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ISSN 084-6209
The Vintage Wireless and Gramophone Club of Western Australia
RADIO-GRAM
January 2014
Issue 124
News from the Vintage Wireless and Gramophone Club, Perth. WA.
This issue comprises the September 2013 to January 2014 Meetings.
Reg Gauci presented a talk on the invention of the
transistor at the September 2013 meeting.
Stephen, Tony and Vince share some stories
at the November Christmas party.
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Tony Smith presented films on radio components at the September 2013 meeting.
Tony and Peter at the November Christmas party.
Radiogram Issue 124 February 2014
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VINTAGE WIRELESS AND GRAMAPHONE CLUB
OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA Inc.
EXECUTIVE 2009-2010
President: Rob Nunn
51 St Helier Drive, Sorrento, WA 6020
Phone: 0418 922 629 (M) ; 08 94486143 (H)
Email : [email protected]
Vice President: Steve Austin
President’s Report
Welcome to Edition No 124 of our
Club magazine, “Radiogram”! This
issue covers the period from August
2013 to January 2014. The magazine
complements our Club Website, managed by Reg Gauci with up to date
information on the Club activities.
Our 24 September 2013 meeting featured an interesting
presentation by Reg Gauci on the invention of the transistor, and an entertaining film presented by Tony Smith on
the production of radio components. Thank you Reg and
Tony!
Secretary: Andrew Wakeman
Vince Taylor (Minute Secretary)
Treasurer: Barry Kinsella
Our Committee meeting on 17 September 2013 was discussed in “Radiogram” 123. The upcoming program for
2014 is being refined at the present time.
Website: Reg Gauci : http://vwgc.org.au
Email: [email protected]
Committee: Rob Nunn, Barry Kinsella, Andrew
Wakeman, Vince Taylor, Tony Smith, Steve Austin,
Reg Gauci.
Appointments: Librarian: Paul Hansen
Editor: Rob Nunn; Publicity/Website: Reg Gauci
Meetings are held on the fourth Tuesday of each
month (with the exception of December) at 8pm in
the Veteran Car Club rooms at 6 Hickey Street,
Ardross. Visitors are always welcome!
Our Club set up a stand at Burswood park on Have A Go
Day held on 13 November 2013. We received a pleasing
number of visitors showing interest in our exhibited wirelesses and gramophone, and often with stories of their
own on family vintage radios and gramophones. Many
thanks are due to Rodney House, Barry Kinsella, Tony
Bayliss and Richard Rennie for their work in setting up
and attending the stand. This is an interesting day with
loads of different Clubs etc showing their stuff.
The 22 October 2013 meeting was attended by 19 members, and featured Richard Rennie on the history of the
Magic Lantern and Merv Thompson on West Australian
Although the main interests of members are wireless
Magic Lantern slides. Although I was unable to attend,
receivers and gramophones (or phonographs) ,
being in Sydney, thee have been good reports from memmany members are also interested in amplifiers, tele- bers on this presentation. Thank you Richard and Merv!
phones, musical boxes, tape recorders, television
receivers and other associated equipment and
memorabilia.
Radio-Gram is currently published twice per year, in
about February and August.
Send articles and advertisements to the editor:
Rob Nunn : 51 St Helier Drive, Sorrento, WA, 6020
Email: [email protected]
Phone : 94486143 or 0418 922 629
Please make sure your ‘copy’ is submitted by the
meeting night prior to the issue month.
Advertisements are placed FREE of charge, but
should be of a non-exploitive nature.
Subscriptions: $25 (payable in June)
(Concession rate: $20)
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Our annual Christmas get-together was held at the Clubhouse on 26 November 2013. Excellent food and cold
drinks were provided by our Club, and thanks are due to
Rodney House, Stephen Austin, Barry Kinsella, Andrew
Wakeman and Reg Gauci. The party worked out very well
indeed, and was enjoyed by all.
In early January Anne and I took the caravan down to Collie to join some of her family camping in the Wellington
Dam area. As Collie was new to us we had a good explore of the area and were most interested to see there
was a Heritage Museum in town which featured every
conceivable item from the past, including some lovely old
wirelesses and gramophones/phonographs.
