This is only a preview of the June 2012 issue of Silicon Chip. You can view 28 of the 104 pages in the full issue, including the advertisments. For full access, purchase the issue for $10.00 or subscribe for access to the latest issues. Items relevant to "Crazy Cricket Or Freaky Frog":
Items relevant to "Wideband Oxygen Sensor Controller Mk.2, Pt.1":
Items relevant to "Mix-It: An Easy-To Build 4-Channel Mixer":
Items relevant to "PIC/AVR Programming Adaptor Board; Pt.2":
Purchase a printed copy of this issue for $10.00. |
Vintage Radio
By Rodney Champness, VK3UG
John de Haas and his
Philips collection
This month, we take a look at a vintage radio collection belonging to
enthusiast John de Haas. Philips receivers made in both Europe and
Australia feature prominently in his collection and although some
models look identical, the chassis used can be quite different.
I
T’S ALWAYS INTERESTING to find
out how fellow vintage radio collectors became involved in the hobby and
started their collections. In some cases,
it’s because they worked in radio or
electronics as technicians and adopted
the hobby as a natural extension of
their professional expertise. On the
other hand, many collectors had no
interest in vintage radio until some
incident sparked their curiosity.
90 Silicon Chip
In my case, it began when I was
invited to a meeting of vintage radio
enthusiasts, which I reluctantly agreed
to attend. My interest at that stage was
only lukewarm and I was really only
interested in portable WWII military
equipment. In short, I only wanted to
deal with “real” radios such as complex military radio transceivers but
after a few meetings, I very quickly
became interested in collecting and
restoring domestic radios.
One fellow enthusiast, John de
Haas, has some rather special Philips
receivers among his collection, many
of them originating from Europe. His
background is equally as interesting.
John’s introduction to vintage radio
occurred back in 2003 when he was involved in winding up his late mother’s
estate in Holland. Amongst the items
left to him was a rather nice-looking
siliconchip.com.au
This view shows the three-part aluminium and Bakelite chassis of a Sierra 159X receiver which is currently undergoing
restoration on John’s workbench.
Philips BX480A table receiver which
was manufactured in 1939 (it’s shown
in one of the photos). The receiver
had a lot of appeal and a great deal of
sentimental value, so he decided to
bring it back to Australia.
John carefully packed the set so that
it would not be damaged on the long
journey but when it arrived, the cabinet had shattered into many pieces,
the chassis was bent and several valves
had broken. It was a huge disappointment and an indictment of the care
taken by freight agents.
After getting over his initial shock,
John resolved that he would completely rebuild the receiver. And so the
box of pieces was left on a shelf in the
garage for a year until he eventually
mustered the enthusiasm to start the
mammoth job.
The challenge now was to turn the
broken parts back into a recognisable
receiver. John started with the cabinet
and over the next four months, carefully glued the various pieces back together using two-part Araldite. These
pieces were held together while the
glue dried using Glad-Wrap covered
boards and C-clamps, to ensure flat
surfaces.
siliconchip.com.au
Despite being badly damaged in transit, this 1939 Philips BX480A has now
been restored to full working order. The restoration included extensive cabinet
repairs and the manufacture of a new glass dial-scale.
Eventually, the Bakelite cabinet was
back in one piece but the glued joints
looked terrible so it needed painting.
And so, after a thorough sanding, the
cabinet was spray painted good old
Mission Brown. As John points out,
it now looks OK but it’s no longer
original which is a pity.
The dial scale was broken into many
pieces too and it took John many hours
of patient work to make a new one. In
fact, repairing and making dial-scales
is a task that John has well and truly
mastered. He has since reproduced
June 2012 91
dial scales for several of his other sets
and they are virtually indistinguishable from the original items.
In fact, his technique for reproducing dial-scales may form part of an
article later on. His method is quite
practical but like many such undertakings, it does take time to do.
Restoring the circuit
The Philips Sierra model H283 (left) and its Australian Philips equivalent.
The cabinets are identical, although different dial scales are used to suit the
intended market.
Another set of Philips twins, this time showing the Dutch model 209U and the
visually identical Australian model 112 at right. Note the “pop-up” dial scales.
Also in John’s collection is this magnificent Graetz Sinfonia Model 422 5-band
table receiver. The 30cm ruler at the left gives an indication of the set’s size.
