Hi folks
Wondering if anyone has come across a NZ made radio branded Golden Knight?
I have acquired this dusty old model (5 valve) in a wooden cabinet that I thought I might try to restore.
Can't find any info, let alone circuit diagram, other than it was made by Radio (1936) Ltd in Auckland.

Any clues?

Thanks as always to the Brains Trust on this forum...

Cheers.

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Laurie

Here is some info:-

http://radio-restoration.com/GKnight.html.

No luck with a circuit diagram yet though.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

Have you tried contacting the NZVRS?

http://www.nzvrs.pl.net/.

Photos uploaded.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

Thanks gents.

That model on radio-restoration uses the same cabinet but is obviously different.
Good idea - I'll write to the NZVRS. I have also emailed the restoration site owner to see if he can help.

Any idea what the small metal cylinder thing on the front left of the chassis might be?
I don't really want to fiddle with it till I have some more info.

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Laurie

Any idea what the small metal cylinder thing on the front left of the chassis might be?

I was wondering that myself and reckon it may just be a coil. Certainly too short to be a valve. The one pictured on the linked website seems to have a different chassis and an extra control knob, perhaps for shortwave reception.

That radio also has a magic eye, using the bracket behind the tuning dial as a mount.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

Actually it is low enough to hold a Glass 6H6 dual diode. One half is normally delayed AGC and the other the audio detector. Very common in the better sets with magic eyes.

What throws me off though, is the valve at the back may be a double diode triode /pentode.

HMV used those labyrinth air trimmers which may have been made by Philips


It maybe an idea to list the bottle collection: If you write to anyone, they will also need to know.

If you are removing valves... be careful: Avoid pulling on the glass. Prise out the Octals by pushing on the spigot from below.

Looks like it has 1st RF, Mixer/ osc; 1st IF; (det) Audio; OP; & rectifier. Perhaps 6H6 as det?

Marc

I prised the top off and it is definitely a coil - haven't seen one like this before.

The valve line up is: 6V6, VT-126-B (6X5?), 6Q7, 6K8, 6U7

There's no electric eye and no band switch, so presumably BC only.

There's no ARTS&P sticker but a serial number plate that says: RK 91745.

The power cable and chassis grommet look pretty rotten so I'm planning to lift it out of the box and replace them before gently applying some AC.

The fun continues!

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Laurie

Radiomuseum has a UK set branded Etronic (Hale) with that line-up:

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/etronic_eta_521.html.

Hi Guys.

According to the link on Brads post, the firm Radio (1936) Ltd also made the Ultimate brand. Ultimate sets were sold in Australia and circuits for some of them are in the AORSM. It could be a matter of seeing if there is a Ultimate model with the same valve line-up

In the same link there is a picture of a 1946 metal cased Golden Knight model RB (chassis type). I reckon it might use the same chassis as Lauries radio. The metal RB was also branded as a Rolls.

According to the link on Brads post,

Gee I completely missed that. There's a ton of Ultimate models listed on Radiomusem with country as NZ. I'd say the NZVRS is probably going to be the most likely source of schematic, etc.

Here is a Ultimate with a very similar looking cabinet on the Kiwi Trade Me site. Note though that the chassis is deeper and there is an extra control.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/electronics-photography/radio-equipment/vintage/auction-808153691.htm.

And here is a gallery from the Radio (1936) Ltd. stable. Look for the Courier RA & the Ultimate FH.

http://www.nzvrs.pl.net/ccc/Orbell/MGAR%20125.pdf.

serial number plate that says: RK 91745.

I think this narrows it down to a model or chassis type RK.

I did check the Ultimates on AORSM but none matched.

Meanwhile I slid it out of the cabinet, vacuumed out the moths and spiders and all looked as expected...except for the nasty unravelled coil winding in the centre.

Can these things be re-wound. Is there a critical formula - or can a replacement from another radio be used?

I'm a bit stumped...and would appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks folks.

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Laurie

I see a 3 gang tuning cap, and that coil inside the short can may be the RF stage tube's plate circuit, which then feeds the converter tube. If so, that radio, when fixed up, should be a good DX machine.

That coil that unraveled may be the oscillator coil. It may still work, though the stations may come in on the dial off their proper frequencies. More so at the low end of the AM MW band. If that is the case, you could squeeze or spread the windings to get the stations back to their proper places on the dial, and "glue" the winding down with some new melted beeswax. Tune in a known local station near the low frequency end of the band, and see where it lands on the dial. (This assumes the dial pointer hasn't slipped on the stringing.). Making the winding more bunched together should make the inductance go up, and the oscillator will then move to a lower frequency. Retune the dial to find that station again, and when you get close, tune the dial to where that station belongs and fine adjust the coil until the station comes in dead on. Check a station near 1400kHz to be sure it comes in reasonably close to where the dial says it would be. Some diddling of the trimmer cap of the oscillator tuning cap may be all you need to get it exact.

If you do replace this coil with one from another radio, be aware that phasing the two windings on the coil is important, get it backwards and the oscillator won't oscillate. If that seems to be the case, try reversing the connections on one of the windings. You should be able to avoid this if you carefully note which terminal was connected to what point in the circuit in the donator radio. Like " this one went to the converter tube's osc grid, this other one to the cathode, this one to ground", and so on. Make a drawing diagram in such a way things don't get confused when the coilform is rotated or such.

Thanks for the advice re coils.

It looks like the unravelled one was one of three windings on the form and is broken into several ends.

I'll have to take care tracing all the connections to see what's what as I don't have a circuit diagram.

Has anyone had any luck rewinding such coils by hand?

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Laurie