My recently purchased AWA 429MA arrived yesterday but I've only just had a chance to check it out. Unfortunately it looks like the box has been dropped, quite a few times by the look of it! The 6AR7GT valve is broken with glass all through the cabinet and box. The KT61 amplifier valve is loose on its base with bits of metal rattling around inside. Both tuning coils have loose bits inside, I'm not sure if this is glass that's somehow got inside as the box and chassis were full of it or if something is broken. It certainly sounds like glass when the radio is turned over and back again but I can't see how it could have got inside them. Surprisingly, considering the carnage inside, the cabinet has survived quite well. A great shame about all this because it looked like it was a great radio for restoration.

Is it possible to diassemble and repair the tuning coils? I'm sure with the cost of the broken valves if the coils also need to be replaced it really isn't worth the effort.

Cheers, Warren

PS I couldn't figure out what smashed the valve. I've just had another look and found a corresponding mark on the OP transformer. It was dropped so hard that the front panel of the chassis with the transformer on it had rebounded back about an inch into the valve. I'm still amazed the cabinet survived undamaged.

Sad, but common. Things for courier despatch or air freight really have to be packed on the assumption that they will be dropped (or thrown) several feet, several times, on the journey.

Maven

I have well been told to always ensure an article is sufficiently packed so as to withstand being thrown and dropped. I have been told by former post office employees that it is common for the delivery workers to throw packages from the truck into the loading bay of the post office. It is generally because they are working to a timetable, and throwing is the quickest and most efficient (for them) method of delivering packages.

I always look for the smaller couriers, as they need the business and would subsequently handle your packages a little better to ensure repeated business by the customer.

Just my contribution,

Chris

The Post usually transport parcels in trolleys these days and they are a standard size so they fit in the trucks the same way each time. I have to say that I've never had a parcel damaged by the Post though most have arrived very well wrapped. I've mostly received radios in two boxes (one inside the other) with two types of padding so there is an effective crumple zone and this is how I pack radios for transport.

To be honest I seriously doubt I could trust a private carrier. They don't have the same resources as the Post for transporting goods to and from their trucks and the drivers aren't usually paid enough to care what they damage. A lot of these drivers also have a grossly obscene attitude, park where they please, obstruct other traffic and tend to prove they are moronic in many other ways.

Post employees that try any of that on usually end up on the dole queue.

Scraps,

I have one of these with a smashed front. I can help out with knobs, valves, tuning dial and other parts if you need any.

Let me know what you are short on.

Unbeknown to the persons involved I've watched Australia Post parcel van drivers (contractors) tossing parcels into the truck behind the post office as if they were footballs.

If I'm getting something fragile sent by post I always stipulate double boxed and I tell them to expect the parcel to be kicked around in transit and to pack the innards accordingly.

Many's the time the outer has arrived with its corners bashed in, but so far so good with the contents.

I usually use about six layers of bubblewrap on the radio and tape it reasonably tight to place a light tension on a cabinet, similar to a Roman arch. Then this is padded in the first box with shredded paper, which is in abundance where I work. Then the first box goes in the second with more shredded paper.

I suppose there's horror stories with all types of carriage services and probably a few embarrassing moments with self pickup too. With this in mind - more is better when it comes to packaging. My biggest beef with the Post is their small upper limit on box sizes. If a large radio is being sent it limits what the sender can do with padding.

At Christmas I sold an AWA 'Big Brother' Radiola and I had to hand deliver it to Melbourne because the Post Office was too tightwadded with their package girth size.

The tuning coils you refer to - do you mean the I.F. coils?
I think, though someone may have to correct me, these AWA I.F. coils are coated in a black pitch. Perhaps this black pitch stuff got loosened as a result of the rough treatment and is what you can hear rattling around in its cans. Some I.F. cans are easy to dismantle, others not so easy. Not sure how easy AWA I.F. cans are to pull apart though. With the KT61, the stuff rattling loose in the base is the old compound that used to bond the glass envelope to the octal base. You can use some epoxy resin to re-fasten the glass to the base. Some 429MA's used a N78 (6BJ5) instead of a KT61. N78's are easier to come by than KT61's.

Sorry, yes I did mean the IF coils. If the black pitch goes hard over the years it could well be the noise I can hear. It doesn't sound like a ferrite core thumping up and down, it's definitely something in contact with the can and sounds like glass. I'd love to see if I could get one apart but there's a chance they are still okay and I'd only make things worse.

Inside the KT61 I can actually see a small metal cap sliding around inside, I think it's dead.

Brad, I'd love to take you up on your offer! As I mentioned the main damage is the smashed 6AR7GT and KT61. As Monochrome625 suggested an N78 would work just as well, I'd only need to swap the socket. What I'm less sure about is the IF coils and I won't know about them until further down the track.

If I can get it going the only other thing it (originally) needed was a restring and dial pointer. Someone's put fishing line it, which even though incorrectly threaded works quite well although the pointer's missing. The knobs are a bit wonky but I was going to see how I go flattening them out with a bit of gentle heat.

I don't think even double boxing would have absorbed the deceleration forces this radio's been subjected to. It seems like some couriers see a Fragile label as a challenge.

GTC's comment about "packing the innards" is interesting. If the valves had been removed and packed separately, no damage would have been done except for an inexperienced person damaging the valves taking them out in the first place.

Warren

Scraps, I believe you are right with employees/contractors seeing the 'fragile' label as a challenge. From what I've heard, I believe that the contractors/employees make a special effort to trash 'fragile' packages. I mean, it isn't theirs, and the damage can't be specifically traced to them, at least that's their way of thinking...

Chris

Scraps,

My busted 429MA has a 6AR7GT but it was a late build and had a baseless valve for the output rather than the KT61 octal. I'll see what is in my good one tomorrow because I know it's an all-octal set.

Thanks Brad.

I don't mind changing it to an N78 if I have to, KT61's appear to be scarce in Australia and I don't know if US or UK KT61's are equivalent.

Warren

I'm just wondering if KT61 is the correct valve for this set.

In Volume 9 of the AORSM it shows an N78 as the output valve and in Volume 10 it was revised to a 6AQ5.

There is no reference to the 429MA in Volume 8 or 7. There was an all-octal version though mine has a 6K6GT and I am not even sure if that is the correct output valve for that version of the set.

I can confirm the 6AR7GT is correct. It's there in both versions covered in the AORSM manuals. I can let you have that valve for a tenner including postage or the whole radio for $30 plus postage. Let me know if you'd like to see some photos. It's a complete set aside from the broken front half.

The circuit I've got, from Kevin Chant I think, says N78. In the fine print it says some sets were fitted with the KT61, same performance. The supplement shows all other components are identical apart from the valve wiring. I suspect the N78 was more common. The KT61 has a "drop" socket to give it headroom. I wonder why they changed the output valve so often, it's hard to believe they would be developing valve technology so rapidly at the time to justify changing specs so often in such a short period of production.

$30 for the whole radio seems more than reasonable to me, more so because I'm still not sure about the IF cans in mine. Let me know the best way to organise it.

Cheers,

Warren

G'day Warren,

I'll post a few pictures here tonight. You can then make up your mind for certain. These are a fairly simple radio going by the lack of components under the chassis. If you still want to purchase it I'll e-mail my banking details and you can reply with your postal address.