Some photos of the museum displays are included in this
issue. Special permission was obtained to take the photos. The display also included a music machine, which no
doubt has a special name and brand, but it looked like a
giant music box with drum-mounted spikes that played the
notes. (see page 20).
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Our monster auction on 28 January 2014 had plenty of
items to inspire the good turnout of members! A number
of visitors attended and joined the Club as a result of the
auction items on display. Thanks are due to those members that circulated the word about the auction to interested people.
The Secretary’s Report
Firstly I would like to thank Rodney
on behalf of all Club members for
his diligence and excellent record
keeping during the time he carried
Some photos of items up for auction are shown on pages out the role of Club Secretary.
13, 26 and 27 in this issue. Personally I think I should
leave my money at home for these auctions, as I usually My transition into the Secretary’s
pick up some thing that I intend to restore or break down role has been made easy due to
for parts, and then never get around to it!
the comprehensive handover and
Andrew Wakeman
documentation that was supplied
However it is sometimes nice to own these items for a
by Rodney.
time and look at them, to make up for not being able to
afford them when they were new!
Thank you to Tony Smith who as usual has been very
busy drumming up guest presenters and new members
plus picking up donated goods that he kindly stores, sorts
The Committee has put together an interesting program
for the remainder of this year. Some of this program is
and then brings to the Club for Auction.
shown on page 5.
Our Website which is faithfully maintained by Reg Gauci
In February we have the Morse Codians coming along to has generated a large number of requests for information
and assistance from the public. Club members have retell us all about themselves and morse code, and a film
on the construction of the Darwin to Adelaide telegraph
cently assisted interested parties by carrying out repairs,
line through harsh desert country. In March we have the loaning equipment and providing specific information
about Radios and Gramophones.
Tesla Forum presenting all about NicolaTesla and his
work, along with a DVD on the subject.
The Committee is keen to ensure that Club Meetings are
Thanks are due to Andrew Wakeman for obtaining the
both interesting and entertaining; high quality presentanew metal cabinet for the tearoom. This has greater stor- tions have been organised for the coming months and
age capacity and is more secure.
mini auctions of donated goods will be held when guest
presenters are not present.
See you at the February 25 meeting!
The Committee is currently exploring opportunities to increase membership and improve the offering to mem………...Rob
bers; any suggestions or constructive feedback would be
Nicola Tesla
appreciated.
Tesla gained experience in telephony
and electrical engineering before emigrating to the United States in 1884 to
work for Thomas Edison.
I look forward to another year of and pleasant and
informative evenings.
.......Andrew
He soon struck out on his own with
financial backers, setting up laboratories and companies to develop a range of electrical devices. His patented AC induction motor and transformer
were licensed by George Westinghouse, who also hired
Tesla as a consultant to help develop a power system
using alternating current.
Tesla is also known for his high-voltage, high-frequency
power experiments in New York and Colorado Springs
which included patented devices and theoretical work
used in the invention of radio communication, [5] for his Xray experiments, and for his ill-fated attempt at intercontinental wireless transmission in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project.[6]
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Travel in style! Maybe he has a wireless in there too!
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CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS EDITION
Tony Smith
John Newman
Vince Taylor
Phil Oxwell.
Richard Rennie
Rob Nunn
Rodney House
Andrew Wakeman
EXECUTIVE AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS
President
Rob Nunn
Minutes Secretary
Vince Taylor
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Vice-President
Steve Austin.
Committee
Tony Smith
Secretary
Andrew Wakeman
Webmaster and Committee
Reg Gauci
Treasurer
Barry Kinsella
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Recent Events
September 24, 2013 : Film by Tony Smith on Radio
Components, and a talk by Reg Gauci on “Who
really invented the transistor?”
Reg Gauci
Tony Smith
October 22, 2013 : Richard Rennie and Merv
Thompson presented the history of the Magic Lantern projector, with a display which included the
Phantasmagoria and rare slides from the 1830’s to
the 1940’s.
November 26, 2013 : Annual Social Evening, starts
at 6.30pm.
Richard Rennie
Merv Thompson
December, 2013 : No meeting in December 2013
Coming Events
January 28, 2014 : Annual monster auction.
