During the 1960s and 70s, valve mantel radio receivers gradually gave way to transistorised portables. Unfortunately, many of these new receivers were quite hard on batteries and so were relatively expensive to operate in the house as a kitchen mantel receiver.

As a result, manufacturers such as AWA decided to adapt some of their transistor portables and produce models that were mains-operated. So which model AWA portable was the B79 AC mantel set’s twin? I’m not sure.

The AWA B79

The B79 is a small 7-transistor unit with a compact power supply and a relatively heavy 2.6-metre 3-core power lead. I’ve owned this unit for some time but as with many other pieces of equipment, I had to grab it when I could and put it aside until I could find time to restore it.

This view shows the B79 receiver before restoration. The heavy 3-core power lead looks out of place on such a small set.

The set isn’t particularly eye-catching in appearance, its importance being its place as part of our radio heritage. In fact, a relatively small portable (for that is what it is) sporting a 3-core mains power lead seems rather incongruous.

The cabinet in this example is made from red plastic and a quick examination soon reveals where the battery would have fitted in the portable version. There would have been enough space for a 2362 9V battery but its life would have been quite limited, since this battery is quite small. As a result, the portable version would have been expensive to run if used as a mantel receiver.

The quality of the cabinet and particularly the "chromed" escutcheon is of only fair quality. Over this set’s life, the "chrome" has worn away in a number of places, revealing the yellowish colour of the plastic under the "chrome" finish.

Although the set can be cleaned up and made to look reasonable, "re-chroming" the front just isn’t on. As a result, the set still looks a bit "worse for the wear", even after restoration.