UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Powered By Google Custom Search Vintage Radio and TV Service Data

Go Back   UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum > Specific Vintage Equipment > Vintage Radio (domestic)

Notices

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

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old 29th Dec 2019, 12:06 pm   #1
sparkymike
Octode
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Colchester, Essex, UK.
Posts: 1,063
Default Mystery radio

Many years ago,one of my neighbours had a very large floor standing radio maybe 1930's /40's and I remember that it had loads of push buttons. I have never seen a similar one and wonder if anyone could shed any light on this matter.
Mike.
sparkymike is offline  
Old 29th Dec 2019, 12:14 pm   #2
Cobaltblue
Moderator
 
Cobaltblue's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Exeter, Devon and Poole, Dorset UK.
Posts: 6,824
Default Re: Mystery radio

The sets the immediately spring into my mind are EKCO and HMV

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/ekco_rg489rg_48.html

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/ekco_c511c_51.html

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/hismasters_1300.html

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/hismasters_1301.html

Just as a starting point

An then there were the Bush sets

http://www.bushradio.co.uk/shrubbery.html

Cheers

Mike T
__________________
Invisible airwaves crackle with life or at least they used to
Mike T BVWS member.
www.cossor.co.uk
Cobaltblue is online now  
Old 29th Dec 2019, 1:44 pm   #3
sparkymike
Octode
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Colchester, Essex, UK.
Posts: 1,063
Default Re: Mystery radio

Hi Mike,
yes they are very similar to what I had in the back of my mind. Pity I should have staked a claim on it while the old chap was still around.
Never seem to see these for sale, but perhaps now, with makers names, I will .
I assume all the buttons were for several short wave bands as well as long and medium ? Maybe one for gram.?
Mike.
sparkymike is offline  
Old 29th Dec 2019, 2:02 pm   #4
Cobaltblue
Moderator
 
Cobaltblue's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Exeter, Devon and Poole, Dorset UK.
Posts: 6,824
Default Re: Mystery radio

A lot of these sets (not all) were Motor tuned.

Some just gave you a selection of your most listened to stations (pre-sets)

Most people don't want these Console sets as they are too big today.

Dont forget RGD who also made some cracking console sets.

Cheers


Mike T
__________________
Invisible airwaves crackle with life or at least they used to
Mike T BVWS member.
www.cossor.co.uk
Cobaltblue is online now  
Old 29th Dec 2019, 2:24 pm   #5
Heatercathodeshort
Dekatron
 
Heatercathodeshort's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Warnham, West Sussex. 10 miles south of DORKING.
Posts: 9,145
Default Re: Mystery radio

There is also the massive DEFIANT, possibly 1939/46. J.
Heatercathodeshort is offline  
Old 29th Dec 2019, 3:08 pm   #6
Cobaltblue
Moderator
 
Cobaltblue's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Exeter, Devon and Poole, Dorset UK.
Posts: 6,824
Default Re: Mystery radio

Your probably thinking of the MSH938 which is huge

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/co_op_msh938ac.html
http://www.classicwireless.co.uk/Defiant_MSH938.htm

I dont know if there was ever a console version of this set though.

The MSH 938 was a table top model.

Cheers

Mike T
__________________
Invisible airwaves crackle with life or at least they used to
Mike T BVWS member.
www.cossor.co.uk
Cobaltblue is online now  
Old 29th Dec 2019, 3:35 pm   #7
Paul_RK
Dekatron
 
Paul_RK's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Fakenham, Norfolk, UK.
Posts: 4,246
Default Re: Mystery radio

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cobaltblue View Post
I dont know if there was ever a console version of this set though.
I think there may have been more than one console model, but this is mine, an MSH957.

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...8&d=1270432086

It has a couple more valves than the 938 as output is via a push-pull pair of AC4/PENs.