February 25, 2014 : Morse Codians will talk about
the history of morse code in Australia, to be followed by a film from Tony Smith, on the Darwin to
Adelaide line.
Tony Smith
March 25, 2014 : The Tesla Forum will present the
Tesla story along with a DVD on Telsa and his
achievements.
April 22, 2014 : Talk on Philips factory and film on
valve manufacture.
May 27, 2014 : 8-Track tape recorders.
June 24, 2014 : Monster auction and AGM.
July 22, 2014 : Sounds of World War 1. Richard
Rennie will present the role of the gramophone
and wireless in WW1, with demonstrations.
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Richard Rennie
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Minutes of Vintage Wireless and Gramophone
Collectors Club meeting held at clubrooms
Tuesday September 24th 2013.
September 2013 Meeting
8.00pm. Meeting commenced.
The meeting was opened by President Rob Nunn. Apologies were given for Richard Rennie and Rodney House. A
welcome was extended to guests S. Bateman, Peter
Brown, John Pascolich and Patrick Hooker.
On Sept 17th the committee met to formalise presentations
and social functions for next year. The November wind up
social will be held at the Clubrooms as usual. Options for
next year’s wind up will be discussed at the next meeting.
The latest issue of the Radiogram is available. Thanks to
those who have contributed to this issue and a reminder
that more contributions are needed for the next issue.
There has been a change to the program for the October
meeting; John Laurie will not be presenting, instead we
will be looking at the history of the Magic Lantern.
Gramophone Item of Interest
Secretary’s Report. Incoming correspondence. Latest
issue of Radiowaves. Outgoing correspondence. Some
email referrals re repairs.
There is a new metal cabinet in the kitchen to hold the
club gear and club library. There are many books that are
overdue that need to be returned.
The club will be displaying at Seniors Have-A-Go Day on
Wednesday Nov 13th 8.30-3.30. Secretary’s report moved
as correct by Steve Austin and seconded by Laurie
Bugeja. Passed.
Treasurer’s Report. The report was tabled as separate a
document. Some money has come in from Tony Smith
from record sales. Moved as correct by Jim Moore, seconded by Tony Bayliss. Passed unanimously.
Set of 1958 RTVH
magazines for auction
General Business.
Tony Smith- was given a Phillips Bakelite radio as an addition to the next club auction. In February a show and tell
on 8 Track will be held. If you have any 8 Track equipment see Tony Smith so they can be included in the talk.
Items of Interest.
Dennis Grimwood- Commented on AWA components.
Comparison of LG 84 inch Ultra high definition TV @
$18 000 (18 weeks wages) ...Early Black and White TVs
(30-40 weeks wages).
Bill Oxwell- Has a clock from America that runs on 60Hz.
needs something to change it from 60Hz to 50Hz.
Vince Taylor- 1935 HMV model 31A
Meeting closed 8.34pm.
Talk by Reg Gauci on the invention of the transistor and
film presented by Tony Smith on radio components.
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David and Barry discuss the film presentation
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Stephen and Barry
Gramophone Item of Interest
Some of the members present at
the September meeting.
Like to bid for a transformer?
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Spare parts for auction.
Spare parts for everyone at the auction.
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Minutes of Vintage Wireless and Gramophone
Collectors Club meeting held at clubrooms Tuesday Oct 22nd 2013.
19 members present.
Meeting closed 8.32pm.
Guest speakers Richard Rennie on the history of the Magic
Lantern and Merv Thompson on Western Australian Magic
Lantern slides.
8.00pm. Meeting commenced.
The meeting was opened by Vice President Steven Austin.
Welcome to guests Patrick Hooker and Max Wishall.
Apologies from President Rob Nunn. Next meeting is the
end of year social. Starts 6.30pm. Meat, Salads, Buns and
Soft Drinks will be provided. BYO alcohol.
Some bits from January 2014 Auction.
Secretary’s Report.
Incoming correspondence; Letter from the Seniors Recreation Council detailing the clubs display at Seniors Have a
Go Day next month. Barry K, Rob N, Reg G, Rod H etc
will be there. All club members welcome to attend. There
was no outgoing correspondence.
