1955 Murphy A362 MW/LW/VHF 6 valve radio - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

howard · 2nd Jul 2008, 6:08 pm

Hello again,

The A362 was Murphy's second VHF radio and it was released in June 1955. I've always thought that these are rather nice looking little sets, in a reddish bakelite case with champagne gold painted front with a large perspex dial suspended about half an inch in front of the loudspeaker baffle. It has an odd complement of valves though, a mix of Mazda U404 (rectifier), 10P14, 10C1, 10F9 and Mullard EABC80 and a UCC85 (sic). I'd had a couple of them awaiting restoration for some time, both were cheap/scrapworthy, neither worked but both had reasonably good cases. Internally one had a very rusty chassis and the other a cleaner chassis but the thermal fuse had blown on its autotransformer out of which quite a lot of wax had leaked. Service data is readily available for this model, Trader sheet 1377 is on the BVWS disk or available from Paul Stenning's website above, or just its circuit diagram from here ....

http://www.*****************************/Dungeon4.html

I dismantled both sets, picked out the better case and chassis and I've built a nice one from the two.

Briefly, the chassis was restored as follows ....

- all the dust was brushed off the plated steel chassis which was then cleaned with white spirit and polished in places with wire wool and Brasso

- the volume switch, waveband switch and the earth springs on the tuning capacitor were cleaned with Servisol 10

- all the original wax capacitors and all but one Hunts capacitors were replaced with N. American polyester axials. The chassis is horrible to work on, many capacitors are buried deep under other components and one Hunts cap on the 10C1 I simply couldn't get at without risking damaging other components so I've left it in place !

- a new 3 core mains cord was fitted as the original 3 core cord had perished (the earth wire is wired to the earth socket, not to the chassis) and the thermal fuse soldered back together

- a set of valves were selected from the two sets, and the chassis taken over to Ron Bryan for its initial power up via his Variac. Surprisingly it came back to life OK, no signs of leakage from the transformer which remained cool as did the smoothing cap and all the voltages were good. When attached to a loudspeaker it was working OK on AM but nothing on FM. The tuning capacitor was very noisy, it was thoroughly cleaned to no avail so the locknut on the end was loosened and the grub screw tightened and that stopped the shorting completely.

- The UCC85 was replaced with a NOS valve and FM then came to life. The U404 rectifier was flashing inside so the other one was fitted and that was fine. The better of the 10C1 and 10F9s were fitted but both 10P14s were good so I fitted the cleaner one. I replaced the EABC80 with a secondhand one that had recently tested as 100%. The set was now working well on FM but a bit quiet on AM....

Briefly, the case was restored as follows ....

- all the dust was removed from the case which was then cleaned with upholstery cleaner inside and white spirit outside. The painted slats were particularly dirty so they were scrubbed with Jif. The aluminium foil aerial inside the case was all torn and corroded so that was also removed

- a few little bits of paint were touched up on the front using Halfords Ford champagne gold paint - a perfect match

- A new aluminium foil aerial was cut from a bakofoil roll and stuck on the paxolin piece suspended over the top of the set (which I fixed in place with two pieces of think double sided sponge tape) and down the the sides inside the cabinet, using Pritt Stick

- the set was then reassembled

The completed set was working fine on FM but was a bit insensitive on AM. I was showing it to Ron and in passing I mentionned that I'd fitted a spare can over one of the coils to avoid damaging it while cleaning the chassis - he suggested removing it which I did and AM immediately sprung into life ... doh !

It has come up really nice this Murphy A362, its case is virtually unmarked and it works well and sounds quite good. It's fairly sensitive on FM, it picks up everything including Classic FM which is a weak station here but only softly. On MW/LW it works very well, now I've removed that can !

Howard

Patrick Dixon · 2nd Jul 2008, 6:18 pm

You do do a lovely job, and as always a nice write up too.

Most of the sets I've worked on seem to have a capacitor in a completely inaccessible place. I guess I must be choosing the wrong ones!

Mark the Mender · 2nd Jul 2008, 6:20 pm

That look a nice set howard how about a pic of the front.
nice resto

Mark

howard · 2nd Jul 2008, 6:25 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark the Mender

That look a nice set howard how about a pic of the front. nice resto

Mark

Hello Mark,

It's there now.

