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

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Old 11th Apr 2008, 9:40 am   #1
roberts-r606
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Default Found in the Dump II: The GECoPHONE

After uncovering an old Roberts R606-MB in the dump earlier this week, I stopped by for another poke around this morning (it's on my way to work) and found something a lot older that may be of more interest to people here - I don't know enough about these things to identify it myself but the lid says "GECoPHONE" and there's a small vintage BBC logo surrounded by the slogan "Entirely British Maufacture".

Luckily I had my phone with me and was able to take some (slightly blurry) pictures of the cabinet, the lid, and the cabinet's contents - which seemed surprisingly clean to me. If nothing else it has a couple of big Mazda valves that might be useful to somebody? The front of the cabinet looked a little faded and sad, as if it was missing something - but other than that it was all solid enough. No sign of a speaker though, presumably that was an optional extra?

Unfortunately I have neither the expertise, storage, or a patient enough wife to take on a project like this, and with no means to move it anyway I had to leave it where it was - but if there are any interested collecters in the East Hampshire/West Sussex region, you'll find it in the recycling centre on the Bedford Road industrial estate in Petersfield. I'd love to hear if it's gone to a good home somewhere?
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Old 11th Apr 2008, 10:08 am   #2
mickjjo
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Default Re: Found in the Dump II: The GECoPHONE

Interesting find, that style of BBC stamp was introduced in September 1924, the stamp regulations were abolished in January 1925 but stamps were still used on some sets up to 1927, according to "Radio! Radio!". The Lissen coils look early 30s, so this appears to be a home made set built into an early Gecophone cabinet , Well worth saving though. .

Regards, Mick.

Last edited by mickjjo; 11th Apr 2008 at 10:15 am.
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Old 11th Apr 2008, 11:52 am   #3
BassoonBloke
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Smile Re: Found in the Dump II: The GECoPHONE

I have to admit that if i had seen it, it would definately not have stayed where it was. As they say, 'Where there's a will, there's a way' !!

I hope somebody rescues it, looks to good to let it get smashed up or rot away.

Cheers,
Alan
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Old 11th Apr 2008, 12:24 pm   #4
roberts-r606
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Default Re: Found in the Dump II: The GECoPHONE

Although I call it a dump it's really a recycling centre to be fair, and the GECoPhone is safely ensconsed in a little hut where they put anything of potential value - the people running it try to never put a healthy dog down, so to speak, so I'd hope they can keep it there until the right collector comes along to find it. Obviously some sacrifices have to be made in the end though

There's no way I can take it unfortunately, but I'm hoping someone's reading this locally that can.

PS - Petersfield's only an hour or two down the A3 from London, and it's the weekend tomorrow

Last edited by roberts-r606; 11th Apr 2008 at 12:45 pm.
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Old 11th Apr 2008, 1:30 pm   #5
roberts-r606
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Default Re: Found in the Dump II: The GECoPHONE

I tried to find a picture of this on the web so I could put more of a name to it - the more I look, the more I think it might be this set here - http://www.requisitenreindl.de/images/radio_big_53.jpg - unfortunately the site that comes from (http://www.requisitenreindl.de/de_radiotv.html) is in german (I think) so I'm still not much the wiser.

It looks to me that, sadly, the set I've found has lost the decorative fascia shown in the picture, possibly at the hands of the same person who installed their own homebrew kit inside and changed the positions of the knobs etc. But the two knobs in the picture look to be the same as the two in wonky positions on the dump version.. and the missing fascia explains why the front looks so odd, particularly the more reddish colour of the wood away from the edges. All a bit sad really.
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Old 11th Apr 2008, 3:12 pm   #6
mickjjo
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Default Re: Found in the Dump II: The GECoPHONE

That looks like it could have been a Gecophone BC2740 from 1926, although the same cabinet was used for the BC2935 "All-Electric 3" in 1928, but presumably that would not have a BBC stamp .

Regards, Mick.
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Old 11th Apr 2008, 3:34 pm   #7
roberts-r606
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Default Re: Found in the Dump II: The GECoPHONE

That looks like the one - though whether it was the battery powered or "All-Electric" is difficult to guess, especially since the internals have been swapped out anyway

Here's some more info on the later electric version, including another picture of how this cabinet might have looked in happier days... if you look at the middle of the lid you can just about see the GEoPHONE logo, and what looks like the smaller BBC stamp beneath it

http://earlywireless.com/bc2935_picinfo.htm

EDIT - in fact the description confirms "The lid bears the 'BBC/EBM' stamp" - I think that's a positive ID..

Last edited by roberts-r606; 11th Apr 2008 at 3:49 pm.
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