Paul
Paul_RK is offline  
Old 29th Dec 2019, 3:56 pm   #8
Cobaltblue
Moderator
 
Cobaltblue's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Exeter, Devon and Poole, Dorset UK.
Posts: 6,824
Default Re: Mystery radio

That's a cracker Paul

Need to get that one into the Radiomuseum

Cheers

Mike T
__________________
Invisible airwaves crackle with life or at least they used to
Mike T BVWS member.
www.cossor.co.uk
Cobaltblue is online now  
Old 29th Dec 2019, 4:02 pm   #9
Paul_RK
Dekatron
 
Paul_RK's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Fakenham, Norfolk, UK.
Posts: 4,246
Default Re: Mystery radio

Yes, it's about time I settled down to taking photos and putting a few sets in there. The Defiant is keeping rather mixed company lately.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	957.jpg
Views:	215
Size:	59.9 KB
ID:	196039  
Paul_RK is offline  
Old 29th Dec 2019, 5:46 pm   #10
greenstar
Octode
 
greenstar's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Leicester, Leics. UK.
Posts: 1,681
Default Re: Mystery radio

Any idea who made the pushbutton tuner for the Defiant? I am still trying to identify my lost 'grandfather's radio' which had something similar.
Tony
greenstar is offline  
Old 29th Dec 2019, 9:06 pm   #11
sparkymike
Octode
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Colchester, Essex, UK.
Posts: 1,063
Default Re: Mystery radio

It was possibly the HMV one, but so long ago when I saw it, that my mind is now clouded. At the time I know I could not believe how many buttons it had.

Apparently on some sets the buttons could select TV sound.
Mike.
sparkymike is offline  
Old 29th Dec 2019, 9:46 pm   #12
Paul_RK
Dekatron
 
Paul_RK's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Fakenham, Norfolk, UK.
Posts: 4,246
Default Re: Mystery radio

Quote:
Originally Posted by sparkymike View Post
Apparently on some sets the buttons could select TV sound.
Mike.
Yes, the Defiant is one that has it: but by way of a fifth waveband in addition to LW, MW and two SW. Wavechange and tuning are both motor-driven - the only knob is for optional manual tuning, with a concentric volume lever (tone control is by a bank of buttons).
Paul_RK is offline  
Old 30th Dec 2019, 10:30 am   #13
rontech
Heptode
 
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Southport, Merseyside, UK.
Posts: 646
Default Re: Mystery radio

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cobaltblue View Post
A lot of these sets (not all) were Motor tuned.

Some just gave you a selection of your most listened to stations (pre-sets)

Most people don't want these Console sets as they are too big today.

Dont forget RGD who also made some cracking console sets.
I have a lavishly illustrated RGD catalogue for model year 1939. it shows as an option an "Armchair control box" This would sit on the arm of your chair and connected to the radioconsole and radiogram models via a cable. It had a row of push buttons for station select.

For the top end sets only of course, which were very expensive. Up to 110 guineas in 1939!
__________________
Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana
rontech is online now  
Old 30th Dec 2019, 11:13 am   #14
Cobaltblue
Moderator
 
Cobaltblue's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Exeter, Devon and Poole, Dorset UK.
Posts: 6,824
Default Re: Mystery radio

For those interested in RGD don't forget the most excellent RGD online museum.

http://www.rgd.org.uk/index.html

Cheers

Mike T
__________________
Invisible airwaves crackle with life or at least they used to
Mike T BVWS member.
www.cossor.co.uk
Cobaltblue is online now  
Old 30th Dec 2019, 3:16 pm   #15
G6Tanuki
Dekatron
 
G6Tanuki's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 13,953
Default Re: Mystery radio

Quote:
Originally Posted by rontech View Post
I have a lavishly illustrated RGD catalogue for model year 1939. it shows as an option an "Armchair control box" This would sit on the arm of your chair and connected to the radioconsole and radiogram models via a cable. It had a row of push buttons for station select.