Howard

Mark the Mender · 2nd Jul 2008, 6:30 pm

Nice

thanks

Mark

Steve_P · 2nd Jul 2008, 7:03 pm

Good job as always, Howard.

Murphy signed a deal with Mazda in 1932, which meant that as far as possible they used Mazda valves. As far as the 2 odd valves go, they could not get them from Mazda, so they had to get them from Mullard. Philips/Mullard had a lot more experience here.

Mullard would release the EABC80 to them, but not the UABC80. Also, the VHF section had an earthed heater and the AF amp had to have an earthed heater too - to prevent hum. So they powered them separately.

Cheers,

Steve P.

howard · 2nd Jul 2008, 10:01 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick Dixon

.......Most of the sets I've worked on seem to have a capacitor in a completely inaccessible place. I guess I must be choosing the wrong ones!

I've had one or two sets where capacitors have been difficult to get at, but this one was the worst of the lot whereas the Bush DAC90A was the best.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve_P

Good job as always, Howard.

Murphy signed a deal with Mazda in 1932, which meant that as far as possible they used Mazda valves. As far as the 2 odd valves go, they could not get them from Mazda, so they had to get them from Mullard. Philips/Mullard had a lot more experience here.

Mullard would release the EABC80 to them, but not the UABC80. Also, the VHF section had an earthed heater and the AF amp had to have an earthed heater too - to prevent hum. So they powered them separately.
Cheers, Steve P.

Hello Steve,

I had noticed Murphy sets always use Mazda valves and I did wonder if they were unable to supply the valves needed for FM. This little set hardly hums at all, it's very good in that respect.

Howard

johnn · 4th Jul 2008, 11:14 am

Another good one Howard!
I did a A372 & it works very well. It's one of my favourites. The output valve is loud for a small set.
John.

howard · 4th Jul 2008, 11:45 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnn

......... The output valve is loud for a small set.
John.

It gets very hot too ! It is a good sounding little set and is well worth acquiring and restoring.

The spare case/dial will be on the Bring & Buy stall at Wootton Bassett for a couple of quid if anyone needs one. If anyone wants anything from the scrap chassis apart from the autotransformer which I'm keeping as a spare let me know before I bin it.

Howard

peter_sol · 4th Jul 2008, 1:31 pm

Hi Howard
I would keep the output transformer if I were you
Regards
Peter.

