Hacker Sovereign 2

[hotbulb]

I don't normally have much interest in radios without valves....but at Shifnal yesterday, I ended up taking a very nice blue Sovereign 2 home with me. Its in absolutely perfect condition, save that the white plastic knobs and buttons have now become a sort of cream colour. Anyway, for £12.00 I thought it was a bit of a bargain. On opening the back I found the original receipt in there, from 1968, and for £41-17-6. Quite a lot of money back then,as I vaguely recall!
Not only that, but also folded up were the instruction sheet, a nice little advertising pamphlet, and a receipt from 1984 for some repair work carried out, at a cost of over £15 for a new volume control and some replacement transistors.
All I've got to do now is save up for a pair of PP9's to try it out

[Nickthedentist]

You've got a bargain there

Don't worry re. the "ivory" knobs and buttons, they always look like that nowadays. However, it's nice if they're all roughly the same colour - many of the sets I've looked at have buttons in several different shades of white, presumably because the set's a bit of a "bitsa"!

Ever Ready Silver Seal PP9s can be had for £1.99 ea. in Superdrug, on the odd occasion they actually have any in stock.

Or, you could use a regulated mains adaptor - CPC do an 18V/200mA one for under a tenner.

Nick.

[hotbulb]

I'd like to try the set out on batteries, and spent a fruitless hour in the centre of Oxford this lunchtime searching for a shop that had any in stock-to no avail. I didn't know that PP9's were *that* difficult to find......
If it checks out OK, I'll certainly try one of those mains adapters, thanks for the details Nick.

Regards

Philip

[molochkartovski]

B&Q do PP9's £2-24 each don't know about in Oxford but our local one had loads a couple of weeks ago.

Richard

[Mike Phelan]

Wilkinsons/Tesco/Asda all have PP9s here, as do most of the markets. Generally £2.99

[hotbulb]

I eventually tracked down a pair of Panasonic PP9's in a dusty, rundown sort of cheapjack shop halfway up the Cowley Road.
I took them home, put into the set, and it works-perfectly. Having never heard a Sovereign before I was amazed at just how good it sounded, even on medium and long wave, let alone VHF.
The next question is what sort of plug does the PSU use, and can they still be obtained. I'm definitely going to get one of those CPC PSU's for it.

Regards

Philip

[GJR 11L]

Here an alternative to cutting holes in the Sovereign's cabinet:

http://www.rapidelectronics.co.uk/rk...2240&XPAGENO=1

Pricey perhaps, but not so when compared to constantly buying zinc carbon ones!

[G0PKH - Pete]

A bit OTT, but you could always make you own PP9's

I have 6 in total, all wrapped in various Manufacturer colour schemes,
Everready Blue (old style),Everready Red's and even Vidor's.

Inside the cases are standard 6 AA battery holders.

I nearly always use these now, as AA Batteries are cheap as chips in bulk from eBay.

Pete

[Nickthedentist]

Glad you like it, Philip! If you want semi-hifi sound quality in a portable radio, you can't do better for the money.

The CPC PSU has a standard (if there is such a thing) co-ax DC power connector. What I do is to desolder the wires to the battery connectors from the power switch, wrap them up, then use a cable tie to secure them somewhere inside the radio so they don't get lost and can be reinstated at some point in the future. Then, I cut off the PSU's plug, and solder its wires to the switch, observing and double-checking the polarity, of course. You can use a further cable tie to secure the wire to the chassis to provide some strain relief.

The wire can exit the bottom of the case immediately next to the hinge, without any modification to the case at all. It doesn't get crushed as there's a small gap for it to pass through, and the feet prevent it being folded too tightly where it exits.

Originally Posted by Pete_Hillyer

A bit OTT, but you could always make you own PP9's

Good idea, Pete

The GP and Ever Ready Silver Seal plastic cases open easily (sometimes all you need to do is accidently drop them), allowing the cells to be removed easily and without any mess.

Nick.