Treasurer’s Report.
Tabled as a separate document. Moved as correct by Tony
Barbartano and seconded by Merv Thompson. Passed
unanimously.
Akai tape recorder—works well!
General Business.
Tony Smith- Next major auction is in January. A preliminary list of items will be posted in December.
Steve Austin- Re; next auction would like auction forms to
be properly filled out prior to the auction. He also has
gramophone needles for sale.
Andrew Wakeman- Given the clubs sound financial position would like to move that the 10% commission to the
club on member’s auction items be removed. Seconded by
Tony Barbatano. Passed.
Barry Kinsella- Comment that free yearly membership
should be considered for those who contribute more than 2
articles annually to the club mag. Also that we look at the
club do next year and consider subsidising members for a
dinner at a restaurant.
Thorn integrated stereo tuner and Braun
regie 450 ch.
Tony Smith commented that we think perhaps of a Christmas in July or river cruise. Merv Thompson recommended
perhaps a bus trip. To be discussed further by the committee.
Items of Interest.
There were no Items of Interest.
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Farnell sine-square oscillator
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Some photos from the November 26 2013 Christmas Party.
David Fisher and Syd
Lawrie enjoying a quiet beer.
Phil, Rodney, David and Andrew
Reg and Barry
Richard Jeffrey and Stephen Austin
Len Lewis, Life Member VWGC
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Some more photos from the November 26 2013 Christmas Party
John Paskulich and wife Mavis, and Rod Edward
Rod , Mavis and Merv.
David, Lawrie and Reg.
Tony Smith searching for more cake?!
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Tony, Vince, Stephen John and others
Tony, Vince, Richard and Stephen
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Seniors Recreational Council of WA Have-A-Go Day on 13 November, 2013,
Our Club was represented by Tony Bayliss, Rodney House,
Barry Kinsella, Richard Rennie and Rob Nunn.
Left-to-right. Tony, Barry, Rodney and Richard
One of the many enquiries received from
the public visiting our stand.
Some of the items we displayed on our stand.
Rodney and Richard and gramophones.
Barry and Rodney—wirelesses and gramophones
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The MG Car Club also had some
lovely items on display!
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Restoration of 1937
Zenith Zephyr Console
Art Deco Radio.
Phil Oxwell.
This is a radio
that I obtained in
May/June of 2013
and commenced
restoring on and
off for 7 months.
Basically to restore the cabinet finish involved rubbing
back with 0000 steel wool and Metholated spirits initially
and then rubbing back again with 1200 grit wet and dry
(using just a small amount of water just to keep it moist.
This was mainly done to just take off any residual
shine/sheen from previous coatings. This was the longest part of the restoration process I did as I felt it couldn’t
be rushed.
Once prepared I used a product called Minmax Wipe On
Poly in a clear gloss and then rubbed back with 1200
paper very carefully. This was done 6 times and on the
last application I applied twice without rubbing back and
this has given the radio its high gloss and depth.
The chassis has been restored completely and plays
It was purchased
as a deceased
estate item from
owner’s son in
Secret Harbour
WA. He believes
his father brought
it with him from
NSW upon moving to WA and has always been part of family belongings.
The radio exterior was in fair condition and was no
longer operational and had lost or broken all the on off
station selector buttons and controls.
Upon stripping down by removing chassis/speaker and
rodent control rear panel it appeared some of the side of
case was in worse condition than first thought however I
beautifully with a very deep bass.
The radio was a 12 valve export model featuring a great
working magic eye with a 15inch speaker and is called a
Zephyr model 12S370 in the true art deco form era.
You can find examples of it on internet and Youtube by
keying in the radio code/model number and there are
several restoration videos on show.
was not about to give up as it took four strong men and
a 12 ton crane (only kidding) to lift it onto and off the ute
we had used to pick it up in. It is a very very heavy and
large radio. The dimensions are 1300x70x50cm.
It came out all OK and then sat in my garage on trolley
for several weeks before I could start due to work commitments and travel etc.
