G'day everyone!

I am in need of acquiring a knob for this model of Tecnico set, however I believe multiple models utilise the same knobs.
Also is it normal for this model to not have a power switch? the schematic I have for it doesn't mention one and I can't see any evidence for there ever being a power switch in this set I restored.

I'm willing to pay any reasonable price for a replacement knob, even if it's not exact. A knob is better than none!

Any input is as always appreciated

Cheers

Lance

It was quite common for radios of that vintage to not have a power switch.

I’m quite intrigued by that. Why was that the case?

Because you already had a power switch on the wall outlet!

I heard once that the law for consumer appliances required a two pole power switch to cater for the fact that there was no way to ensure the active would be the switched wire when an appliance was plugged into a lamp socket rather than a power point. These bayonet plugs were quite common back then, as were double adaptors to permit the appliance and the light globe to be run from the same socket.

Manufacturers then started omitting the power switch on all but the most upmarket receivers to cut costs.

I suppose it does make sense that power switches at the wall would have been the main way to turn things on and off but powerpoints aren’t always easy to get to. I guess appliances and designers were just different back then! In my mind it’s like unplugging the microwave every time you want to stop cooking something. I guess growing up where everything just gets left plugged in idling away 24/7 is the norm it does seem foreign to me.

Brad, very interesting point there, I never considered that you could plug something in either way with a bayonet socket. Although how many homes were still using light bulb sockets to power appliances by the late forties? It also arises the question of when the Australian power plug and socket was created?

Lance

...by the late forties?

Lots and lots. The AWA Radiolette 500 series often came with bayonet plugs and I have a few other radios in my collection that are still fitted with them. One is a Kriesler 11-20 plum pudding. Another is an Astor Baby BR, probably the smallest mantel radio ever made in Australia. I also have a Healing 401E with one.

There were also reversible straight two pin plugs. The NEMA plug that USA has, in a two pin plug top, can be reversed.

Regulations with caravans require double pole switches & that one is pretty understandable. The hanging power points in this building have double pole switching.

On why double pole. I won the job of doing "Tag & Test" on a pile of cables that had been donated from various sources. Several got chopped up & were consigned to waste. One was a recycled cable out of a vacuum cleaner, or similar: It had three wire fittings on it the cable was two wire? Several had inverted wiring.

And you wonder why we get tighter regulations: Independent of quality.

Marc