Hi, this is my first ever post on the forum so please be forgiving.

I purchased an old radio today that does not make any sound but the light bulb and valves heaters all seem to light up. Soon I will begin to invistigate further but first I would like to find out what radio this is exactly. I have tried very hard to find any information on the radio but there isnt much. It says "RADION" on the front, uses a Rola UK loudspeaker and recommends ARCTURUS valves be used.The metal chassis also has a marking '5R4950' on it. It appears to have been professionaly restored in the 90's with test ratings such as 50% written on the valves. Unfortunately the valves have no designations written on them and I am new to collecting so can't identify them by eye. I'm really looking to find a manufacturer (was Radion a major manufacturer?) and a rough date and knowing the valve layout or finding circuit diagrams would be great but I just can't find the information on my own so I hope you can help me. I also don't know what any of the front knobs other than tuning does, I'm really new to radios of this age.

Pictures here:
Image Link
Image Link
Image Link
Image Link
Image Link

Radion seems to be one of those scattered names.

There was a company called Radion in England that made radios and valves. There is also this article showing a Radion receiver made in South Australia.

I am not sure if the two are related in any way.

There is also an auction on Ebay with a radio similar to yours.

Arcturus Radio Co. Newark, New Jersey, USA, valve manufacturer established around 1925. There was also a New Zealand manufacturer called Radion but very little info on them.

The radio in my Ebay link is a Kiwi job. I'm not sure of the relationship with the "Daventry" name that is also on that radio though.

Radion was the brand name for a small radio manufacturer in Adelaide run by two brothers named Harris in the 1930's.

However there is a sticker on the back this radio for a Avalon Radio & Antiques of Lower Hutt. Lower Hutt is part of the Greater Wellington area in New Zealand.

I think there might of been a NZ radio with the Radion brand.

Thanks for the responses so far everyone. Interesting that there seem to be a few different manufacturers using the same name. That's a good lead about the location of the place that restored it (restored in 1992 according to the valves) being in New Zealand, I assumed it was talking about a street in Avalon perhaps but I was clearly wrong. Since that radio on eBay looks very similar I think we've at least tracked down where it likely comes from. I have been wondering about the year and my research so far leads me to believe it might be from the early 30's? does this sound correct?

The valve line-up in the set may help us identify that particular chassis.

Be careful when removing valves to do so via the bakelite base, not the glass envelope, and be gentle when removing top caps as they can be corroded on.

If you can get a lever (easily) under the valve that can help lift it. With top caps again, if you can get a lever like a flat screwdriver blade between the top cap & the terminal & gently twist whilst supporting it that can take some stress of the separation, especially if the cap has come adrift.

Adrift is easily fixed, broken grid wire may not.

Marc

I would say its going to be around mid thirties and an Autodyne (Screen Grid) That colour chassis is one used by STC but I cannot recall seeing one with a shield over the gang.

Most of the Autodynes, & I did work on one last year (STC chassis 59), most follow a similar plot and should be easy to reverse engineer, if it needs work?

We do need valve numbers & I would expect 57; 58; 80 in the line up if it is of that era?

Marc

OK I have ventured in and checked the valve numbers from the markings on the sockets. We have 80, PEN, 57, 58, 57. Here is a picture of "PEN" which I presume stands for pentode: http://i1037.photobucket.com/albums/a456/woollyy/IMG_3180_zpsc37e8bbc.jpg

The valve shown looks like it has 4 pins. All the other valves, apart from the 80, have 2.5 volt heaters.

So I'm guessing the valve might be a 2A3 output triode, or something similar.

If there is a extra pin on the valve that can't be seen in the picture then it could be a 47 or 47M, which is a 2.5 volt output pentode.

Just checked and it has 5 pins, one is perfectly hidden in the photo. I was suspecting that it might be a 47 however it seems to be noticeably slightly bigger than the 80 and I'm not sure whether this has any bearing on identifying it

Just checked in my trusty 1934 RCA valve manual and the 47 is in a ST-16 package. The 80 is the next size down which is a ST-14. The 57 & 58's are a further size down, ST-12.

So it looks like the line up is 80, 47, 57, 58, 57 then which yields quite a few radios from 1933-1935ish when searched on radio museum but none look exactly like this one. I'm guessing the number printed on the chassis back must be the model number? "5R4950" with the 5 perhaps representing the 5 valve set up. Or perhaps the radio is called a 5R and is chassis number 4950? Anyway it look like we've figured it all out mostly. It must be a Radion 5R4950 that was made in New Zealand in the mid 30's

Valve appears to have four pins ... confirm? If that is the case its a filament Triode, so 2A5 & 47 would be out as they are Pentodes.

80 is UX-4 with 4 pins, but you can see the two big distinct diodes.

So it may well be 45 and investigation would likely reveal a separate possibly centre tapped filament winding for it? There may be a cathode resistor for self bias in that CT to ground

57 & 58 are consistent with a screen grid radio.

Marc