soldered to them, the securing tabs are part of the brass moulding and are easier to remove after straightening them, and are less likely to break. The plastic badges are welded in place, I decided not to remove these to enable removal of the grilles as the grilles were both undamaged but I did pull out the two brass domed pins postioned top and bottom of the dial. Finally I removed the white vinyl bands from around the outside of each case.

I dusted out the chassis and interior of the cases and then gave the handles, vinyl trims and the outside of the cases a good clean with upholstery cleaner with a toothbrush. I polished up the brass trims from the grille and handle with Brasso - theres no varnish on the brass on these which explains why their brass trims often turn black, as these all had !

All four of these radios worked, just as well cos they use NKT type transistors which I have had awful problems obtaining in the past for my PT378s. A little switch cleaner on the volume pots and waveband switches is all that was required to bring them all back to life. I reassembled the two green radios and gave them both a good polish.

These little Ekco PT208/PT378 transistor radios are built very well and I have found many which have survived 40 odd years wear and tear in remarkably good condition, and they are also very pretty little sets. Sound quality from them is reasonable, typical I guess of transistor radios built in the early 1960s. So two more mint examples to add to my Ekco collection

And I have just acquired a couple more to restore .......

Howard

14th Mar 2006, 8:07 am	#1
howard Nonode Join Date: May 2005 Location: Godalming, Surrey, UK. Posts: 2,593	Ekco PT208 restorations Hello, I recently acquired four of these Ekco PT208 radios in various states of repair. I had two two-tone green ones both in quite good condition, a two tone blue one which cost me nothing as the seller dropped and smashed it prior to sending it, and a red one which was showing signs of serious wear. So far I have managed to restore two nice PT208s from the pile as as I only had two good dials. These are very similar to the Ekco PT378s, except they have an earphone socket, different badges and dials and a dedicated Luxembourg circuit in addition to MW and LW. I decided to restore the two green ones as they had by far the best cases. I dismantled them, removed the dials by undoing the brass domed bolts, lifting off the top clear perspex top part, and then the lower part of the dial once the D shaped holes lined up with the top part of the spindle and then removed the side plates which are held on by two tiny brass screws. The chassis then come out after undoing the screw under the dial and the single screw in the middle of the PCB and unsoldering the wires to the earphone and aerial sockets and removal of the loudspeakers. I removed the handles which are held on by two nuts inside the case. The brass trims around the speaker grilles are different to those on the PT378s, these arent solid and dont have the little wires soldered to them, the securing tabs are part of the brass moulding and are easier to remove after straightening them, and are less likely to break. The plastic badges are welded in place, I decided not to remove these to enable removal of the grilles as the grilles were both undamaged but I did pull out the two brass domed pins postioned top and bottom of the dial. Finally I removed the white vinyl bands from around the outside of each case. I dusted out the chassis and interior of the cases and then gave the handles, vinyl trims and the outside of the cases a good clean with upholstery cleaner with a toothbrush. I polished up the brass trims from the grille and handle with Brasso - theres no varnish on the brass on these which explains why their brass trims often turn black, as these all had ! All four of these radios worked, just as well cos they use NKT type transistors which I have had awful problems obtaining in the past for my PT378s. A little switch cleaner on the volume pots and waveband switches is all that was required to bring them all back to life. I reassembled the two green radios and gave them both a good polish. These little Ekco PT208/PT378 transistor radios are built very well and I have found many which have survived 40 odd years wear and tear in remarkably good condition, and they are also very pretty little sets. Sound quality from them is reasonable, typical I guess of transistor radios built in the early 1960s. So two more mint examples to add to my Ekco collection And I have just acquired a couple more to restore ....... Howard Attached Thumbnails Last edited by howard; 14th Mar 2006 at 8:15 am.