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Vintage Radio (domestic) Domestic vintage radio (wireless) receivers only.

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Old 20th Oct 2018, 5:18 pm   #41
Mike. Watterson
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Default Re: Beginner looking for a vintage radio

B&Q is selling own brand PP9s.
I use no-brand or sometimes Aldi/Lidl Alkaline 6 x AA cells in a replica case. I don't use rechargeable on regular radios as they self discharge and at low current drain, like a non-DAB radio, or not a Boom-box, no cassette / CD etc,they actually only run about 1/2 as long as Alkaline, which can have 10+ years shelf life.
Energiser (US Everready) is a label owned by a pet food company, almost all cheapest Chinese made. The "Simply Duracell" are poorer than most no-brand/own brand Alkaline cells. The regular Duracell are on average no better life than any average Alkaline.
Don't ever use Zinc Carbon or Zinc Chloride cells (Layer pack such as PP3 & PP9 are fine except in 1 year long applications such as smoke alarms etc) as they are now poorer than 1950s! The card disk and tar replaced by TWO large plastic bungs (one to seal and one to reduce cost!). The Zinc walls seem thinner. They leak via wall consumed and are about 30% lower capacity than late 1950s. The Zinc Chloride only give more capacity at high use, like motors or torches, not much extra life in a radio.
Store unused Alkaline + at bottom because unlike zinc the can is + and seal at - end. If the compartment is too tight (springs too strong) the disc at base (esp Duracell!) is pushed in and the Alkaline leaks around the base seal.
I add a replica paper wrapper to Alkaline D cells if the old radio has a metal holder, because the film insulation on the can is thin and pierced easily. Then the cell is shorted as equipment metal holder connects to -ve and can is +ve. Particularly a hazard on old valve battery sets using a D cell for LT.
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Old 20th Oct 2018, 6:28 pm   #42
Paul_RK
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Location: Fakenham, Norfolk, UK.
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Default Re: Beginner looking for a vintage radio

I still keep a few PP9s around, Ever Ready or Panasonic are available for £2.99 at the local market here - at least they were last time I wanted some - and last for years at my rate of listening, probably around 150-200 hours per pair.

One hazard with the Autocrat, and various other Hacker sets too, is that there's an electrolytic capacitor connected more or less directly across the batteries, and if it becomes leaky it can reduce battery life to a quarter or less of what it should be without having any noticeable effect on the radio's performance. So if you've a suitable meter it's worth checking the quiescent current (no signal, lowest volume) being drawn from the batteries, which should usually be somewhere around 15mA for most sets using PP9s. Anything around or over 40mA in a typical analogue set means a fault, and if the radio works normally the fault will probably be that most of the battery power is being lost to that capacitor.

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