More Battery Operated Sets
A Russian Selena
A very scruffy example. I sold a brand new one, still
sealed in its box, last week (June 2000) to a neighbour who was
emigrating to Portugal. I did warn him he'd only get the BBC World
Service in Russian.
The
second Russian set is a Selena Vega B212
Invicta Portable Model 30
This very early transistor portable was bought for £3
in late August 01 and must have been a once treasured possession
as it came complete with a service sheet and an instruction leaflet.
Very worn and with a piece of string for a handle it has clearly
had lots and lots of use. It isn't included in Radio & TV
Servicing so I'm not sure of its date. I guess it's 1957, and
is one of the first transistor portables.
The ancient all PnP germanium
transistor line-up which originate from Newmarket/Pye is worth
quoting:-
Frequency changer.....V6/R4M
1st IF amplifier...........V6/R2
2nd IF amplifier..........V6/R2
Audio amplifier...........V10/50B
Output.........................2 x V10/30A
Conveniently it uses 4 x U11 batteries.
It tunes the medium waveband and has a single preset longwave
station. Neutralisation, or the stability of the circuit was a
problem in the early days because of internal feedback paths within
the early transistors and its data sheet goes into the procedure
with lots of detail.
It appears that this set is quite interesting. The first British
transistor portable was designed by Pye and marketed under their
PAM subsidiaries label as the "PAM710". When it seemed
that transistor sets may come to be accepted Pye then sold them,
slightly redesigned, under their own name as the "P123BQ".
My set has the Pye front panel, with the same "Transistor"
badge but fitted into a heavyweight picnic-portable style rexine-covered
wooden case. As with the Pye model this uses six transistors,
saving two over the PAM's eight. This was achieved by having a
self-oscillating mixer and using a diode detector. Strange that
none of these three receivers had a proper name? It was as if
the drive behind these things was led by engineering rather than
marketing. Not a lot of imagination... let's call it the "Model
710"; the "P123BQ; the "Transistor Portable Model
30"... yawn. Stilll... most other British radio manufacturers
did the same. Not all though... some UK firms such as Ever Ready
chose names rather than security codes and Grundig in line with
most other European and Asian manufacturers coined all sorts of
names for their sets... Micro-Boy, Yacht-Boy etc.
Home built TRF set
This set,
probably built in the 50s from old components is missing it's
valve
An Ever Ready Sky Casket
This is a
4 valve "handbag" portable from 1957 using gilded fittings
on a cream leathercloth-covered case.
It originally cost almost £15,
a lot of money at the time, certainly more than a weeks wages
for some. When battery requirement is considered it puts these
type of sets well and truly into the luxury market.
Consider current-day values.
Today the set would cost the equivalent
of £300 and batteries say, £20. Incredible!
Ferranti picnic portable radio,
Model 815
A rather bland symmetrical design using 4 small battery powered
valves with a frame aerial built into the lid.
This set has chrome-plated fittings and has a lizard-skin
covered plywood case.
It originally cost about £12 or so in 1951.
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