Strange Regentone MULTI 99

[regentone001]

I have a very strange version of the then popular Regentone MULTI 99. Instead of LW MW SW it has Broadcast and 2 shortwaves. I thought it was possibly built for export now I am not so sure. I did think it was made up of bits, the deck is a BSR UA8 as used in the 99FM, the back panel is a hacked around back from a 99FM too. But it uses B7G valves 6X4 rectifier, EBC90 final IF and audio preamp, 6BA6 IF, and 2 others with the numbers illegible I guess they are EL95 audio output and EK90 frequency changer. The cabinet is in dark wood where as normally they are much lighter and the speaker is a Goodmans unit instead of the Regentone fitted to the MK1 and MK2. I thought it was a doctored MK1 at first as the on/off switch is mounted on the vol control as in the MK1 version but it doesn't make any sense.
Then when I was working on it my mate noticed written on the front of the speaker baffle board in pencil " sample 5/2/57 this is hidden when the set is in the cabinet What do folks think was this a pre production sample of a later version or what? Any suggestions welcome
Thanks
Steve

[ekjdm14]

The use of the UA8 turntable ties in with the 99FM's production dates, would be interested to see pics of the hacked back panel & the chassis as that might provide clues as to whether it's a home-modified or built-from-parts set or an actual pre-production prototype/sample made possibly (to my mind) for an exporter/middle man & perhaps the deal didn't happen/they came up with another model more suited?

Certainly interested to see more of the set.

[Station X]

Won't any station names on the tuning scale give a hint as to the expected market?

[regentone001]

The chassis layout is exactly the same as the MK1 and MK2 but the holes for the valve holders were drilled to take the B7G holders rather than the B9A or B8A, even the lamp connectors and gram motor connectors are in the same places. All the sockets are in the same places, which is why I find it strange that a 99FM back was used and cut to give access to the aerial and earth and LS sockets, a normal MULTI99 back would have made them accessible anyway. I have taken a photo of the scale plate hopefully it is legible, it has the normal Light, Home and Third programs marked on the broadcast scale
Steve

[Herald1360]

Looks like an export version. The 60, 85 and 120m bands would not normally appear on a home market set, even one with short wave bands. The odd back could just be a replacement hacked to fit.

[regentone001]

another photo showing the location of the inscription sample and the date

[Boulevardier]

Re the tuning scale pictures - isn't it highly unusual for a UK domestic radio of around 1957 to have the medium wave calibrated in kc/s rather than metres? I wondered if it was an export model, but then why would it have all the BBC Home Service regions on the scale?

Mike

[G6Tanuki]

60, 85 and 120M bands were known as the "tropical bands" - used in the tropics for local broadcasting instead of (or in addition to) MW, because 60/85/120M were less susceptible to the effects of thunderstorms.

Perhaps your radio was intended as a last-ditch effort to sell into the then-rapidly-self-disassembling "British Empire" ??

[Boulevardier]

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

Perhaps your radio was intended as a last-ditch effort to sell into the then-rapidly-self-disassembling "British Empire" ??

Possibly, but not many of those Empire listeners would be thinking of tuning in to the BBC West Region Home Service - even if they could get any signal.

Mike

[Edward Huggins]

This is certainly an oddity. Most unusual for Plessey to use a Goodmans speaker. It may be a replacement and it's very poorly fitted onto the Baffle too.

[paulsherwin]

Everything points to it being an export set - the replacement of LW by the tropical bands, the change from B8A to B7G valves, etc. Maybe they wanted to get into the Tea Planter Special market, selling to British expats. It may even be a prototype that never went into full production.

None of this explains why the tuning scale has BBC domestic transmitters marked on it though...

[regentone001]

Thanks for all the replies it seems I have a total mystery of a set, the tuning scale of which doesn't seem to make any sense. The cabinet is of better build quality than that of the 99FM using thicker ply but I will have to make a new motor board for the UA8 eventually as the ply used on the original is de-laminating
Thanks again
Steve

[Station X]

Perhaps it was intended as a set which could be brought back to the UK once an overseas assignment was finished? The MW scale would then come into its own.

Or perhaps the reverse?

[Boulevardier]

Originally Posted by regentone001

Thanks for all the replies it seems I have a total mystery of a set, the tuning scale of which doesn't seem to make any sense. The cabinet is of better build quality than that of the 99FM using thicker ply but I will have to make a new motor board for the UA8 eventually as the ply used on the original is de-laminating
Thanks again
Steve

A mystery indeed. Another "anomaly" is that it has no Long Wave. Any reasonable quality set of the 1950s that was designed in any way for the UK market would have had this - many parts of the UK relied heavily on LW for reception of the Light Programme from Droitwich (particularly the West - I lived in SW Devon in the early 60s, and even then would have considered any radio as useless without LW - until an FM set could be afforded). The Light Programme was probably the BBC's most popular service at this time, and a lot of the listening would have been on LW.

I wondered if it was a project given to an apprentice, but the production cost of that (including design and manufacture of a one-off tuning scale) makes this seem pretty unlikely.

I imagine it's a complete one-off, so I wonder if the Model No./Serial No. plate would throw any light on the mystery. Surely it wouldn't have had a regular model no. and serial no. unless it had reached the production lines.

Mike

[AC/HL]

It doesn't have any station names on the short wave bands, so could be a general purpose export set. British station names for no particular reason. B7G valves might suggest a market where they were more common than here. The sample writing could refer to the cabinet, with it's odd back. Many questions.