10th Oct 2016, 1:15 pm | #121 |
Heptode
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 979
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Re: Hi From Cathy Lissen/Eveready Kenilworth??
I'm not sure that 1930's radios weren't very loud - my Invicta AW57 positively booms out very crisp, clear sound from its 10" speaker. Way louder than any of my 1950s sets go.
For an aerial I've generally found that 5m or so of wire draped round the picture rail or along a plastic gutter outside works well enough for UK MW stations. |
10th Oct 2016, 2:42 pm | #122 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Cottingham, East Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 5,761
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Re: Hi From Cathy Lissen/Eveready Kenilworth??
Hi Ash,
Nice meeting you and Cathy at Hornsea Rally yesterday. Great news that the set is working now! If the voltages (screens, anodes etc), look OK on the set, I guess the two most likely things causing lower volume than you would expect would be the lack of an aerial and/or low emission from the output valve. If you wanted to bring the radio to my place, I have an amplified magnetic loop aerial (as featured in the Autumn BVWS Bulletin) which performs really well in terms of both signal strength and low noise, and also have a 60ft wire aerial at low level for comparison, so you could see how your set (or should I say 'Cathy's set'!), performs on each of those. I can also test the valves here for you if you wish. Drop me a PM if that's helpful. (I won't be around from 13 - 20 October). The magnetic loop aerial is well within your capabilities to build, at a fraction of the cost of a commercial one, and is compact. My loop consists of a 2 M x 2 M square of 15mm copper tube with the amplifier fixed at the feed point at the top, with the loop mounted on stand-off plastic pipe brackets on the outside of the gable end of the workshop. The DC to power the amplifier being fed via the coax, rather like a TV masthead amplifier. It works a treat. (I didn't make it - it was a prototype supplied to me by Gary Tempest, the designer and developer).
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David. BVWS Member. G-QRP Club member 1339. |
10th Oct 2016, 5:05 pm | #123 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,947
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Re: Hi From Cathy Lissen/Eveready Kenilworth??
You can also build your own external ferrite rod aerial from junk box components, either amplified or passive. This ancient thread describes one I built over 10 years ago: https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...read.php?t=579
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11th Oct 2016, 1:57 pm | #124 |
Pentode
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Willerby, East Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 191
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Re: Hi From Cathy Lissen/Eveready Kenilworth??
Sounds good Paul ...definitely on my to-do project list.
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27th Mar 2023, 1:18 pm | #125 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4, UK.
Posts: 21,288
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Re: Hi From Cathy Lissen/Eveready Kenilworth??
Thread reopened in anticipation of further posts by the OP.
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Graham. Forum Moderator Reach for your meter before you reach for your soldering iron. |
28th Mar 2023, 11:19 am | #126 |
Octode
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 1,592
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Re: Hi From Cathy Lissen/Eveready Kenilworth??
Hi Cathy.
I used to have a Lissen "Caernarvon" when I lived in Suffolk in the 1980's (wish that I still had it!), but due to lack of money then I sold it to U.S.A.F staff that used to be based at the former Bentwaters Air Base in Suffolk (now long closed). There was also an Ever Ready 1930's radio in Leeds at Sue Ryder shop in Headingley, but that soon got snapped up (it had no back panel) Regards Mike |