92 Silicon Chip
Apart from the broken valves, the
electronic components were largely
unaffected by the rough treatment
during the set’s trip to Australia. However, quite a lot of work was required
to restore the chassis. For example,
in order to straighten the chassis, all
items attached to it had to be first removed before it could be hammered
back into shape. The various parts
were then refitted.
This was quite a job and the set now
looks quite good from the outside.
However, it still bears the scars of its
mistreatment inside the cabinet and
under the chassis.
John’s restoration of his mother’s set
back in 2003 kick-started his interest
in vintage radio. And because John
has connections with both Europe and
Australia, it was logical that he would
collect radios from both regions.
Because of his Dutch background,
John has a liking for Philips receivers
and these feature prominently in his
collection. One particular feature of
his collection are several Dutch and
Australian Philips designs which
have identical cabinets but different
chassis.
John’s background
John’s parents were with the Colonial Service of the Dutch Government.
He was born in Indonesia in 1935 and
subsequently migrated to Australia
from Holland in 1957 at the age of
22. Both he and his wife Harriet now
regularly travel back to Holland to visit
friends and relatives.
While there, he often visits the
various vintage radio groups (John
is a member of the NVHR, the Dutch
equivalent of our HRSA). During these
visits, he sometimes finds a vintage
European set that catches his eye and
brings it back to Australia.
John tells me that in a previous
life, before retirement, he worked as
a mechanical engineer in mining and
construction. He retired from BHP in
1992 and then worked as a freelance
Maintenance Management Consultant
siliconchip.com.au
This photo shows the Dutch Philips BX462A at left and the Australian Philips 115 at right. Although visually identical
apart from the pop-up dial scales, their chassis are quite different as the photo below shows.
in Australia, India and Indonesia up
until 2000.
His interest in valve radios actually dates back to his younger days in
Holland. He built radios and amplifiers as a hobby during the immediate
post-war years but subsequently lost
interest in the 1960s with the advent
of the transistor and integrated circuit technology. As stated, it was the
restoration of his mother’s old radio
that rekindled his interest in valve
technology.
As well as being a member of the
HRSA and the NVHR, John is also a
member of the South East Queensland
Vintage Radio Club and the Vintage
Radio Club of North East Victoria. In
fact, he joined these organisations not
long after the successful restoration of
his mother’s set. Club membership is
important to vintage radio collectors,
particularly when it comes technical
advice and backup and help with obtaining hard-to-get parts.
John’s collection
During the last nine years, John
has restored many quite elaborate
European radios, particularly Philips
sets. He has also restored a number of
Australian sets, along with one Canadian receiver and a mantel receiver
from New Zealand. At last count,
there were over 50 restored radios in
his collection, so he has added about
of six receivers to his collection each
siliconchip.com.au
The Australian Philips 115 and the Dutch Philips BX462A from the rear, with
their backs removed. The differences between the two chassis are quite marked.
year. Most of these sets are in full
working order.
In all, there are about 30 European
sets in the collection. These range from
quite simple four and 5-valve AC/DC
mantel receivers to quite elaborate
receivers boasting long wave, medium
wave and one or more shortwave
bands plus the 88-108MHz FM band.
Some of these receivers feature upwards of 12 valves.
The Australian sets are standard
mantel and table-model receivers,
many of which have been described in
Vintage Radio over the years. The lone
New Zealand set is a Philco, while the
Canadian set is a Motorola.
The top-of-the-line receivers all
have attractive, large wooden cabinets,
while those a little further down the
pecking order have large, good-quality
Bakelite cabinets. The simpler, cheaper models either have small Bakelite
or plastic cabinets.
John’s collection is neatly arranged
along a number of shelves in his garage, with one of his vehicles relegated
to a spot outside. The sets are all permanently connected to power and are
each fitted with a short antenna so that
they can be operated on a regular basis.
One interesting aspect of the collection is a group of eight Philips receivers arranged in four pairs of apparently
June 2012 93
each of these pairs at a later date.
John’s large table radios, such as
the Graetz Sinfonia 422 5-band receiver and the Philips BX653A 5-band
12-valve receiver, are big, powerful
units with impressive performance.
But although these are magnificent
receivers, they are far from easy to
service and a service manual and
plenty of time are needed to ensure a
successful restoration.
