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Old 5th Mar 2008, 11:00 pm   #1
howard
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Default 1958 Bush VHF70 7 valve MW/LW/VHF radio

Hello again,

I bought this little Bush VHF70 at Tonbridge for £7, It was complete, no chips/scratches at all on the black case but quite a few scratches on the painted front. It was working OK on VHF but very quiet on AM and inside I found it was almost original with a couple of new caps fitted but still with all its wax and loads of Hunts caps still in place.

So I set about replacing all its remaining caps, starting with the wax ones and the audio coupling cap and the set perked up quite a bit. I then checked the valves, swapping in NOS valves one at a time - I changed the UY85 and one of its UF89s and it was now working quite well. I then decided to replace the Hunts caps, around a dozen of them and it was now working brilliantly on AM but I'd obviously done something wrong as VHF had lost gain. And then all of a sudden, bang, a large Hunts 0.05uf mains filter cap exploded, I'd missed that one as it was well hidden. Oh dear. Any way, I replaced that with a new 630v 0.05uF axial and it was working again. I couldn't figure out what I'd done wrong to VHF so Ron Bryan then took a look at it and quickly worked out that I had soldered a cap lead to the wrong tag. He also replaced another Hunts cap hidden on the side of the output transformer and fixed a loose wire on the output transformer which was causing occasional interference. The waveband switch wasn't working quite right on MW, so that was thoroughly cleaned and one contact straightened. There was a bit of hum coming from the set so two TCC electrolytics were checked and one was found to be totally duff so that was replaced and the set then worked really well. Both bulbs were dead so they were replaced and I later replaced the mains filter cap with a 275v class x safety capacitor.

Finally I repainted the front of the case. I stripped off the old paint with Nitromors, masked off the front with Tamiya masking tape - really difficult to mask the front of this set as it has round corners and a long curve long the top. I used Plasti Kote antique gold, a little darker than the original but that was the closest match to the original that I could find. The edges I finished off with Plastikote sprayed from my air brush so to leave a nice fine edge. I did try and straighten the edges of the tygan cloth over the loudspeaker but I gave up. I polished the unmarked bakelite case with Brasso and it left a nice shine. I also polished and revarnished the brass trims on the knobs.

The Bush VHF70 is a nice little radio, obviously a budget set as it has no tone controls or PU button and only one socket on the back for an external FM aerial. At first I thought it rather a plain looking set but I've become rather fond of it now and I think in fact it's quite cute. It's sensitive on MW/LW and reasonably so on VHF as well, and sounds very good for a compact set.

Howard
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Last edited by howard; 5th Mar 2008 at 11:19 pm.
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Old 5th Mar 2008, 11:29 pm   #2
Steve_P
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Default Re: 1958 Bush VHF70 7 valve MW/LW/VHF radio

Nice sets these. The VHF70 isn't the bad one. When you've swapped all the caps, it's worth trying the original valves again. UF89 does not really fail!

The one bad Bush is the VHF90....

Cheers,

Steve P.
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Old 5th Mar 2008, 11:36 pm   #3
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Default Re: 1958 Bush VHF70 7 valve MW/LW/VHF radio

It looks gorgeous Howard. I really like this family of Bushes.

Well done once again


Cheers,
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Old 5th Mar 2008, 11:48 pm   #4
petervk2mlg
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Default Re: 1958 Bush VHF70 7 valve MW/LW/VHF radio

Amazing value for £7. One wouldn't get anything like that in Australia for that kind of money!
Peter
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Old 6th Mar 2008, 1:11 am   #5
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Default Re: 1958 Bush VHF70 7 valve MW/LW/VHF radio

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Originally Posted by petervk2mlg View Post
Amazing value for £7. One wouldn't get anything like that in Australia for that kind of money!
Peter
Howard did well to get this for £7, but you do find bargains at specialist vintage radio events. With a handful of exceptions, 1950s radios don't sell for fancy prices in the UK, and if anything prices have fallen during the last few years. I suppose there are only a limited number of us old radio nutcases about, and sets are still turning up in people's attics and garden sheds.

Also, you need to remember that there were *no* FM radios made for the Australian market before domestic services started in 1976 1950s survivors are quite common here.

Paul
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Old 6th Mar 2008, 1:26 am   #6
petervk2mlg
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Default Re: 1958 Bush VHF70 7 valve MW/LW/VHF radio

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Originally Posted by paulsherwin View Post

Also, you need to remember that there were *no* FM radios made for the Australian market before domestic services started in 1976 1950s survivors are quite common here.