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It has a very concise and unique system manual /motorised system called 3 shutter dial operation and has one
AM system/one automatic push button system (that
amazingly must have been pretty high end in those days
and still works perfectly) and two short wave overseas
channels which featured emergency band/police band
and marine band.
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All of the push /pull buttons switches and tone control
inserts were broken or damaged and all needed replacing. I obtained these from America along with correct
replacement on/ off volume buttons on front.
More from January 2014 Auction.
It is amazing that once you start looking on internet how
easy it is to find replacement parts, the only difficulty is
communicating with the seller /supplier to ensure the
correct parts are supplied as there were several versions
of this model radio and also they did not come cheaply.
STC valve portable radio
Stephen and Shaun auctioneering combo!
The original installed record player works perfectly
(plays only 78,s)and operates from the top by a reverse
turn on /off switch running volume through the main
speaker. The radio runs on 240volts as an export model
I have also been communicating with several other radio
collectors and restorers in USA regarding it and they are
all gobsmacked as to its brilliant condition and its rarity.
Zenith as a premium supplier made a lot of models and
radios however the opinion there would not be too many
of these left in the world in this condition. One can only
imagine what this would have cost in USA or even Australia right at the end of the Great Depression period
Pye plastic cream mantle radio
After finally convincing my wife that it would look good
in our formal lounge of the house she has agreed and
now sits in prominent place with nice art deco lamp on
top and gets played most days if I am home
Thanks for sharing restoration highlights
Phil Oxwell
Roberts portable-car radio
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PILOT
During a recent visit to a friend's
home I saw in his shed an old console
radio, looking very much the worse
Tony Smith
for wear. What attracted me was that
it was one of those old sets with the pear-shaped
old-timer valves that you can't see through!
My obvious reaction was — I would really like to
have a go at that!
The owner decided to try and
sell the set, but
after 18 months
my further enquiry about the
set resulted in fact
that it was not
sold. "Would I
like to come and
take it away" my
friend said. Quick
as a flash the service of my
Chassis—rat eaten transformer and
uncomplicated circuit.
Not certain in the early stage was whether that date
is of the manufacture of the coil prior to the set
construction.
Inside the cabinet was a name plate
"Harringtons". Later it was discovered that there
were sets labelled PILOT advertised in those
early days with the very same chassis, but made
as a mantel style. Thus it seemed reasonable to
infer that this set was indeed branded PILOT,
particularly as many of the components on the
chassis are branded (PILOT made in USA).
Front cabinet as originally found.
The valve line up
is 32 (tetrode
RF), 30 (triode
reaction detector), 30 (triode
audio amplifier)
and 31 (triode
audio output).
cousin's station wagon was called upon, and the set
duly brought home.
First thing was to try and date the set. In one of the
coil boxes on the chassis was a little note to the
effect that in
1925 a particular
coil was tested
and the date of
the test was
written —
14/10/1925.
Rear cabinet as originally found.
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Typical of those
early days to
control the
"volume" there
was the inclusion
of a rheostat in
the filament circuit as a form of
gain control. In
this case all the
Chassis—uncomplicated circuit valves filaments
are wired in parallel. There is a dial light behind each of the tuning
dials and these lamps were wired to the filament circuit and thus their brilliance would be also controlled
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by the rheostat. As
the filaments of the
valves were rated at
2 volts the dial
lights would have
been of a smaller
voltage than later
dial lights that we
are familiar with.
(some early globes
were rated at 2.5
volts)
In early days lightning was considered a danger, particularly as such large antennas were required in
country districts for weak signals (or for short-wave).
This set was thus fitted with lightning protection in
the form of a knife switch — which was to earth the
antenna during a storm, or to switch over the set antenna connection to a fine spark gap going to earth
when the radio is in use. This of course presumes
that the set was in fact connected to an earth!
The loudspeaker
The rats made a meal of the
was labelled
copper wire and bindings in the
"ROLA" with a
tranformaer.
permanent magnet
"U"shaped - entirely different to today's speakers.
The speaker centre has a "spider" to centralize the
cone. Although the cone was damaged the output
transformer and speaker both worked!
