"The Prisoner" Roberts Rambler

[slidertogrid]

I have a couple of these cute little Roberts sets in my collection I have seen them in various colours but until recently I had not encountered a white one.
I saw this one in a local auction so I placed a bid and won it.
When I collected it I found it had been in prison! ( I wonder what it did wrong? )
The set is in good condition it just needed a good clean, the tuner control was very loose which was just the clip holding the spindle bearing in place having worked loose.
I have preserved the Prison label on the back as it is part of the sets history, it is now held in place with a bit of double sided sticky tape.

Fitting a battery showed the set not to be working, there is just a slight noise when the volume control is turned so the next job is to find out why it doesn't go. Maybe one of the lockfit Transistors? It fits in well with the others. Is white an uncommon colour for the Rambler?

[paulsherwin]

More likely to be dirty switch contacts. Lockfits tend to go noisy rather than fail completely. You can easily test the AF stages by injecting audio at the volume control.

[Nickthedentist]

Interesting prison connection! I think they got rid of them because prisoners were apparently using a PP9 in a sock as a weapon! Seems quaint now though

[Paul_RK]

We've a thread from a while ago on incarcerated Ramblers,

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/showthread.php?t=101320 .

According to Roberts' published history, "In Her Majesty's Prisons, only radios without VHF, telescopic aerial or mains lead are allowed": perhaps VHF was ruled out not just because telescopic aerials lent themselves to abuse, but in order to prevent inmates from recreational eavesdropping on the forces of law and order?

As to white Ramblers, they're a little unusual but not seriously scarce, rather like the white Hacker Sovereign II. Of 94 original Ramblers with serial numbers on file at the Roberts group, 6 are white.

Paul

[Richard_FM]

Originally Posted by Nickthedentist

Interesting prison connection! I think they got rid of them because prisoners were apparently using a PP9 in a sock as a weapon! Seems quaint now though

The Strangeways riot was started by prisoners arming themselves in this way!

[paulsherwin]

Please stay on topic - don't post about random prison-related stuff.

[slidertogrid]

My set is serial number 103748 which I assume makes it a later model.

It is now working, how it became to work I found a little strange, I had already cleaned the wave-change switch as Paul had suggested I found there wasn't the usual slight 'pop' as the buttons were pressed.

This morning I 'worked' the buttons and tried a little Deoxit as I had only previously used the cheap stuff. Still no response.
I then had a prod around with my meter and found that the various Transistors in the I.F seemed to have around what I would expect on them voltage - wise.
Each stage seemed to have 'life' with various clicks as I connected the meter.
Then suddenly I could hear music, faint, but definitely music.

Gradually the music got louder. I turned the case over so the speaker was facing upwards and tuned in slightly, the station turns out to be Caroline. I have left the set running now for about an hour and the volume is now fine. Caroline is almost blasting out! It is quite surprising how much volume such a small output stage and speaker can produce. There can't be much wrong if the set is picking up Caroline here in Peterborough...

I don't know if the Philips blue electrolytics needed to reform or if my prodding spiked a Transistor and woke it up?
I'm going to let it run for a little longer and then switch it off to see if it comes back on again.

I found the comments and information provided very interesting, I hadn't realised these sets were supplied to inmates I just assumed it had been someone's own set brought in with or for them. But as Paul says, lets not drift off... AFC is on!

[paulsherwin]

Check for dry joints, but it may indeed be a lockfit issue. You might as well swap out the BFs given that it's easy to do. Any general purpose type will sub in these simple MW/LW designs - BC548, 2N3904, anything you have in stock. Double check the leadout arrangements.

[McMurdo]

i'd say the capacitors slowly reformed or recovered.
I have a Standard radio that will descend into quiet audio followed by rustling and hissing if it hasn't been used in a few months, but a good run slowly brings it back to normal. I never changed any electrolytics and the cheap ones I assume used in there are probably a bit tired. It's on the pile.

It's worth saying that failed lockfits aren't inevitable in anything, they're just worthy of suspicion. I have one in a Hacker that's intermittent...on the pile.