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 AWA Fisk Radiola identification please?
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 Return to top of page · Post #: 1 · Written at 7:13:10 AM on 13 April 2006.
Gryphonn's Gravatar
 Location: Milman, QLD
 Member since 13 April 2006
 Member #: 36
 Postcount: 4

Hi all
This is my first post, so forgive my apparent ignorance. I'm also a vintage radio newbie. I have acquired a Fisk Radiola which I'll attempt to describe:

License code on back: D11915 I assume this is the licence code on the sticker on the back as in the one here: http://wireless.iserv.com.au/default.asp?m=main&id=photos. It is also licensing blurb as No6...
The serial number is B 0010402
The radio housing is pressed steel with the licence and patent details stuck to that.
The Radiola has horizontal timber across the front of the speaker area. The speaker is a model 8P1 Dynamic Speaker.
It also has a D cell battery bank (cardboard casing) in th erear.
It appears to my untrained eye to have 5 valves in Blue casings. Plus a glass tube(?) with 1/4 E9 on the base.
The front has four Bakelite dials arranged horizontally.
It also has a Red indicator light. There is also the badge, 'The Fisk Radiola' surrounding the AWA symbol.
The front station dials are the horizontal type, with the facia for the station indicators made of Bakelite. The MW and SW are separated with the SW cylinder at the top.
I hope this will be enough to alloow you to identify this radio for me. If not, I can happily email some photos or post them somewhere on the site.

Regards,
Brad and Tina


 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 2 · Written at 12:10:31 AM on 17 April 2006.
Brad's avatar
 Administrator
 Location: Naremburn, NSW
 Member since 15 November 2005
 Member #: 1
 Postcount: 7290

G'day Brad,

As I mentioned in my reply to your email query, the prefix letter on the licence transfer indicates the year of manufacture. I am not sure why they did this as the idea was phased out after the war. A letter "A" means 1934, the first year that licence transfers were affixed to receivers. Therefore "D" will mean 1937. As far as I remember, the letters stopped at "H" which was 1941, though it is said that some manufacturers persevered with the letter "G" until production stopped to allow production of armaments for the allied war effort.

More can be read on this subject can be found in an article here called Dating Radios (link is in the left menu).

For the benefit of forum users Brad has asked me to post the pictures he sent and they are located at the following links:

Fisk Radiola, 1937.
Licence transfer.


Brad, you mentioned something about a battery bank in your post. I trust that this means the set is a battery operated model? Also, as mentioned in my reply email, if the sixth valve you mention is on the chassis then it is likely to be the output amplifier and if it is mounted so that the top of it pokes through the tuning dial somewhere then it would be a magic eye tuning indicator - which helped people tune in weak stations.


‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 3 · Written at 11:18:35 PM on 16 October 2008.
radiola49's Gravatar
 Location: Maryborough, VIC
 Member since 8 December 2007
 Member #: 204
 Postcount: 36

Yes certainly a 1937 model, and "The serial number is B 0010402" is the AWA chassis serial number.
need to confirm how many valves (not the coil cans) and if possible the valve types as shown on the glass envelopes. (Nos on bases are often obscure manufacturers codes, that don't mean a lot to us). Also please confirm if it is a Dual Wave or Triple Wave set.
Magic tuning eyes are usually the domain of mains powered sets, but could possibly occur in Vibrator sets. In the interests of battery life, valves that do not contribute to the signal path process are not normally employed in battery sets.
A photo of the rear of the chassis would also aid identification.


 
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