The chassis consists of simple reinforced aluminium
plate that had corroded badly over the years. The RF
and Detector stages are each included in their own
shielded box with the appropriate plug-in tuning
coils. The cabinet has hooks inside the lid which indicates that there were other plug-in coils supplied,
possibly for short wave reception. Subsequently it
was revealed that these sets came with coils to cover
all the radio spectrum used in those days. Unfortunately I only had the broadcast set, but on the plus
side all the original knobs were still on the set.
Provision for an extension speaker is fitted. A conventional phone jack socket mounted on the side of
the cabinet is wired in to cut out the cabinet speaker
when using the extension. This speaker required its
own output transformer. Turning the set on and off
was a simple push-pull switch mounted on the other
side of the cabinet and wired into the filament line to
the A battery.
How to start the restoration?
Because the reaction control and the rheostat were
mounted directly on the back of the front cabinet
panel a temporary mounting was made directly onto
the chassis to hold these two controls, enabling the
set to be handled on the bench once out of the cabinet.
First thought was to completely dismantle the whole
set so as to clean the corroded chassis and improve
the appearance. However this would have been a
major operation and, as the chassis is not actually on
display, there was a compelling case to leave it as authentic as possible, so long as
one can get the set to go!
Next a complete circuit diagram was drawn. The circuit
is quite simple as sets were in
those days, but along the rear
of the chassis are 12 terminals
—. Earth, C bias for three
stages, B+ for four stages
(with presumably differing
voltages), the filament supply,
and the speaker connections.
What a job for an owner to
set up when not familiar with
radio! Some of the terminals
were damaged but could be
replaced with somewhat similar old ones. .
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Before doing anything more a cardboard template was for the filaments, likemade to identify quickly each terminal
wise from
torch cells.
These two
units could
just be what
are required
to work the
set.
Installed power pack (designed by Tony Maher)
Template for terminals and tempory control mountings.
The valves were then checked to see if their filaments
were intact, and fortunately they all appeared OK.
This was quite remarkable considering the age and
the handling of the set over all the years. Next —
As the set would only be used occasionally to demonstrate, these kits with their relative small battery capacity were considered to be adequate and in keeping
with the fact that this is indeed a battery radio. A decision was made to build the kits and all the batteries
into one component box.
For simplicity of operation the original push-pull
switch was changed to an early style two pole one to
control both battery kits, temporarily wired pending
getting some old cotton covered wire to suit. Wiring
to the set was by means of conventional plugs/
sockets.
Power pack (designed by Tony Maher)
where do I get the voltages required to fire up the
set?
On hand were kits designed by our Tony Maher,
one designed to give 90 volts for portable radios
from torch batteries and another to provide 2 volts
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The next decision was to try and run all the stages
requiring various B+ voltages from the one 90 volt
kit. First adjustment to the original circuit was to the
supply to the screen of the RF valve. A dropping
resistor was inserted in the screen lead, using the bypass capacitor already in the set. The rest of the B+
terminals were simply connected together.
Here it should be noted that the sensitivity and success of this design was the use of the newly released
tetrode valve, number 32. The Pilot Company had
commissioned a clever radio engineer, one Robert S.
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coil was temporarily
wired to a plug and
installed - but to no
effect. Use of the
signal generator
showed that the
tuning of this circuit
was at frequencies
much lower than
the broadcast band.
Kruse to design a front end to use this valve in their
sets. Roberts design of a grid and plate tuned RF
stage put the PILOT way ahead of the TRF sets currently on the market.
A guess was made regarding the bias requirements
of this set — nothing for the detector, 3 volts for
RF, 6 volts for the audio and 18 for the output. As
it turned out, by trial and error, the set was finally
performing well with no bias for the RF and detector, 3 volts for the audio and 9 for the output. Here
again batteries could do the job for the bias and last
a long time. (At the end of the restoration the selected batteries in the component box were six AA
for the 90 volt kit, two D cells for the filaments,
two AA and one 9 volt for the bias requirements).
First thing was to get the audio section going, putting in the two audio valves only. Rats had attacked
the first audio transformer, but on hand was a very
rusty "IGRANIC" brand transformer, the windings
of which appeared OK. A quick coat of paint made
it look better and it was installed forthwith. Use of a
signal generator enabled one to discover that indeed
the audio section worked.
