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Vintage Radio (domestic) Domestic vintage radio (wireless) receivers only. |
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10th May 2021, 3:57 pm | #1 |
Hexode
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK.
Posts: 421
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Wartime Civilian Receiver.
Had this one on the bench for a while now, looking rather forlorn & tatty. The top is separate, I would think the animal based glue has decomposed somewhat. As far as I can see, someone in its past, decided to give it a coat of dark varnish. It's mostly peeling off as you can see. No sign of the label on top either which kind of bolsters my suspicion that the finish isn't original. Speaker cloth isn't too moth eaten & it may well be possible to salvage it. Looking under the chassis shows the three 8uf caps have, at some point, been replaced with RS dry electrolytic types but a long time ago, haven't seen those grey types since the 70's. Whoever did it made a good job of it too, they may yet reform ok, you never know. One of the valves has lost most of its coating & according to a penciled note on the chassis is a CCH35, close to an ECH35 in every respect apart from filament voltage. This one is a U21 (Philco) & according to the dial was right around 1944. The waxy's are, well, runny. A quick probe around the resistors shows they aren't too far off mostly.The volume control was replaced at some point with a switched one (wrong value too) but they didn't bother to take the toggle switch out of circuit?!? It's going to be interesting as they say!
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11th May 2021, 1:42 am | #2 |
Octode
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK.
Posts: 1,457
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Re: Wartime Civilian Receiver.......
According to all the info available, the front end should be ECH35 & EF39.
The shielding flaking off is not good, it may lead to instability, it will be interesting to find out whether it behaves itself or not. It would also be interesting to find out how the set performs with the CCH35.
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Rick, the annoying object roaming the forum. |
11th May 2021, 7:54 am | #3 |
Hexode
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK.
Posts: 421
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Re: Wartime Civilian Receiver.......
Hi Glowing Bits!
Luckily I have an ECH35 & EF39 from a salvage job. When the time comes I'll try it with it's original line up of valves then take it from there. Having just finished scraping the old varnish off (messy!) & re-assembling/gluing the cabinet back together (top had become detached, several corner bracing pieces fallen off & the rest decidedly rickety) I'm going to let it stand for a few days until I tackle the chassis. The OPT looks as if it's a generic replacement, the markings look aftermarket. Speaker is in good order though, voice coil not scraping & the cone is intact. Managed to get the cloth off in one piece & gave it a gentle wash, the colour of the water was a sight to behold! Its been left to air dry on a piece of towel in the window of the workshop. We'll see how it's held up at the weekend, I'm hopeful it will survive. As I was scraping the cabinet I heard a muted twang from the chassis on the bench, I looked at it & found the tuning cord had snapped! Luckily it's a relatively simple run. Oh & the 8uf capacitors reformed excellently too. Rather pleased so far......
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11th May 2021, 10:26 am | #4 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Coningsby, Lincolnshire, UK.
Posts: 2,814
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Re: Wartime Civilian Receiver.
I remember seeing your set for sale about the time I bought mine! I was tempted.. your thread reminded me to have a look at mine last night, it looked like someone had played with it before, but all the waxies were still in place, I gave it a warm up on the lamp limiter, and it came to life! The speaker had its voice coil stuck, but some careful adjustment after loosening the screws got it going, it sounds good!
Best of luck with yours! Lloyd |
11th May 2021, 5:59 pm | #5 |
Octode
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK.
Posts: 1,457
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Re: Wartime Civilian Receiver.
The speaker tranny does look as though it has been replaced, almost any speaker tranny can be used in these sets, the primary resistance is not critical.
As for the cabinet, some panel pins may be of use, I had to glue & nail the base on mine, the bottom fell off! Once you have the set restored, make sure it has a reasonable length of cable for the antenna, it will then perform well.
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11th May 2021, 10:17 pm | #6 |
Nonode
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Stockport, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 2,000
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Re: Wartime Civilian Receiver.
Good to see another one being restored.
Will you be removing the dark varnish?
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11th May 2021, 11:01 pm | #7 |
Hexode
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Liverpool, Merseyside, UK.
Posts: 254
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Re: Wartime Civilian Receiver.
Does anyone know whether or not they were varnished when new, or were they just left as plain wood?
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12th May 2021, 7:37 am | #8 |
Hexode
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK.
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Re: Wartime Civilian Receiver.
Richard FM:
TBH the dark varnish was so tatty & falling off in places, the only option was to remove it but I've left it in the grooves of the two front upright panels as a mark to its heritage as it were. Murphy Maniac: I can find no definite information as to whether they were varnished or left as plain wood, some say they were, others say they weren't. Perhaps this was down to which manufacturer & what was available at the time? Glowing Bits!: That at least is good to know! A quick check with the meter showed it was reading roughly what was expected as did the mains transformer, phew! Lloyd 1985: Oh boy did you get lucky there! Well done! I've never had much success with adjusting speakers so a definite result there for you.