The mantel receivers in the display were made by most of the major
manufacturers in Australia, with a
sprinkling of overseas brands. These
are receivers that Australian collectors
are more familiar with, particularly
when it comes to fault-finding and
restoration.
John’s workshop
More Philips “twins” – the Australian model 138 is shown at top, while below it
is the almost visually-identical Dutch BX221U.
identical units. However, on close
inspection, the pairs of receivers are
not identical at all. In each case, one
receiver is of Dutch manufacture and
the other is Australian made.
Apparently, copies of the respective
cabinet moulds were sent to Australia
from the Philips parent company
in Eindhoven, Holland. The resulting locally-produced cabinets were
then each used to house different
Australian-designed chassis. It will
be interesting to compare the circuits,
performance, layout and facilities of
John’s NZ-made La Gloria
Philco mantel receiver.
94 Silicon Chip
John has a spacious workbench for
doing electronic and basic mechanical
work on his radios. Alignment and
sensitivity adjustments are carried
out with the aid of a Philips GM2883
signal generator. This is a step up from
a basic signal generator such as the
Leader LSG10 and LSG11. A Philips
GM6001 valve voltmeter is used for
voltage and current measurements,
along with a digital multimeter.
Also included in the test-gear lineup are two variable power supplies
which can substitute for the internal
power supplies of most receivers. In
addition, a Variac is used to test the
performance of receivers across the
normal mains voltage range. This is a
very handy test which will often bring
to light voltage-sensitive faults.
Other equipment includes an adjustable lampholder plus a supply
of jumper leads which are stored at
the back of the workbench. These
leads make it easy to attach meters
to a circuit so that various operating
conditions can be observed, eg, while
alignment adjustments are made.
Another workbench is used for some
of the larger mechanical work. During
my visit, a speaker cloth was being
glued to a frame and this was held in
place with several clamps. And talking about speaker cloth, John’s wife
Harriet hand-wove open-mesh speaker
cloth for several of the receivers in his
collection.
A number of small trays and drawers containing various components are
mounted behind the main workbench,
while larger parts are stored against
one of the garage walls. John also has
siliconchip.com.au
The 3-band Philips BX373A receiver
features a dial that’s styled to look
like a compass.
a good supply of valves, which are
used as necessary. However, according
to John, many of the old radios he has
restored didn’t require replacement
valves and only rarely was more than
one required.
Some useful tips
Based on their experience, most
vintage radio collectors come up with
ideas to help make restoration jobs
easier and John is certainly no different in this regard.
One of his useful tips is to use aluminium foil patty pans (available from
supermarkets) to keep components together when a set is dismantled. These
are ideal for storing the many nuts,
bolts, screws, knobs and other parts
that may be removed from a receiver
during restoration.
Good organisation is important
when is comes to restoring a vintage
radio. There is nothing worse than not
keeping the bits and pieces together
and then finding that some vital item is
missing somewhere in the workshop.
Restringing dial-drive systems is
something that many vintage radio
restorers would rather not have to
do. The larger European sets in particular often have extremely complex
dial-drives and other remote control
mechanisms. As a result, it’s important
to try to obtain a diagram of the layout,
as some are quite difficult to figure out
from scratch.
John therefore tries to obtain a
manual for any set that’s being worked
on and he photographs the dial-drive
system before he working on it. This
approach is particularly important
with the more complex receivers such
as the Graetz Sinfonia 422, the Philips
BX653A and sets like the AWA 7-band
siliconchip.com.au
John de Hass with his vintage radio receiver collection. He’s been collecting and
restoring vintage receivers for around nine years.
The Philips BX653A 5-band twin-amplifier table receiver is a large, powerful
unit with no less than 12 valves. A service manual and plenty of time were
necessary to complete the restoration of this magnificent receiver.
series of radios. Conversely, sets using
handspan dials are so simple that no
diagram is necessary.
Summary
As can be seen, John has quite a
wide variety of receivers from both
Europe and elsewhere and he has done
an excellent job restoring them to full
working order. This is particularly evident with the larger European models.
The workshop is very functional and
most problems can be diagnosed and
fixed using his existing equipment and
spare parts.
As to which sets John prefers, the
Dutch Philips receivers are favourites,
particularly when it comes to appearance. However, he also says that the
European sets are more difficult to
service, with bits and pieces scattered
everywhere inside them. So for ease
of service, he definitely prefers the
SC
Australian sets.
June 2012 95
|