For the top end sets only of course, which were very expensive. Up to 110 guineas in 1939!
A staggering price - that 110 Guineas would have happily bought you a brand-new car!
G6Tanuki is offline  
Old 31st Dec 2019, 9:44 am   #16
sparkymike
Octode
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Colchester, Essex, UK.
Posts: 1,063
Default Re: Mystery radio

Looking at all the pictures, I think that one of the RDG sets was the most likely contender. Never seen one of these for sale. I guess most were traded in for TV's or smaller sets and those with the record players would have been made redundant when the 33's and 45's came out. The pickups in most of these early sets must have weighed in at several ounces. My father handed me down a very large radiogram in which he had built the superhet radio, after he bought his beloved Murphy table radio, (which incidentally I still have, and still working after Ed Dining rewound the output transformer for me.). I counterbalanced the pickup arm and played my first 45's on it on the slowest speed I could get. With a steel needle, they did not last long !! I think that was a Garrard player.
The cabinet had the normal cupboards each side for the 78's.
Mike.
sparkymike is offline  
Old 31st Dec 2019, 10:32 am   #17
Paul_RK
Dekatron
 
Paul_RK's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Fakenham, Norfolk, UK.
Posts: 4,246
Default Re: Mystery radio

I've only met one RGD console radio, a 1938 model and most likely the 1135, too far away for me to buy it. The company wasn't a high volume manufacturer to start with, and, while selling to an affluent market perhaps increased the survival chances of their equipment, the craze for output triodes in recent years will have claimed moire than a few victims - PP3/250s or PP5/400s in push-pull were usual in the larger models. All sorts of things happened back in the day. I do have a chsssis from the 1938 model 1175: it's in a one-off cabinet a joiner built for it, probably in the mid '50s, in the style of the period and tremendously strong, but with a then new BSR UA8 as its record deck. It turned up in some sort of jumble sale in Lincoln in the early '80s, where its owner, the cabinet-maker's daughter if memory serves, was protesting that if nobody would pay £10 she would take it home and put an axe to it. I succumbed willingly enough to the emotional blackmail...

Paul
Paul_RK is offline  
Old 31st Dec 2019, 10:56 am   #18
sparkymike
Octode
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Colchester, Essex, UK.
Posts: 1,063
Default Re: Mystery radio

It's just had a scan through the vintage radiograms on eBay and saw one of the above grams for four figures !! As you say, it must be the value of those output valves. (To date, the most expensive gram I have ever seen.) You could pickup a Quad valve setup for less, and even in a cabinet !!
Mike.
sparkymike is offline  
Old 31st Dec 2019, 11:28 am   #19
Cobaltblue
Moderator
 
Cobaltblue's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Exeter, Devon and Poole, Dorset UK.
Posts: 6,824
Default Re: Mystery radio

I have had the great pleasure in visiting the RGD museum in the flesh and listened to some of the sets there.
They may be great eye candy but how they sound is whats really important.

They sound absolutely great they have enough power and range to make you feel good about what your listening too,
You have to remind yourself just how old they are.

I guess these were the beggining of the HiFi bubble striving for ever better quality.
Cheers


Mike T
__________________
Invisible airwaves crackle with life or at least they used to
Mike T BVWS member.
www.cossor.co.uk

Last edited by Cobaltblue; 31st Dec 2019 at 11:28 am. Reason: spacing
Cobaltblue is online now  
Old 31st Dec 2019, 11:38 am   #20
sparkymike
Octode
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Colchester, Essex, UK.
Posts: 1,063
Default Re: Mystery radio

I did have a look at the interior photos of that one on line and it does look very well constructed and laid out, with the seperate power amplifier sited in the base of the cabinet. I also noticed how all the rf valves have individual
screening. By comparison, at the time they must have cost as much as a modest house would.
Mike.
sparkymike is offline  
Closed Thread

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 1:11 pm.


All information and advice on this forum is subject to the WARNING AND DISCLAIMER located at https://www.vintage-radio.net/rules.html.
Failure to heed this warning may result in death or serious injury to yourself and/or others.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 - 2023, Paul Stenning.