Finally began work on a Philips Model 141U made in Great Britain 1954.

Five valves, UH42 UF41 UB41 UL41 UY41

Two surprises, completely new to me but more experienced fellows will no doubt have seen this before.

a) Valve placement guide is achieved via the glass envelope. A nipple on the lower side of the envelope fits into a slotted base bracket attached to the chassis.

b) One of the valves is stamped "Foreign made", while the Mullards are stamped "British made".

I'm hoping the historians may shed light on mid 50's British labelling trends, the foreign made stamp has me intrigued.

The valves are actually UCH42, UF41, UBC41, UL41, UY41. The heaters are wired in series, and there's no power transformer. So be very careful as the chassis is connected to one side of the mains - it could be a death trap. Earthing the radio should trip your circuit breaker or other protection in the fuse box.

Back in the days when the British Empire was still a thing, anything made in Britain or a British dominion was labelled "British Made" or "Made in [country of origin here]" for goods only sold in that country. One case in point was the 1930s AWA Radiolettes. Those sold in Australia were labelled "Made in Australia" whilst those exported to New Zealand or other close neighbours were labelled "British Made" even though they were all made on the same line. Anything made in a country that was not part of the Empire was labelled "Foreign Made".

Photos made it, with the help of Photoshop's unsharp feature. Tip - the camera should be further back, at a higher resolution and use zoom if necessary. My e-mail box is unlimited so do not be afraid of doubling resolution and file size to get good pics.

Rob and Brad,

Thanks guys for the tips.

The chassis did bite me once in 1996 and yes, the RCD saved my hide. I managed running it purely to test its Long Wave band.
I am now in the process of restoring it, starting with the wire wound resistor mess. This ugly network is purely for mains voltage selection.

As there is no power transformer, it will also run on DC, which is an option as it will make an excellent front end for a broad band long wave receiver I am constructing----the sensitivity of those RF Mullards is unbelievable. If I ever get around to restoring the case then it's a relatively easy task of putting the chassis back into the case.

The photos look better on this post than when I emailed them, good work, thanks.

Hi, can you make it safe by using a stock 240/120 transformer and possibly junking most of the resistors?

Fred.

Good one Fred, that's what I would be doing.
Otherwise landfill. Too dangerous and probably illegal the way it is.
JJ

I have a 240/220 transformer which will provide isolation and enable me to remove the resistors so I can run it on 220VAC. This will be done if and when the cabinet is restored.

In the meantime I want to utilise its incredible performance on the LW band and use it as the front end of a LW receiver fed remotely from the lab.

I cannot have mains anywhere near the antenna array, especially todays mains riddled with crap from endless non linear devices back-feeding into it, hence the DC feed.

By removing the rectifier and jumpering the heater pins at its socket I can reduce the supply voltage by the same amount normally afforded from the missing rectifier's heater voltage drop. There will be minimum, if any, modification required, so the chassis will always be ready to become a 'Vintage Radio' again.

Re post #8,
Ah, ok , yes that makes sense.
I know exactly what you mean regarding using a Philips set front end as a tuner.
I used a (senior moment cant remember the model) Philips chassis as a tuner project and was amazed at the performance.
Without any sensitivity figure to quote all I can say was the front end pulled in stations from all over Australia.
It was a 3 gang superhet with RF/mixer/IF/rectifier and had those sealed for good alluminium can coils and trimmer caps of the wound wire variety.
I did not have to touch any coil to adjust anything.
It was dead quiet without any antenna connected and a couple of feet of wire made it leap into life with stations and every roof top solar system in the state loud and clear!.
The AGC characteristic was perfect to the ear.

Almost worth while getting it off the shelf and having another look at it.

Fred.

I did happen to pick up one of those radios (don't recall what it looked like on the outside, but the insides are quite similar to yours), and the gremlins had been at work, disconnecting and modifying things. It needed a lot of work.

Once I realised it was transformerless, it was enough to push it into scrap land. I didn't want to take the risk on such a nasty thing. Also, a valve was missing, and those U-series are not the easiest to find.

So, be very careful, and if you must have it on the mains, make sure it's the neutral that's connected to the chassis. At least touching it won't kill you.

Also, out of interest, what is it on LW that interests you? I can't imagine that aircraft beacons would be that exciting.

...and a couple of feet of wire made it leap into life with stations and every roof top solar system in the state loud and clear!.

Wait until more of these electric buses roll out. Those under trial at the moment emit so much electro-magnetic interference that you could fry an egg on them. The Commonwealth won't allow the states to install mobile phone blackout equipment to stop the crims running their operations from their cells but bus companies are allowed to put these mobile microwave ovens on the road and black out the radio stations as they drive by. Still, nett zero by 2050 is more important than enforcing interference laws, isn't it.

Rob,

Rest assured this receiver will operate isolated from the mains. Regarding my interest in LW, the answer is rather lengthy.

Our planet is a rich source of radio emissions. I study these emissions, specifically, the frequency range 0.016 Hz to 300 Hz. I have been recording the lowest component of the spectrum with ease with home made gear for many years, LW however has been a nightmare, and commercially available receivers are disappointing. I have one of the top selling brands, I won't name, no match against the Philips.**

Regarding Nav beacons, these are ideal for my work. Directional high powered AM beacon---a perfect geometric pointer tool---WOW, for free!

** Thinks out loud---Wonder if it has anything to do with the 470kHz IF? Comments anyone?

Back in 1980s I sometimes listened to LW, and at night it was possible to pick up beacons from all over our half of the planet. I was hoping to hear some UK LW broadcast stations, but never did.

Now, of course, it's quite impossible given the amount of hash on the band. The same problem rules out reception of the MW band from 1500 to 2500 kHz.

Europe is a bit like America and is riddled with sets even with printed circuits that have no transformers. One must be aware that it is not uncommon, as I have pointed out on the American Antique Radio Forum (Moderator), to have what looks like a transformer but is in fact a form of "auto transformer" or a tapped ballast; Both of which give "Live chassis".

In some you can earth a specific earth terminal, as on some ferrite antennas, that is an entirely separate winding on the rod with no association with any other electrical connection. Any cap in series with an antenna with commonality to a hot chassis, should be an "approved" mains / line cap.

I have acquired a range of transformers both isolating and autotransformers associated with stepping mains up and down & a Fergusson one is designed to take 240 up to 480V or 240 down to 120V depending on how you wire it internally. "Knight 600" tube tester came with its own GE stepdown transformer (isolation type).

For testing I have an ATCO isolation transformer designed for lighting (rated 2.5A). This has been got at. Both the primary and secondary are fused and both have lights. They tell me which fuse went and if its alive. It for convenience has a kill switch on top as you cannot beat it for a swift disconnect. Do note that a "Slide Regulator" aka "Variac" is an auto transformer, NOT an isolation transformer: No protection.

Albeit the "Bug Zapper" wiped out TV reception tonight (malfunction). As noted (ad nauseum) my major interference is lighting & switchmode PSU's, lightning & RF from transmission lines. This unit is fitted with MOV's & filter caps in my standard arrangement. As double insulated has no earth, or a 240V live chassis has no earth and this one is merely used for the benefit of low fuses and the "Kill Switch" on transformer sets, the secondary has a wired in earth on the socket.

Marcc