Next step was to put in the other valves and try the
whole lot. Sure enough signals came through (I am
close to 6DC and 6PR) but the tuning of the RF
plate circuit made no effect and there was no reaction in the detector circuit. I immediately suspected
the plate coil may be the problem. A modern aerial
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First suspicion was
the 2mfd capacitor
connecting the appropriate tuning capacitor. This capacitor was duly replaced
and low and behold,
we had tuning and
reaction — and stations! The original
coil was thus replaced. The set was quite sensitive and
one could get all the locals with just a metre or so of
aerial wire. The original 2 mfd capacitor had broken
down to earth and was thus de-tuning the plate circuit.
It did not take very long to discover that you need
four hands to tune in and operate such a receiver!
One each for the RF aerial and plate tuning, one for
the rheostat and one for the reaction controlnteresting aspect is the setting of the volume by means of
the filament control.
To increase the volume one increases the filament
voltage by means of the rheostat, but the valves do
not immediately respond, the filaments taking a second or so to brighten. Thus there is a delay before the
volume of the set increases. It is easy to overdo the
increase, resulting in a burst of sound more than one
expected. Likewise when reducing the filament voltage the filaments take a moment or two to die down.
Again it is easy to overdo it, and the sound of the set
fades too far away.
An additional effect one finds when reducing the
filament voltage is that when the filaments are
down the reaction of the detector is affected to the
point that it can disappear altogether, irrespective
of the reaction control setting.
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Now that the set was a goer it was time to attack
the cabinet. First thought was to leave the cabinet
in the poor state it was, in the interests of showing
the age of the set. However if one wanted to show
off the set in the lounge some work to clean up the
cabinet would improve the looks.
The wood in the speaker grill had been damaged
but a few repairs here would not go astray -similarly
some new speaker cloth. The final decision was to
sand down the cabinet and give it a coat of an appropriate clear lacquer, and to paint the speaker
grill that was originally black.
All this sounds pretty quick — but in fact many
many days have been spent completing this project.
The final result however has made the work worthwhile and the set is quite a talking point when visitors call!
In trying to get more information on the set,
and to establish the age I am indebted to
HRSA member Richard Begbie for his enthusiasm, assistance and knowledge.
Richard located an advertisement in the 1929 periodical booklet "Radio Sir" showing the console version of the Pilot Super Wasp. It was for the Australia-wide firm Harringtons (as mentioned earlier) including the address of the W.A. branch — 28 King
Street, Perth. Further, he found that the original distributors of PILOT were the United Distributor
Company (UDISCO), and that subsequently Harringtons took over the range.
…….Tony Smith
The finished set!
Restored 1925 Pilot console wireless (USA).
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An email from Alex Koppen (UK)
Hi Rob,
Please find attached pictures of a very early electric shock machine (well I think it is),
about 1860-1870.
Now there’s a radio station!
(Thanks Rodney House!)
2BH Radio station, Broken Hill
These girls appear to be some way
from Broken Hill!
The valves in the cabinet are Japanese, German,
US and UK. Two on the left hand side are a
GEMA TS 6, and a GEMA TS 41. Gema was the
German radar factory where they were made.
Thanks, Alex.
(Thank you Alex!)
19
20
Some photos from the Heritage Museum in Collie, WA. (Rob Nunn)
Recently while holidaying in the Collie Caravan
Park, we visited the Collie Heritage Museum, enthusiastically run by local volunteers.
Entrance charge ins minimal and the museum contains a vast collection of everything from the past,
including some once very fine wirelesses and
gramophones.
The lady in charge welcomes volunteers to repair
not-working wirelesses and gramophones. There is
also an amazing, large-scale working music machine that can be demonstrated by the Attendant.
You could easily spend a couple of interesting days
going through the collection. In the nearby area
there is also an incredible collection of restored and
working farm machinery at Dardinup. See the tractors and engines of the past in there finest glory
once again!
The music machine—working
Well worth a visit!
....Rob Nunn
Inside the music machine
The music machine—works and
is demonstrated!
20
The roller and keys in the music machine
21
Heritage Museum in Collie, WA.
