Some of the Collection in Its Natural Habitat

The Old Murphy

And this is the old Murphy I had all the fun of putting the string in backwards. It lives in the secretary’s office at work and is on all day, every day! Could have been worse though, it’s never been off Radio 2 for the last 6 months, and it sounds better than the army of transistor radios that went before it! Sadly, this old girl’s been replaced with the Bush VHF90 from further down the page aftter it decided to have a mad crackling attack and scared her to death!

This Old Cossor

And this is an old cossor that arrived as part of a batch I bought in Yorkshire. Not the most inspiring looking radio in the world but it actually is remarkably pleasant to listen to, although the tone control varies from mumble to clean yer ears out in about 10 degrees of turn!

The Strad 511

And this has to be one of the strangest looking things in the shed, the Strad 511. This is it before I spent ages polishing the ruddy thing and making it shiny. There’s a 510 in there as well, which is the wooden version of this which completely fails to look strange at all! Doesn’t sound anything special, but works like a good ‘un after the usual dead caps got changed.

3 More, HMV, Pye P76,and Bush PB12

And here we have a few more of the old things, first a cosmetically challenged HMV that spends its time blastiing out Radio Eirann in a mate’s shed. He’s not too worried about the way it looks, just the way it plays. I did find him another knob for the front though, and you can still see the magic eye in the dark or during a handy eclipse!

Then the mighty Pye p76 that nearly sent me demented trying to thread up the tuning cord. A definite case of ‘easy if you know how!’ Well it can suit itself because I DO know how ….now! Best sounding MW radio in the shed, beats the hell out of most of the VHF stuff for sound quality. Then again I haven’t yet acquired one of them there seventy-three speaker Grundigs yet.

And on the bottom is a Bush PB12 which does actually work but suffers from terminally sticky buttons. About ten gallons of WD40, Mechoil, Servisol and other such stuff has been liberally applied and has made bugger all difference except to make the bottom of the cabinet sticky as well. There’s got to be a better way, but I ain’t found it yet!

Philco (model unknown)

An interesting old wireless, this. Probably weighs more than anything else I’ve got, even though it’s quite small, due to having the biggest transformers they could wedge into the case! Interesting the way the dial bulbs change with the waveband in an atempt to change the display colour. Unfortunnately after all these years they’re not quite as colourful as they once were. The back’s missing for this one, hence the lack of model number. Plays like a trouper, but not the best audio I’ve ever heard. OK for its time though. I did change the grille cloth after this pic, but the original looked better than t’replacement! Shame it didn’t survive removal:(

Cossor 1200u

Had to borrow this picture until I can persuade my photo editor to shrink me pictures down a bit! Neat little bakelite radio, plays like a good ‘un. Doesn’t exactly rattle the shed with bass but it is only little!

Bush AC11

Wouldn’t be a proper collection without one of these! This is how it arrived at the shed. First valve radio I can remember playing with 30 years ago, and this one sounds just like that one did! If the sound got any more mellow you’d only be able to get Perry Como on the daft old thing! The cabinet’s been sorted out by now and so have the usual caps, but it really does bring back the memories. Better pic when I get the camera’s mind right!

Invicta Model 30

Something I bought from a Radiophile auction for £3 because i felt sorry for it. No need for the sorrow, though, because it works like a little hero, except for poor reception on the trawler band. I just wonder if it’s the radio or the lack of trawlers this far inland!

Portadyne 800 Radiogram

This old thing actually plays a lot better than it looks! It’s not the most handsome of things but it does a grand job of playing 78s. It doesn’t play anything more new-fangled than that though. I had lots of fun re stringing the tuning dial on thias as well,but it wasn’t as much fun as the Pye P75. Brings back a few memories listening to this old girl, but my 78 collection is very limited and there’s only so much David Whitfield you can listen to at one go. I bough 20 78s off the local car boot for 50p and 13 of them were by you know who. Still, I know all the words to Lady of Spain and Answer Me by now!

Taylor Model 60 Signal generator

Handy for the odd bit of alignment, and it’s within a gnats ear of being accurate according to a mate’s digital frequency counter. Another mighty £2 buy from Wetwood.