2nd Jul 2008, 6:08 pm	#1
howard Nonode Join Date: May 2005 Location: Godalming, Surrey, UK. Posts: 2,593	1955 Murphy A362 MW/LW/VHF 6 valve radio Hello again, The A362 was Murphy's second VHF radio and it was released in June 1955. I've always thought that these are rather nice looking little sets, in a reddish bakelite case with champagne gold painted front with a large perspex dial suspended about half an inch in front of the loudspeaker baffle. It has an odd complement of valves though, a mix of Mazda U404 (rectifier), 10P14, 10C1, 10F9 and Mullard EABC80 and a UCC85 (sic). I'd had a couple of them awaiting restoration for some time, both were cheap/scrapworthy, neither worked but both had reasonably good cases. Internally one had a very rusty chassis and the other a cleaner chassis but the thermal fuse had blown on its autotransformer out of which quite a lot of wax had leaked. Service data is readily available for this model, Trader sheet 1377 is on the BVWS disk or available from Paul Stenning's website above, or just its circuit diagram from here .... http://www.***************************/Dungeon4.html I dismantled both sets, picked out the better case and chassis and I've built a nice one from the two. Briefly, the chassis was restored as follows .... - all the dust was brushed off the plated steel chassis which was then cleaned with white spirit and polished in places with wire wool and Brasso - the volume switch, waveband switch and the earth springs on the tuning capacitor were cleaned with Servisol 10 - all the original wax capacitors and all but one Hunts capacitors were replaced with N. American polyester axials. The chassis is horrible** to work on, many capacitors are buried deep under other components and one Hunts cap on the 10C1 I simply couldn't get at without risking damaging other components so I've left it in place ! - a new 3 core mains cord was fitted as the original 3 core cord had perished (the earth wire is wired to the earth socket, not to the chassis) and the thermal fuse soldered back together - a set of valves were selected from the two sets, and the chassis taken over to Ron Bryan for its initial power up via his Variac. Surprisingly it came back to life OK, no signs of leakage from the transformer which remained cool as did the smoothing cap and all the voltages were good. When attached to a loudspeaker it was working OK on AM but nothing on FM. The tuning capacitor was very noisy, it was thoroughly cleaned to no avail so the locknut on the end was loosened and the grub screw tightened and that stopped the shorting completely. - The UCC85 was replaced with a NOS valve and FM then came to life. The U404 rectifier was flashing inside so the other one was fitted and that was fine. The better of the 10C1 and 10F9s were fitted but both 10P14s were good so I fitted the cleaner one. I replaced the EABC80 with a secondhand one that had recently tested as 100%. The set was now working well on FM but a bit quiet on AM.... Briefly, the case was restored as follows .... - all the dust was removed from the case which was then cleaned with upholstery cleaner inside and white spirit outside. The painted slats were particularly dirty so they were scrubbed with Jif. The aluminium foil aerial inside the case was all torn and corroded so that was also removed - a few little bits of paint were touched up on the front using Halfords Ford champagne gold paint - a perfect match - A new aluminium foil aerial was cut from a bakofoil roll and stuck on the paxolin piece suspended over the top of the set (which I fixed in place with two pieces of think double sided sponge tape) and down the the sides inside the cabinet, using Pritt Stick - the set was then reassembled The completed set was working fine on FM but was a bit insensitive on AM. I was showing it to Ron and in passing I mentionned that I'd fitted a spare can over one of the coils to avoid damaging it while cleaning the chassis - he suggested removing it which I did and AM immediately sprung into life ... doh ! It has come up really nice this Murphy A362, its case is virtually unmarked and it works well and sounds quite good. It's fairly sensitive on FM, it picks up everything including Classic FM which is a weak station here but only softly. On MW/LW it works very well, now I've removed that can ! Howard Attached Thumbnails Last edited by howard; 2nd Jul 2008 at 6:29 pm. Reason: Pic problems

2nd Jul 2008, 6:18 pm	#2
Patrick Dixon Hexode Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bristol, UK. Posts: 480	Re: 1955 Murphy A362 MW/LW/VHF 6 valve radio You do do a lovely job, and as always a nice write up too. Most of the sets I've worked on seem to have a capacitor in a completely inaccessible place. I guess I must be choosing the wrong ones!

2nd Jul 2008, 6:20 pm	#3
Mark the Mender Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Warrington, Cheshire, UK. Posts: 421	Re: 1955 Murphy A362 MW/LW/VHF 6 valve radio That look a nice set howard how about a pic of the front. nice resto Mark

2nd Jul 2008, 6:30 pm	#5
Mark the Mender Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Warrington, Cheshire, UK. Posts: 421	Re: 1955 Murphy A362 MW/LW/VHF 6 valve radio Nice thanks Mark

2nd Jul 2008, 7:03 pm	#6
Steve_P Dekatron Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Bolton, Greater Manchester, UK. Posts: 6,644	Re: 1955 Murphy A362 MW/LW/VHF 6 valve radio Good job as always, Howard. Murphy signed a deal with Mazda in 1932, which meant that as far as possible they used Mazda valves. As far as the 2 odd valves go, they could not get them from Mazda, so they had to get them from Mullard. Philips/Mullard had a lot more experience here. Mullard would release the EABC80 to them, but not the UABC80. Also, the VHF section had an earthed heater and the AF amp had to have an earthed heater too - to prevent hum. So they powered them separately. Cheers, Steve P. __________________ If we've always had it, why is the Car Boot open? You're not sneaking another Old TV in are you...?

4th Jul 2008, 11:14 am	#8
johnn Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Scunthorpe, UK Posts: 154	Re: 1955 Murphy A362 MW/LW/VHF 6 valve radio Another good one Howard! I did a A372 & it works very well. It's one of my favourites. The output valve is loud for a small set. John.

4th Jul 2008, 1:31 pm	#10
peter_sol Octode Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Welwyn Garden City, Herts. UK. Posts: 1,906	Re: 1955 Murphy A362 MW/LW/VHF 6 valve radio Hi Howard I would keep the output transformer if I were you Regards Peter.