Guys that is fantastic advice . Now I know where I am at . Thank you so much Marcc, Ian and Fred now its all clear.

Guys the radio had no battery plugs on the leads at all. That's why I am being very cautious as you never know who has done what

You might be ready to test the filament (1.5v) circuit.

I suggest you connect an ohm-meter to the filament circuit. Turn the switch on.

Then plug each valve in one at a time and see what resistance you measure. Should be about 10 ohms for each valve and about 5 for the 1Q5.

If you can measure those ohms, all valves are good and you have correctly identified the filament circuit.

We now know where the 90 volts connects - see my earlier post.

Insert all valves, power it up and you should hear something. Don't worry, you won't damage anything....

Well I have sound but no stations. I havent tested the valves though and I know the switch is a bit dicky. as it doesnt switch on unless I fiddle with it.

Switch contact issues are just about universal in battery valve radios. You need very low contact resistance, especially in the A (1.5v) circuit where you can tolerate no voltage drop at all. With silver plated contacts that just won't happen after 70 years!

In some cases you can pull those switches apart. The "switchback" (as it's known) can be easily removed from the volume pot by bending back the 4 tabs at the front of the pot. Dismantling the switchback to get at the contacts is usually not so easy as it often involves removing the two rivets that hold the bakelite bit to the metal. And replacing them eventually! You could probably use M2 screws and nuts.

If you can get it apart, clean the contacts with Silvo followed by a light dusting of CRC or WD40 etc.

With the switch working properly you should get virtually zero ohms when it's closed.

Ok Here is the issue. All valves tested faulty ie blown filaments. I was able to get some very low level and garbled signal. I know this sounds strange . Its probably some form of inductance. iI have tested the speaker transformer and its all ok. I am pretty happy with myself as I know that this will work. Obviously my fears were justified in thinking some one has tampered with this. Earlier I thought I could see the filaments had detached but my eyesight isnt as it was. Ian if you have all these valves then I would love to have them. and I will be able to fix you up for them shortly.

Fixing the switch wont really be a issue.

What I mean by garbled signal is I actually got the ABC.

I did actually test the filament circuit as you said Ian and I got 5 ohms for the lot.

Well, it looks like you won't be needing those valves!

Although maybe just the 1H5 and the 1Q5 are working - are you physically close to the ABC 666kHz transmitter at Gungahlin? If so that would explain it. When you touch the 1H5 top cap with your finger you have an amplified crystal set!

What I was suggesting and maybe I wasn't clear is to plug in each of the valves one at a time while metering the 1.5v leads. You should get 5 ohms for the 1Q5, 10 ohms for each of the others. This way you will soon know if you have an O/C filament on any valve.

I have tested the filament pins and they are all open circuit. That's the confusing thing. Very very low signal.

So I definitely do need the valves. I consulted my Philips valve data book and made sure I was testing the correct pins and they all tested as open circuit. I even tested a valve that I know to be good with the multimeter and it tested ok. So my testing methods do work . I am happy as I know everything else is good. I can actually see one of the filaments has visibly detached from it's post.

You must be VERY close to the Gungahlin transmitter if those filaments are O/C!

Apparently they are ok . It has a loop antenna that's in its case . But only attached with one lead , why one lead apparently it's tuned and the radio won't work with out it. And I was counting the pins wrong.

Yeah, easy to do.

One end of the loop antenna goes to the top cap of the 1A7 (oops, sorry you have a 1R5) and the tuning gang. That means you should look for the wire in the tuning gang that goes DIRECTLY to a pin on the 1R5. That point on the gang is one end. I think I can see evidence of a wire having been connected there.

The other end normally goes to the AGC but I can see no evidence for that in your underchassis pics.

The other option is to connect it directly to ground, and I believe that's where it went on your radio. No AGC on the front end, but that's probably OK with a loop antenna. It means a VERY strong signal will overload the front end causing distortion.

There is a 2 lug tagstrip under the chassis near the 1R5. The earth tag on that is probably where it should go.

Why do I see new NP caps & an old elecctrolytic in the photo?