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12th May 2021, 7:30 pm | #9 |
Octode
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK.
Posts: 1,457
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Re: Wartime Civilian Receiver.
With regards to the cabinet finish, it would have been either varnished or waxed, some manufacturers may not have finished the cabinet with anything, although most were.
Once the set is up and running, a 10 metre length of cable should give good results, unless the set needs alignment. Although these sets were designed as cheap as possible, that's very doubtful given how a dropper resistor would have saved a lot of money versus a rather expensive transformer.
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12th May 2021, 9:03 pm | #10 |
Triode
Join Date: Mar 2021
Location: Cambridgeshire, UK.
Posts: 37
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Re: Wartime Civilian Receiver.
I’ve become a bit obsessed with the Wartime Receiver, (2 so far!) and am looking forward to seeing how yours comes along
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12th May 2021, 9:21 pm | #11 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, UK.
Posts: 7,444
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Re: Wartime Civilian Receiver.
A special model was made for AC/DC mains. Valves: CCH35, EF39, EBL31 and CY31. A ballast tube type C1 or C1C takes care the current regulation of the heaters.
Same cabinet and chassis metalwork as the AC only sets.. DFWB. |
12th May 2021, 9:27 pm | #12 | |
Moderator
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Location: Exeter, Devon and Poole, Dorset UK.
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Re: Wartime Civilian Receiver.
Quote:
It would be interesting. Cheers Mike T
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12th May 2021, 9:42 pm | #13 |
Octode
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK.
Posts: 1,457
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Re: Wartime Civilian Receiver.
I'm not sure whether I found one on Ebay a few years back, either way, they are not as common.
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12th May 2021, 9:58 pm | #14 |
Tetrode
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Bristol, UK.
Posts: 68
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Re: Wartime Civilian Receiver.
Hi Mike,
As has been stated, the ac/dc receiver is certainly a more rarer variant of the Wartime Civilian Receiver. A picture of one can be found on my website listed below. This particular one was made for the British wireless for the blind fund. Peter |
12th May 2021, 10:15 pm | #15 |
Moderator
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Location: Exeter, Devon and Poole, Dorset UK.
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Re: Wartime Civilian Receiver.
Thank you for that it's a new one for me
Does it have the usual manufacturer code? Interesting modifications to stop the live chassis being exposed. Cheers Mike T
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12th May 2021, 11:21 pm | #16 |
Heptode
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, UK.
Posts: 719
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Re: Wartime Civilian Receiver.
Thanks for this, very interesting to see photos of the AC/DC version.. I’d seen mention of it before but have never seen one.
ISTR also seeing a photo and brief description of an American version, complete with RCA logo, which was AC only and used a 6V6 output valve plus (presumably) modifications to make up the lost gain. I think it was in Radiophile magazine, and I don’t think it was April! Anyone else remember this or know any more about it? Pete |
13th May 2021, 8:31 am | #17 | |
Hexode
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK.
Posts: 421
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Re: Wartime Civilian Receiver.
Quote:
There's a report from the BBC on this set, makes interesting reading, I get the impression they weren't that taken with it! Back to the set: The woodwork shows no signs of the dread woodworm but is extremely dry, almost like its been baked. I've given it a very light sanding & applied some Danish oil to the inside, just to see what happened. As the brush hit the wood it soaked straight in! Danish oil is runny & spreads, normally, very well, not so in this case. The wood soaked it up like a sponge. I'll leave that until the weekend to dry out for now. Looking around the chassis (after cleaning it up) it all appears to be in remarkably good condition. C13 (25uF/25V) was found to be a resistor in behavior, rather than solder in a tiny modern replacement I took the time to re-stuff the old case, just for the look. I know the chances of it ever being seen by anyone other than me is remote but, well you know! Then onto the tuning cord, after removing the required tuning scale & pointer I found the drum had been fitted incorrectly, the open side facing inwards. At this point I took the chance to clean & lubricate the relevant rotating parts. More later!
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13th May 2021, 9:10 am | #18 |
Octode
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK.
Posts: 1,457
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Re: Wartime Civilian Receiver.
The cabinet is made from raw boxwood, no veneer is used to reduce costs hence why it soaks up lots of oil, at least 3 coats are needed to seal it before the real work can begin, I usually apply 7 - 8 coats to achieve a reasonable sheen but not to the point of having a mirror finish.
With regards to other variants, the universal version of this set used a barretter rather than a dropper, a battery version was available too.
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13th May 2021, 12:59 pm | #19 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Cornwall, UK.
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Re: Wartime Civilian Receiver.
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13th May 2021, 3:42 pm | #20 |
Octode
Join Date: Oct 2011
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Re: Wartime Civilian Receiver.
I won't argue about the wood itself other than it's not the usual cabinet timber, it ain't heavy enough.
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