I saw the wreck of this set on ebay and set to fixing it up.
I was attracted by the fact it had an in built vibrator supply driving 2 volt filament valves.
I had never seen those valves since pulling some X Army transceivers apart about 100 years ago.
Lots of fun getting it going and looking reasonable.

Fred.

Astor MQ farm set

Document uploaded.

Nice article Fred. Having a few vibrator sets myself, I’ve been on the look out for one of these for awhile and still looking. There doesn’t seem to be many left lying around anymore. Great work in saving this one and retaining the vibrator power supply.

This chassis and cabinet were used in many different Astors, I had a 50 volt farm radio (no vibrator), and a couple of mains types. One of the mains ones is still around but the others were scrapped.

So I have a spare cabinet, and some knobs. The old chassis are laying in the dust of the garage, awaiting their turn to be dumped.

The switch on the side with the coloured bits is supposed to have a globe inside to make the colours glow. Fred's one might not have had the globe (he made no mention of it). There's also supposed to be 3 globes across the front for the dial.

Yes this must be one of the most used cabinets to house different models. The 32volt vibrator-less variant is one of my favourite radios as too the NS deluxe six. I have seen these in black cabinets which are nice also. Just don’t see many vibrator models at all.

Hi Rob and Dave, yeh, there was a 12volt globe running off 6 volt mounted on a doogy thing that moved around with the shaft turning.
I had to fool around a bit to get the filament so it lit up one LED at a time, not the whole show.
Fred.

Fred, Dave and Rob,

I have the same cabinet in mains 240V version, fitted with the 6AN7 converter. Absolutely fantastic to watch at night, pretty lights etc.

Also have a couple of 6V and 12V vibrator units, NOS I think. Yell out guys if you want them. (Giveaways)

The things I don't like about these radios is

(1) the globes can meld themselves into the spring-shaped holders, making them impossible to remove without total destruction, and

(2) the dial and chassis are held in by 2 plastic shrouds that are around the controls. These can seize up, and will break when forced.

I don't know if it's just bad luck, but the knobs are often warped and twisted.

Not bad luck, designed in; a lot of AWAs of that time with warped plastic dials or knobs.

Yep to all the above. I have five Astors and a Hotpoint -AWA all with broken or missing knobs.

Yes the spring type globe holders are a pain also they hold their tension and don’t tend to come loose. To remove the globe. I find it best to spray it first with WD40 or the like, tighten the globe slightly and then undo. The undoing of the globe tends to tighten its grip on the spring at the same time.

The spring loaded bayonet type lamp holders are also the worst for wire shrinkage and short circuiting especially if the globe is missing.

There are likely to be vibrator PSU sets here. Repairs one was a 32 V STC a while back & a car radio since, and another, in the line with 6D6 era valves.

Pretty sure I have a spare 1M5 in the garage downstairs. Want me to look for it?

Drop me an email if so.

I have a number of 6v vibrator bush radios. One is an STC, another is a WW2 AWA amenities radio.

Hi Ian thanks, email sent.
Fred.