Radio City 803 Tube tester

And here’s an unusual piece of test equipment that I’ve had for years. Unfortunately it spent a lot of them in a very damp garage when its case disintegreted with the damp. But this bit still works! Has a roll of paper with all the settings for testing things like 2A3s and 6L6s and a whole slew of CV numbers. Saw one on e-bay the other day and the guy was convinced he had the only one! Bet there’s plenty more of these out there somewhere.   In fact I’ve still got s sheaf of cards with the setings for British valves somewhere, along with a few base adapters for yer actual British 7-pin valves and suchlike.

Stella ST106A

A mighty 60s radio from Philips under an assumed name, plays very well and actually makes it all the way to 108MHz on Fm which is why it’s the standard shed radio for FM listening. It’s also the only one the wife wants in the house because it is literally immaculate, there’s not a scratch or a mark on it and the EM84 is still dazzling blue. I don’t think it’d ever been out of the box before I got hold of it. It’s had plenty of use since as it also acts as the amplifier for my record collection!

Underneath it you can see the mighty shed TV which is definitely vintage….. 

Sony KV1310UB Mk1

And there it is in all its glory. Some silly bugger painted the case white but the innards look like they’ve been untouched since it left Japan. I cleaned about 20 years worth of nicotine off it before I realised the knobs were silver and the tuning dial lit up! Still gives a decent picture, the photo doesn’t do it justice. I’ve got a Mk2 in the summerhouse that works just as well. I reckon they’ll be a collectors item one day

Mc Carthy

And yet another purchase from Wetwood, a McCarthy the model of which I don’t know (although I’m sure one of you out there will!) An odd set of knobs and a faded cabinet disguise another solid performer with good SW reception and loads of volume. And possibly one of the most eccentric tuning dials I’ve seen! Pardon the foot, I was running out of room once I’d pulled some of this lot out!

Ekco U75

Another one from further back in the shed, an old Ekco U75. This poor old thing’s missing a couple of valves, which I’ve not got round to replacing yet. Cabinet’s not bad and the rest of it’s just good enough for it to avoid the Theatre of Crud! I do have the missing knob though!

McMichael 135

Here’s one that I bought from Wetwood in ‘as found’ condition. A McMichael 135 from around 1934, it actually works fairly well, even without an aerial! The picture’s awfully kind to it though, the varnish has been mostly stripped off it and the cabinet needs a lot of TLC. Love the dial though! They must have decided against a small dial and gone for the easy to read version. Even the lamp in the lid still does its job. Bit of work there, but I’ve not seen another like it before. Definitely got a bit of character. And I missed the matching legs at the auction because I hadn’t a clue they belonged to it. They sold for more than the radio did!

Mullard MAS5 Monoknob

Mullard MAS 5 Monoknob, so called for obvious reasons. I bough this at the same place just out of curiosity as to how the monoknob actually works. Not tried this one as there are an awful lot of perished wires need dealing with first. Still, for six quid, you can’t expect miracles, can you? At least all the speaker bars are still there and it’s complete, right down to the inch thick dust and fossilised spiders in the back! And amazingly, the tuning drive DOES work!

Telefunken Allegro

Telefunken Allegro, the all singing, all dancing made in Germany from the late fifties. Not quite sure how the stereo bit works, because there’s only one output stage in there…… Or at least I thought there was till I had a proper look and found 2 EL86s (86?) and what appears to be a plug for the second channel’s other speaker and a spare output transformer?Buggered if I know, so it’ll have to wait till I can get round to a better look once I clean its innards out..

Murphy 373 and Bush VHF90

Two more elderly Brits here, the little Bush has the most friendly dial light I’ve ever seen, a definite ‘listen to me’ kind of thing, and the Murphy just appealed to me. So much, in fact, that I bought two of the buggers! Not that either of ‘em work at the moment, but there’s plenty of time to fix ‘em! The little Bush has replaced the old Murphy in the office at work and seems to be doing a grand job. Nobody’s missed the litle fella glowing away on the bookshelf in there anyway. And of course you get the "Isn’t it retro?" comments, and tell ‘em "State of the art for !957, that is!"

Telefunken Andante

One of the Allegro’s poorer relations……