£10 of Harpy Happiness

[Pamphonica]

A very cold auction at Harpenden produced only one successful bid for me. The item was just described as "Pam Transistor Radio Working". But it is a very sweet radio, and I think I have already had more than my £10 of happiness from it! My wife said it was the nicest thing I had ever brought back from the auction!

I would be grateful for any help identifying the model.

It has 7 transistors. A real mixture: Japanese Toshiba 2SA73, 2SA72(2), then NKT275, NKT278 plus two output transistors hidden in a dual heatsink. "Radio Radio" gives this sort of config as typical of radios from about 1963. It has 3 bands - L, M and a Marine band covering 185-210m (Manx, Caroline and Luxembourg proudly labelled)

But any help identifying the model (a Pye clone, yet again?) would be very much appreciated. Size is 8" x 5" x 2.5".

It was in nice condition but had some dirt, especially inside and quite a few nasty dings in the speaker grille.

The wavechange switch and pot have received some servisol. The pcb has been removed and a few soldered joints repaired. the speaker grille has been removed and dings have been carefully burnished out, and the case has received a good clean with IPA.

And as expected, it burst into life quite happily on a 9V test psu. The pot's quiet and the very nice wavechange switch and chunky tuning gang are doing a great job. Good clear reception.

Any ideas on model? Sorry the photos are poor quality - my compression software was a bit over-zealous.

Thanks

Jeremy

[mickjjo]

That looks like a clone of the Pye 1352:-

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/pye_1352.html

I believe there were 2 versions, I have a later one with the same internals as your Pam, My Pye doesn't have the marine band however..

Regards, Mick.

['LIVEWIRE?']

Sorry if I'm stating the obvious, but, because of the 'Caroline' indication, the radio must date from 1964 or 65.

[Pamphonica]

Cor you lot have eagle eyes!

The case is a dead giveaway isn't it - just like that Pye 1352 - well spotted Mick. The folding handle is very neat. Slim but effective, and it folds right back round into the slot in the base at the rear when the radio is on a shelf.

And Livewire, you are not stating the obvious to me! That's a really useful bit of info re Caroline.

I know it's not a special set but as you can imagine, being Pamphonic obsessed, I am really chuffed.

With the demise of the PP7 battery format, I can just as easily put in a 6xAA cell holder in its place for now. I might even go mad and build up a colour-printed card battery box round it!

Thanks all,

Jeremy

I've trawled the Radio show book excerpts and I can't tie it up with any of the advertised Pam radios of that period. I suspect it was a "Pye special" bought in to fill a gap.

[mickjjo]

I think I've cracked it! I believe this is a Pam model 5225, The info in the R+TV Servicing book 1966-67 page 216 ties up:-

http://www.service-data.com/product....14/5381/a14114

Regards, Mick.

[Pamphonica]

Well done Mick - you definitely get the donut! That's it exactly. So it really is not that early.

In fact this corrects a misapprehension I had. I was informed that Pye was bought by Philips in about 1965 and after that the Pye name (and the Pam name) virtually disappeared. But there must have been a few years of overlap.

I will have to correct this in my website!

It's funny but although it's working I didn't want to rest till I had a service sheet in my hands. It's like any equipment especially test equipment that I buy. I must have a service manual "just in case".

Thanks again Mick - job well done.

All the best

Jeremy

[Paul_RK]

The Pam name does seem to have been dropped after a few more releases - "Radio! Radio!" dates this model as 1965 and lists three from 1966. Pye on the other hand had many years still to run.

There's another clone not mentioned yet, which is the only one I've owned - the Ekco PT438, http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/ekco_tr...le_pt_438.html .

Paul

[Pamphonica]

I should have read the Pam listing in "Radio! Radio!" more closely. So we now have closure - it is listed and we do have service info - wonderful!
And the clone is interesting. By this stage I would have thought that Ekco was a better respected brand to buy than Pam! But I prefer the knob on mine...
- Jeremy

[GrimJosef]

Originally Posted by Pamphonica

... it is a very sweet radio, and I think I have already had more than my £10 of happiness from it! My wife said it was the nicest thing I had ever brought back from the auction!

Hmm Jeremy. I'm sure you've taken me back to your place once or twice after we've shared a ride back from an auction .

Cheers,

GJ

[WilliamTK1974]

That's neat that Caroline is labeled on the dial.

Call me a dewy-eyed Anglophile, but there's something special about radios that show where to tune to pick up BBC4, Allouis, Caroline etc. That sort of thing seems to have faded away over here after the 1930s or 40s, maybe because our radio services weren't produced by a government agency. I've seen a few older consoles with certain frequencies labeled, but not many.

[Radio Wrangler]

An American tuning scale with station names would just be a load of callsigns and be a lot less evocative. I had fun as a kid finding out where Hilversum, Luxembourg and all those places were. It did my geography no end of good!

David