Hey all,

Just purchased a vintage radio and cant find anything on it the dial glass says midlands short wave it was in a homemade box the chasis is in amazing condition the valves that I can make out are:
645
6BD7
6N8

The other two are warn off on the back it has 24875 and it also has the same number on the mains transformer.

If I was to guess it came out of a old radiogram but not certain at the back of the radio its got a pick up point.

It doesnt have a speaker so need to know what it actually requires so I can get it working.

Thanks in advance,
Stephen

The valve line-up could be 6M5, 6BD7, 6N8, 6AN7 & 6V4.

Take a snap of the chassis and have it up-loaded here. We may then be able to identify it.

Cheers.

Photos uploaded.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

I'm not familiar with the Midlands brand name, although Googling around I note reference to an old eBay auction with the title "Midlands Antique Radiogram". There's also a reference to the name on the site thebakeliteradio.com, but that site appears to be down, or perhaps defunct.

It may have been a "house" brand for a retailer.

That's Paul Ledger's site and his domain is current until the 6th January, 2014 so it must be an issue with his webhost. His site's been around for a long time so my guess is that it'll be back.

The name Midlands does surface every now and then. I think it was one of those generic brands like Aristone and Elizabeth, where they just got radios made by one of the bigger companies and had their name slapped on the front.

Woolworths does that with its Big W and Dick Smith stores. You can buy a television badged DSE at Dick Smith or the same telly at Big W badged AWA.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

I think it was one of those generic brands like Aristone and Elizabeth, where they just got radios made by one of the bigger companies and had their name slapped on the front.

Yep, that's what I mean by a house brand. David Jones used St James. (I wonder if that's because their landmark store overlooks the entrance to St James station.)

If it is a "House brand" how can I tell what speaker it needs to work?

Choice of speaker won't be difficult once we know the correct impedance.

The output transformer is the small one behind the power transformer. Let us know what markings it has on it. I think I can see "7000/ ". The 7000 is probably 7000 ohms primary winding, consistent with a 6M5 output valve in single-ended configuration. The other side of the slash should be the impedance of the secondary winding and that's what's needed for the speaker coil.

It's not clear to me in the photo, but I think it reads "3" or maybe "3.5"?

I'm wondering if that may be a Stromberg-Carlson chassis, circa 1953/54.

The output transformer reads as follows:
2XA317060
7000/3JH4

3.5 Ohm was a fairly common speaker coil 4 Ohm should be OK The colour is similar to STC. There were not a lot of manufacturers that painted the chassis.

I would agree with the era & possible valve line up 6N8, I have not found to be an inspiring valve. The line up of valve types can be a clue as not all manufacturers persisted with the same combination in the RF & Detector as the oposition, who consistenty used their different set of same valves in several models & just changed the cabinet.

That stamped code on the transformer, I have seen elswhere (now for the senior moment) who?

Marc

Http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Timber-Console-Valve-Radio-/140966091115?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item20d23bd96b&_uhb=1


Just found this looking on ebay looks similar to mine
Anyone know it?
Stephen

Other than it's a dual band receiver, I don't see the similarity. For starters, your set has the more modern baseless and capless valves and yours has 5 valves as opposed to 6 in the eBay set.

As I mentioned above, I'd date yours to the early 1950s.

I was talking more about the chassis it's self. I was thinking since mine could be a home brand. I was thinking that it was the same company that made the ebay one made mine for midlands years latter. Cause if you look at the chassis you
can see the dial glass is very similar.

The needle is exactly the same

The dial glass backing is the same

The way the glass is held in is the same

The variable capacitor is the same and in the same spot

And it is all strung exactly the same way

The chassis is definitely a generic type, but I cant tell who made it. The stations marked on the dial go up to early 1954. 3NE Wangaratta opened on the 27/03/1954. Stations opening after this date are not marked. So this may give an indication of this radios vintage. I also agree that the ebay chassis may be of the same manufacture, albeit a few years earlier, as the one on this thread.

Cheers.