Pye 'Cambridge International' PE80

[Andrewausfa]

Several months ago I made a comment on a thread that the Pye PE80 is a set I would really like to own one day. I've been looking for one ever since. A few weeks ago a very kind visitor to this forum looking to dispose of a PE80 his father had owned saw this post and as he was local to me offered me the set. Due to this kindness I thought I'd better write up its return to life.

It was in better condition than I'd anticipated with no woodworm, no rusty chassis and importantly a complete scale but the cabinet was a bit battered around the edges. On getting it home the back came off and straight away I saw the transformer must have got very hot back in the day as the pitch covering it had melted and oozed down onto and underneath the chassis embedding the rectifier and one of the output valves. After seeing this I'd no real expectation it would work. However, I did the usual checks of the mains and output transformers which showed there may be a chance of resurrection.

Something had been making that transformer a bit hot and bothered so on removing the chassis I checked out the smoothing capacitors. This set has two BEC double electrolytics a 32+32 and a 16+16, these dated July 1954. Despite my misgivings all four sections seemed OK on the resistance readings so I decided to reform them. BEC capacitors have a reputation for reforming very well so I admit I might not have been paying as much attention to the meter as perhaps I should have done. I would usually stick an electrolytic on the reformer and leave it for ten minutes while watching the current meter, then switch off, check if the capacitor was getting warm, if not back on the reformer. In this case, I switched the reformer off, let the 32+32 capacitor discharge and picked it up. It was that hot that I dropped it on the floor and it was still warm an hour later. Lesson learned and at least I'd found the likely culprit of the hot transformer. The other can reformed perfectly.

The EZ40 and an EL41 were both locked solid in their bases by pitch. This was very carefully chipped away from above and below until I could gently wiggle both out. Both were then stuck in a P75 set to see if they still worked which they did. The duff can was replaced by two new capacitors wired under the chassis and the AF coupling capacitors replaced. Power was then applied through the lamp limiter. Of course the dulcet sounds of music and voice only come from a set when you plug an aerial in, something I nearly always forget to do when I come to the moment of switching on. My heart always sinks for a few seconds when I can hear hiss from the speaker but no sounds, on a project I've invested time and money in .....until I remember the aerial. Anyway, with the aerial in it all seemed to work very nicely.

After giving it full power checks were made regularly on the transformer, which just got mildly warm and the voltages on the EZ40. I think that in the past the set must have been run for some time with suspect smoothers. This set has a number of Hunts moulded capacitors in it and as usual they were cracked or falling apart, these were replaced over a few sessions, testing between most of the changes. Other than switch and valve pin cleaning and resoldering the loose HT wire to the tuning indicator that completed the electrical work on the set.

The cabinets finish wasn't in a good enough state to have a wipe of scratch cover to smarten it up so I took the decision to strip and re-finish it. I did plan to use cellulose lacquer on it but with all the moisture in the air we've had over the last few months a little test spray proved that I could expect some 'bloom' which would ruin any work done. As such, I re-sprayed the black sections and then used bees wax for the veneered parts. The speaker grille was re-sprayed gold and the bars either side sprayed black. The speaker frame was showing signs of rust at the top so this was stripped and painted black. I used a very low setting on a blow torch to melt some of the pitch and push it back up the transformer.

The set was then re-assembled and has been in use for around a week now but I've only had it about half volume as it's so loud with a fantastic bass. It's a particularly large set but one I'm trying to get the missus to admire and hence into the living room. I will be really looking forward to seeing its SW performance in the evenings in the winter when the bands improve.

Andrew

[Andrewausfa]

And the finished set

[FIXITNOW]

i have one of these there great sets

[ThePillenwerfer]

Nice job, both inside and out.

- Joe

[slidertogrid]

A fantastic restoration and write up!
I saw a tatty one of these at Harpenden years back, I thought it was an ugly looking thing! but seeing your restored set I have changed my mind! very smart!
It must have been a real " bit of kit" in the 50's !
cheers,Rich.

The result looks splendid, what SHMBO could resist that in the lounge? Mind you I am lucky, Helene lives in the lounge with carpet, a TV and lovely cabinets full of trinkets etc. I live in the kitchen with 18 radios, bliss!

[Orthicon]

Andrew
- that is a fantastic job you have done there. I have restored one (my second set from a novice!) last October, and reading your write up was like a dose of deja vu!

I was fortunate in that the cabinet was pretty much immaculate, but the radio was non-functioning. The main culprit, just as with yours was C73/74, the dual can 32uf+32uf capacitor, again date stamped, - 1954.

I just wondered if you found a lot of the resistors in yours out of tolerance. I found so many in mine sky high, that I ended up changing the lot.

You are wise to have replaced all the Hunts moulded capacitors. C77 and C78 in mine were replaced by Y2/X1 class capacitors, as one of the originals had, at some time past, exploded violently.

I hope you get much pleasure from the set, they really are superb performers, and were very much the 'Rolls Royce' of AM sets in their day, shortly before the introduction of FM and the Fenman range.

A real quality set you've got there and a beautiful job!

Ian

[Andrewausfa]

Thanks gents. It's certainly a lovely set and a lot of fun to fix.

Ian, I don't think I was too far away from the smoothing can detonating let alone a 'Hunts' Quite odd, as the sections seemed to charge OK from the meter. The resistors were OK. I tested some of the larger value ones and they all came in under the 20% tolerance range.

I think the missus would soon tire of me trying to tune in to some obscure short wave broadcast to really have it in the living room!

Regards _ Andrew

[Kevin Hoyland]

Hello.

Outstanding work on a Top class radio, Andrew.
Regards Kev.

[paulsherwin]

Very nice job, especially cosmetically.

Sadly there's a lot less broadcast SW to listen to in Europe now, even compared with only a few years ago. It's been in decline since the 90s.

[emeritus]

Most of the English-language broadcasts on short wave these days seem to be from China.

[bobbyball]

Truly beautiful job!

Robert

[60 oldjohn]

I understand most of the British Embassies were issued with a PE80.
John.

[howard]

Good work Andrew, it looks like new !

Howard

[majoconz]

I have recently acquired one too - although mine must have come via the Far East as all the MW stations on the dial are around Singapore. I bought it on a local auction 'partially restored' which amounted to replacing the two audio coupling caps. Quite a few others were leaky and some resistors way high. Everything else seems OK but lacks sensitivity - great sound on the local stations though! Cabinet needs the black ends resprayed but another project popped up - a Sony CRF 230!
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/n...21/PyePE80.jpg
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/n...91803_full.jpg