Hi people.

I was here about 2 years ago, and people helped me with a Kingsley RKR radio.
This time I am sharing an AWA car radio with a patent era 1936-1945. I have it glowing now, but hope to refine it with peoples help and
get it working and talking. I also have an Emitron gizmo which I hope someone can identify. Its from the same period.

Photos uploaded.

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Incredible treasure you have there. I wondered why the dial cord operated a pot as well as the tuning gang, then I had a better look:
Split shaft----volume and tone,maybe? First time I have seen a chord-driven pot.

Is that a vibrator oozing gunk, or just a cap? (That must be the "gizmo")

The "gizmo" may be an inverter of some kind.

Someone on this forum will surely ID it.

The black ooze is what used to be foam rubber around the vibrator, to deaden the buzzing sound they make.

Nice little resto project! Watch for the tuning cap on the secondary of the vibrator transformer, between the 2 anodes of the 6X5. It is a critical high current high voltage cap. Can't see it there. Some sets had a large mica cap in this position. They are usually OK.

There is a bit of work there. & I am not a fan of immediate powering. The big round black caps will have to go along with every electrolytic cap. You will note a crack in the jacket of one. They often go short when that happens. The black rectangular ones are ones that I have never had to replace.

There is a buffer cap on the Vibrator and they were notorious for punching through. These have / should have a very high voltage rating 1KV or more, I often use line caps but do not go below the voltage of what is there, or recommended. Due to the spikes developed I will use the same 630V, Non Polarised axial caps as used in the rest of it.

The vibrator circuit is a tuned circuit, the buffer cap value is critical. Watch out for deteriorated rubber wire & that set has been got at as it has a "Styroseal" cap (the clear one near the tuning gang)

I've never seen a car radio with octal valves.

The much-maligned 6X5 was developed for car radios.

Wow, heaps of amaze.

I bought it at a swap meet, her husbands estate. I saw it in a pile of junky dirty dusty junk and thought I know what that is. A radio from a car.
So I gave her $20 for it and she was surprised. I brought it home and cleaned it and dusted it off, pulled the valves and sprayed a little here and there. I slowly powered it with 6, 9 then 12v. So ...

BBTV I'm glad I grabbed a treasure. Yes it is a split shaft on/off vol and tone. The 3&4 photos are I'm sure the external amplifier with the speaker in a similar box. The two loose wires go direct to speaker. There is 194v static there. The tall thing I call the silo must be a 'vibrator' as it buzzes nicely. I remember this feature sound of old radios when I was a kid.

The goo must be deteriorated sealing. IR is right but I'm not techy, so I cant convert IRs language.

Marc, I hope I dont have to change heaps of parts. A lot of the wires are not like today, but they are still quite good and I inspected for shorts and crossovers etc. Your right about the new part. I didnt put it in.

The main radio glows in all valves but one, which is a very faint glow, but nice and warm. Another is also faint. I have the numbers listed if you want them posted. The amp -which is hooked up with 4 wires- hums at the the 'silo' and the main valve is glowing nicely. The only visible fault in all is the goo. But I could look harder.


The latest patent is Oz/NZ 1945, can someone guess a date? Chassis No is>E0050020, AWA.

So, what should we do?

The 'gizmo' we can do later. Its a different thing.

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I bet it looked nothing like the photos when you spotted it. A credit to you mate, excellent cleanup!.

Another thought anyone;

Could the gizmo be a home-made PSU?

Thanks BBTV

I used a toothbrush, a small soft wire brush and a small paintbrush and a foot pump to clean it up. It is a brownish colour. The 'gizmo' is greenish so might be military.
In photos 3/4 in front of the silo is a post. In the post is an external 3 pin socket. This was for another speaker. So, stereo. I guess it would not have had an amp in that one. I dont have it, so we may never know.

The radio is holding a 10 amp fuse. The speaker output wires have a stable 194v and .02 amps. So something is blown.

Can anyone here help me to fix this radio please.

I have more photos for both items.

Hi,

The speaker wires having the voltages that they have is an indication the speaker needs to have an output transformer fitted. My guess is that the output valve is probably a 6V6 so a speaker fitted with a transformer with 5000 ohms input impedance would work. Being out by a few thousand ohms will not be a big problem for testing.

You should hear something with the speaker and transformer hooked up given the voltages and currents you have measured.

Regards, Frank.

Thanks Frank.

I just had a look at the list, the main valve is marked as follows: (25) 6X5GT (FJ)

Let us hope it works. I wont connect until the next few photos go up. When you see them let me know what you think would you.