Edison Amberola 30 (1915-29)—working, initial
cost $30. Plays 4 minute cylinders only.
Rexonola gramophone
Edison cylinder phonograph.
His Masters Voice gramophone– early 1920’s.
21
Brunswick Musgroves Limited gramophone,
possibly late 1920’s.
Rexonola gramophone
22
Vintage cinema projector and various
video equipment.
Rexonola Model 60 gramophone possibly 1929.
Made in Sydney, Australia.
Mastertone 1960’s console radiogram
Very similar to above, Mastertone radiogram
22
Kriesler radiogram 1960’s.
Philips radiogram 1960’s
23
Vintage console wireless sets, in need
of restoration.
Vintage console wireless sets, in need
of restoration.
Kriesler valve bakelite mantle radio
Can you identify this radiogram?!
23
HMV valve bakelite mantle radio, made in
Sydney by Pepy’s and Munnock c1946.
Sepelle mahogany cabinet
24
Unidentified mantle bakelite valve radio
HMV mantle, wood cabinet radio
Unidentified mantle, wood cabinet radio
Airzone “Cathedral” wood cabinet,
Bakelite mantle radio—1920’s?
Batyphone valve mantle wood cabinet.
STC valve mantle wood cabinet in need of TLC
24
25
Kriesler plastic cabinet mantle
radio, 1960’s
AWA Radiola valve, plastic cabinet
mantle radio, 1960’s
AWA Radiola valve, plastic cabinet
mantle radio, 1960’s
Vintage console valve radio needs
some TLC
HMV Little Nipper valve, bakelite cabinet
mantle radio
25
Collie Heritage Museum.
26
Some photos from the January 2014 Auction.
Atwater Kent radios were made in USA 1896-1936.
A good attendance at the January auction.
Heathkit audio generator AG-9A
test equipment
AWA 500M valve mantle radio
Philips valve Bakelite mantle radio.
26
Star Company Ltd communications receiver
27
Some photos from the January 2014 Auction.
STC mantle radio—1960’s
A Pye mantle radio, wood case, nicely
restored by Tony Smith
Spare parts at the January auction.
Rodney House examines a very early phonograph watched by David Fisher
Even an Aldis slide projector in box.
This Kelvinator mantle radio attracted
some interest and sold for $40.
27
Phonograph detail.
28
ENCYCLOPAEDIA
OF
WESTERN AUSTRALIAN
WIRELESSES AND GRAMOPHONES
Come and hear:
THE SECRET LIFE OF
ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK.
Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the
recording of this song by Bill Haley
When: Wednesday April 9, 7.45 pm.
Where: Rock 'n' Roll Record Collectors Club
Rotary Hall
Sandgate Street, South Perth.
For every cat and 'gator
from the pole to the equator.
Be There or Be Square!
The stories and catalogues in this book
were largely produced by documenting those
Western Australian wirelesses and gramophones that exist
in local museums and private collections,
and by interviewing, over the past 20 years,
many of the people who actually built and/or sold them.
207 pages
400 illustrations, most in colour.
The book may be purchased through:
Richard Rennie 9330 1636
CLASSICAL RECORDS WANTED
12 inch 78s
Columbia Faust Ballet L1794
Columbia Cello Concerto No 1 buy Piatigorsky
Columbia Bethoven Op 61 Violin
HMV Casse Noisette Stokowski
HMV Bach Toccatta in G Major Casals
or ANY 78 RPM SOLO PIANO RECORDING (eg Bach)
ALSO WANTED
HMV suitcase portable
The cabinet is in good shape except for
some lacquer damage on the top.
Contact James Berlin
Ph 0410 033 199
Note : Advertisements are placed free-of-charge, but
should be of a non-exploitive nature. (Editor)
28
I am looking for a home for a 1961 21" Philips TV.
It was our first TV, and taken out of service when the
EHT failed. Everything else seems to work. Lots of
audio static and even a faint TV/radio station on one
of the channels.
I can deliver anywhere in metro area.
John Newman
PO Box 37, Darlington
Western Australia 6070
Home: +61(0)8 92996153 Cell: +61(0)421119924

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