Old Wirelesses

[dune]

I've just set up the pre war valve radio I inherited from my nan 15 years ago and after a few minutes warming up it's belting out Radio 5 (between Paris and BBC Northern on the scale) on medium wave after some delicate adjustments. Given it a pollish with some beeswax pollish and it's come up a treat. I will be using it all the time for 5 Live listening from now on.

 

So far i've only been able to pick up stations on medium wave, but i'm sure there are still some on long wave? But what about short wave - is that now dead?

[dune]

 

My polishing isn't as good as I thought when lit up by the flash.

 

I'll have to have another go.

[rocknrollman no2]

Good for you Dune.

Theres a lot to be said for those old radios,i especially like the way they were designed and the way the valves used to take an age to warm up.

I have a lot of old 78rpm records (early Elvis,Bill Haley etc),and i would much rather play them,than listen to any cd or computer enhanced version of the same artists.I think they sound more original.

You should keep hold of your radio mate because they tend to hold their price and are always in demand.If you manage to find an old radiogram,give me a call.

[Deppo]

Cor, that is a cracking piece of history. I can imagine your old nan and her family, gathered around it during the war, listening to the propaganda broadcasts of the Third Reich.

[dune]

Cor, that is a cracking piece of history. I can imagine your old nan and her family, gathered around it during the war, listening to the propaganda broadcasts of the Third Reich.

 

[dune]

Just checked on ebay and someone is selling one for retsoration, i like the photo they took of the workings.

 

[Redbul]

Theres a lot to be said for those old radios,i especially like the way they were designed and the way the valves used to take an age to warm up.

 

One of my 'jobs' when I was little was to get up before my Mum and Dad to put the kettle on and turn the old valve radio on so that both would have been ready for tea and listening to when they got up.

 

Well, of course, we had it tough. We used to 'ave to get up out of shoebox in the middle of the night and lick the road clean with our tongues. We had two bits of cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at mill for sixpence every four years, and when we got home our Dad would slice us in two wit' bread knife. Etc. etc.

[dune]

Good for you Dune.

Theres a lot to be said for those old radios,i especially like the way they were designed and the way the valves used to take an age to warm up.

I have a lot of old 78rpm records (early Elvis,Bill Haley etc),and i would much rather play them,than listen to any cd or computer enhanced version of the same artists.I think they sound more original.

You should keep hold of your radio mate because they tend to hold their price and are always in demand.If you manage to find an old radiogram,give me a call.

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-Radiogram-/230513258645?pt=UK_Collectables_RadioTelevision_Telephony_SM

 

Very overpriced i'd imagine, but looks a tidy piece of kit.

[buctootim]

Nice job Dune. I've got a 1967 Hacker transistor. Has got FM (VHF) and the sound quality puts modern radios to shame.

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

I think my old nan has one of those somewhere I'll have to fish it out

[Whitey Grandad]

They didn't take that long to warm up. They were quicker than Windows takes to boot up.

[dune]

They didn't take that long to warm up. They were quicker than Windows takes to boot up.

 

You're right there. My one took about 30 seconds before it came to life.

[trousers]

Just checked on ebay and someone is selling one for retsoration, i like the photo they took of the workings.

 

 

That one's got wires...

[Whitey Grandad]

I used to have a box of valves in my attic from my younger days. I threw them all away a couple of years ago. Probably a foolish thing to do. They weren't particularly historic, mainly ECC83s and that sort of thing. The letters all had a meaning, E was 6.3V heaters, C was amplifying triode and so on. The first transistors followed the same system so an OC71 was an amplifying triode with zero heater volts!

[dune]

I used to have a box of valves in my attic from my younger days. I threw them all away a couple of years ago. Probably a foolish thing to do. They weren't particularly historic, mainly ECC83s and that sort of thing. The letters all had a meaning, E was 6.3V heaters, C was amplifying triode and so on. The first transistors followed the same system so an OC71 was an amplifying triode with zero heater volts!

 

You sound like a 1950's version of Boj.

[Whitey Grandad]

You sound like a 1950's version of Boj.

 

I'll take that as a compliment. I built a crystal set when I was about fourteen (using a germanium diode 'cause crystals were, like, soooo uncool) and when I put the headphones on I got Radio Caroline! I was really thrilled, but then I found out that I could get Radio Caroline and nothing else. I stripped it down to just headphones and a diode and I could still get Radio Caroline. Not surprising really, we lived 100 yards from the sea and the ship was only 4 miles away. We used to see all the DJs hanging around in Harwich waiting for the service boat.