a date, barely readable 3/?/35

1935 fits with some of the things we have mentioned. It also explains why it's difficult to find a schematic as it predates the usual source.

The set is working beautifully, it has an intermittent half fadeout and back over a period of 5- 10 seconds for about half an hour and then stabilises and sounds great for hours.

Thats why I started looking at the capacitors. That set has been worked on because those grey plastic covered Ducon electros would not have been around at the time of manufacture. The half fade out you are mentioning indicates to me that a capacitor is on the way out. I would just replace all those caps as they dont seem to be hard to get to. But take the Warning from Marc and GTC . Make sure you are a long way from plugging it in because its a dousy. If the capacitor goes short circuit then you run the risk of damaging a valve or something else equally as old and hard to get.

Fading is always interesting. First distinguish between the normal atmospheric fading that you get from mainly distant stations.

Radio station 2AY is 71Km away (GPS: As the crow flies) from me but at around 5PM will start to fade in and out due to atmospherics.

There should not at this point be any old waxed paper caps, or electrolytics left in it. That is asking for trouble.

You could have a dodgy heater / filament, or bad connection?

IC Clips are handy they have less risk of shorting. When I start a repaired radio I use these with a meter on the "B" (HT) supply to monitor the voltage. With a Barretter this may be more unreliable but worth a try. My other thought would be to monitor across the Barretter to see if the current is fluctuating in sympathy with the fault?

I have a kill switch on top of my isolation transformers box. I have not tested it, but as far as I can predict, a line RCD will not protect you on the secondary side of an isolation transformer.

Marc

Now that I see the photos, I would agree that the under-chassis "transformer" would more likely be a choke.

There's 3 old caps and an old electro there, which I'd replace if it were my radio.

No photo of the front dial, although I assume it has no useful markings.

Not sure what that rectangular block is, just to the right of the dropper.

My guess is that the chassis was made in a factory, but the baretter looks like a homebrew addition.

Good luck with getting it identified.

There is a component inside, you can see, a square object with two wires coming out of it with a (although not visible in the photo) very colourful illustration/ sticker on it depicting a three headed "Hydra" type monster, unsure what this component actually is?

That square object is a capacitor.

Hydra is a mythological monster. Hydra was hard to destroy because if you cut off one head, two would grow in it's place. Hydra was eventually killed off by Hercules.

Apparently Hydra branded capacitors are still being made today. They were only ever seen here in the early days of radio before import restrictions.

Ok, wondering if the Hydra capacitor is a goodie or one to replace? The fading occurs with 5CS Port Pirie. a station over 100km away from Clare, nothing noticeable with ABC which is most loud and clear. I will eventually replace the capacitors, I have already found replacements for all of the valves, on Ebay, will collect them and keep for just in case. I think it must be an Eclipse/ Saxon chassis as most of the original componentry, bar the Hydra are Saxon/ Eclipse. Just waiting for a photo of the Saxon label to upload. The dial you can see on an earlier post "Seeking brand and year of manufacture" Cheers and thanks for all comments, much appreciated.

More info needed. I see a tar filled can that is either a large paper cap or is has caps in it & should not be in circuit if it has, and in the photo, it is in circuit. What happened with it?

Fading in & out on a distant station is what I said about 2AY. Does this fading in & out happen on local stations or just distant ones and when? That is important.

Marc

At my radio workshop, which is about 100km from Sydney, during the day the Sydney stations are received fine (via ground wave). But, in the evening the sky wave starts up and interferes with the ground wave, causing horrible distortion and fading.

For whatever reason, the ABC stations seem to overcome the problem, they remain strong and steady at all times.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the radio, as far as fading at night-time goes.

For whatever reason, the ABC stations seem to overcome the problem, they remain strong and steady at all times.

50 kilowatts at the Prestons (Liverpool) tower.

(I see a tar filled can that is either a large paper cap or is has caps in it & should not be in circuit if it has, and in the photo, it is in circuit. What happened with it?)
Sorry can't figure out how to get Italians... So in brackets instead!
Not sure what you mean by "what happened with it?" Nothings happened with it to my knowledge, only took the chassis out , took the photo and put it back in. Why would I, or should I replace components which are functioning correctly and what has everybody got against old capacitors? I would have thought original components (if working perfectly) add to originality? I'm planning to replace the capacitors on the basis that everybody seems to firmly tell me I must, but I'm not in a mad hurry yet as there are no problems or inklings thereof of anything being wrong with the old girl, unless they are likely to suddenly explode??? Should I be worried??
Yes the fade in and out issue seems to simultaneously affect all my radios, this one and the Philips high fidelity mono radio gram in our lounge, the Peal cub in the kitchen and the Airvoyce radiogram in our bedroom. Night time here brings a stronger, but less stable signal, some nights with buzzing interference, others completely without it... All radios pick up both Adelaide and Melbourne ABC clear as a bell at all times, whilst 5CS {Port Pirie) and 1323 (5AD Adelaide) tend to be iffy, sometimes loud and clear, or dodgy, 0often a case of one or the other with these two stations, which is tolerable as these are the stations playing our favourite music from the 50's, 60's and 70's, Still looking for a good 20's-40's Jazz station though, like there sure was 20-30yrs ago!

Photo and PDF uploaded. Gothic names for radios and parts was common during the 1930s.

Thank you Brad and Robbbert, co-incidentally, both stations I mentioned (Adelaide and Port Pirie) are approximately 100km away too, South and North east respectively. Cheers.

Thanks for the photo of the label. Can't quite make out what it says on the bottom line. Melbourne - Sydney - Adelaide?

I can definitely see SYDNEY in the middle, I think you could be right..



50 kilowatts at the Prestons (Liverpool) tower.

I believe that is the tallest MW tower in Australia. At night I can see the red lights from this house.

Eclipse Radio Pty Ltd did have a presence in Adelaide.

In 1931 they were situated in Claridge Arcade, Gawler Place.

I think it might of been a sales branch.