Paul
Yes, the fact that there are no Australian valved FM sets makes use of what old radios there are very limited.
Where I live the surviving AM broadcasts are not worth listening to (Basically 2 stations, one commercial and one local ABC.)
There are 2 ABC FM stations which I can tune into in some parts of the house without an external antenna. These are both in the upper part of the FM band - 102.7 and 104.3MHz and thus unreachable by the older European receivers.
I've built an AM MATE valved transmitter into which I feed my choice of program material (increasingly from the net) and tune in on a vintage valed set.
I'm seriously wandering off topic here!
Peter
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Old 6th Mar 2008, 8:13 am   #7
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Default Re: 1958 Bush VHF70 7 valve MW/LW/VHF radio

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Originally Posted by Steve_P View Post
Nice sets these. The VHF70 isn't the bad one. When you've swapped all the caps, it's worth trying the original valves again. UF89 does not really fail! The one bad Bush is the VHF90.... Cheers,
Steve P.
Hello Steve,

You may well be right about the UF89 and the old one has gone into my working stock and will be tested so it may end up in another set. Having seen a few VHF70s, once or twice in white, in very poor condition with cracked cases etc I got the wrong impression about this model, and it doesn't run hot at all, nowhere near as hot as my other AM/FM midget Philips Philetta (but it doesn't perform quite as well as the Philetta).

Howard
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Old 6th Mar 2008, 8:30 am   #8
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Default Re: 1958 Bush VHF70 7 valve MW/LW/VHF radio

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Originally Posted by Tazman1966 View Post
It looks gorgeous Howard. I really like this family of Bushes. Well done once again Cheers,
Thanks Taz,

I like these Bush VHF bakelite cased sets too, I've got two finished now, the other being my totally original VHF61. I have another VHF61 to do and I'm looking out for a VHF71 or VHF72 as well.

This is a swine of a radio to repaint, best done with an airbrush as paint comes out of the Plastikote aerosol can a bit too thick. Still, it has turned out well, and the paint will be gently compounded down in a few weeks time. The slightly dull patch top right corner in the pic above is a bit of dried polish by the way ....

Howard
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Old 6th Mar 2008, 7:41 pm   #9
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Default Re: 1958 Bush VHF70 7 valve MW/LW/VHF radio

Nice resto Howard, as always!
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Old 6th Mar 2008, 9:09 pm   #10
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Default Re: 1958 Bush VHF70 7 valve MW/LW/VHF radio

Thanks Josh,

And I hope you do your set up soon too. And thanks for the 1958 Bush leaflet which made very interesting reading, listing the VHF90 at 17 guineas, VHF70 at 21 guineas, VHF71 at 24 guineas, VHF61 at 26 guineas, VHF72 at 29 guineas and the VHF62 at 31 guineas. I wonder why the VHF61/VHF62 were more expensive than the newer VHF71/VHF72 models ?

Howard
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Old 6th Mar 2008, 9:55 pm   #11
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Default Re: 1958 Bush VHF70 7 valve MW/LW/VHF radio

Another good job Howard. I am looking for a VHF70 or 71.
John.
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Old 7th Mar 2008, 11:28 am   #12
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Default Re: 1958 Bush VHF70 7 valve MW/LW/VHF radio

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Originally Posted by howard View Post
I wonder why the VHF61/VHF62 were more expensive than the newer VHF71/VHF72 models ?
Hi Howard, The VHF61/62 is an AC only set with a gram socket. The VHF71/72 has a cheaper AC/DC chassis, without a gram output

David
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Old 7th Mar 2008, 8:50 pm   #13
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Default Re: 1958 Bush VHF70 7 valve MW/LW/VHF radio

Hi Howard, I'll get it done eventually! I've just done a Philips 63A which I'll probably do a write up about. Best regards, Josh.
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Old 10th Mar 2008, 5:21 pm   #14
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Default Re: 1958 Bush VHF70 7 valve MW/LW/VHF radio

Nice.
I have two VHF90s, one with the brass trim, the other a later VHF90C with the chrome trim in the centre of the tuning wheel/dial cover and they seem ok to me, in fact the chassis of your VHF70 there looks very similar to the VHF90 chassis, but laid flat instead of standing upright with the valves in front.

Curiously, the later '90C has both external aerial socket and a tape recorder socket.

I have seen far more VHF70s than 90s though, perhaps due to the lack of customers for the VHF-only set in the '50s?
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Old 10th Mar 2008, 8:19 pm   #15
Robert Darwent
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Default Re: 1958 Bush VHF70 7 valve MW/LW/VHF radio

Hello Howard,

A job very well done, as always from you!

I really like these medium sized Bush sets. I don't have a VHF70 at present but do have two VHF61's, thanks for including the photo comparing the two. I hadn't realised the VHF70 was that much smaller in width! I must say the two sets look really good together, just lovely!

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Old 4th Apr 2008, 10:38 pm   #16
marcus 3500
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Smile Re: 1958 Bush VHF70 7 valve MW/LW/VHF radio

Hi Howard

Well done mate a nice looking set. My mums parents owned one, looking at your sets picture brings back memories of my Grandad listening to the Cricket and the warm dusty smell of valves.

Regards

Marcus........
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