Does anyone know exactly how this unit is supposed to function? It has dual tuners, but the only band common to each side is AM (MW). In stereo mode, the tuning for each channel when MW is selected is separate. Only in mono mode can I seem to use the FM band, so this unit is obviously not FM stereo.

I have replaced all the capacitors and a couple of resistors which had gone open circuit, which has got the unit working, but I'm unsure of whether there are further things wrong with it. I've checked all the resistors and the ones I didn't replace are OK, and all the valves seem to have continuity (though, I haven't put them on a valve tester). I'm not sure what to do next.

By the way, even connected to my shed speakers, this is the best AM radio I have ever used - the high frequency response is excellent. I think it might be one of those "wideband" Am receivers. This baby is going in my lounge room as soon as it's together, I tell you.

G'day,

Many years ago a number of AM stations in some capital cities experimented/cooperated in broadcasting stereo, one channel per station.

A small number of manufactures produced some dual tuner units to enable both channels to be received on the one receiver/amp combination. Another example of the dual tuner is the Trio W-50 Delux Stereo Amplifier.

Of course this was long before FM stereo was introduced in this and some other countries.

Cheers, Graham...

I believe 2BL and 2FC used to do this in Sydney...a mate of mine told me his Dad used to use a couple of empire state radiolettes for receiving these broadcasts.

I also have an AM stereo tuner from the late 1980s, and remember when the capital city stations used to use stereo. Now, it's only country stations which do this, so (being in Sydney) I can only really use this tuner at night. I think 2CA Canberra still broadcast in stereo.

I remember in the mid fifties my father setting up a tombstone like an Airzone radiostar and a Philips table radiogram to pick up stereo broadcasts from Sydney stations.

Don't remember the stations involved, though I think that they were commercials, or whether the experiment was successful. Lived about 200 miles from Sydney then, in the mountains, so maybe not.

Both radios disappeared before the bug hit.

The move to stereo was an interesting part of audio history in Australia. Because FM broadcasting was opposed by the commercial AM broadcast lobby, there was a long gap between the arrival of commercial stereo recordings ("microgroove" LPs) in the early 1960s, and the introduction of FM broadcasting by "experimental" fine music stations, before mainstream FM in 1975.

Pioneer were among the first Japanese firms to go for the "Hi-Fi" market with their record players and component amps. It makes sense that they might add twin tuners to a radiogram that already had twin amps. Do you know the date of your model? I'd be guessing around 1970?

Maven

Date of manufacture is around 1960 according to radiomuseum.com website. It's pretty early.

They were definitely "pioneers" then!

The earliest reference I have found to two-station stereo in Australia is an experimental performance of a specially-composed, avant-garde classical piece 1968, using the two metropolitan ABC station networks.

I'd be interested if forum members could pin down earlier examples.

Maven