Just purchased a Calstan model 607 radio. Dual wave valve lineup 6BA6 6BE6 6N8 6AV6 6AQ5 6V4.
Serial number 33906. Can't find this model on Kevin Chants site or radio museum site.
Looks like previous owner has replaced caps awhile ago, has been stored for sometime.

Photos uploaded.

Hi, for a similar unit, a 559, have a look at Special Projects and scroll back to around 8th June 2016.
This one was a bread and butter 2 gang AM BC unit , yours is a far superior 3 gang shortwave.
Fred.

I think if you check out those caps they may be polyester, or something like that? If so ignore them. Those Elna caps tended to be rather reliable. I also see Styrene types, Those little fellas's should be soldered with a heatsink on their leads.

The only thing I would do is get rid of the now illegal cable knot in the mains cable & use a gland, pointy end to the inside as the cable clamp.

Marc

Thanks Brad for uploading photos.
Read your article Fred on restoring your Calstan radio, found it very interesting.
The cabinet on mine is chipboard with wood grained Laminex finish.
Has a masonite back board and front panel is masonite with grill cloth covering.
No dates anywhere, speaker transformer has 7000 3 stamped on top and E2 on the side.
Uses a 3.5 ohm Magnavox Magnaflux 6P2 speaker.
Someone has scratched BPS in large letters in the laminex on the top of the case.
Marc, have cut off the mains leads as the outer sheath was deteriorating in several places, will refit new cable with proper gland.
Fred, there is as similar Calstan radio to yours but with just BC band for sale on Ebay, will send Brad the link.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/163611278029

BPS is more like an Astor number. The object is to put the correct number on the actual chassis, not ruin the cabinet, and the cabinet is the most likely to be destroyed or separated.

I note the cabinet on the latest arrival STC needs work, but wood is a hell of a lot better & easier to fix than plastic & Bakelite.

AORSM's show no Calstan past 1953 However, looking at the numbers 607 whilst not appearing in AORSM's looks like that is the model number. However, who built it & was it Astor?

Marc

The BPS scratched on the top of the case could have been someone's initials as it was just roughly scratched on with a sharp object
and a line scratched underneath it, nothing to do with any branding.
It has the chassis serial number stamped on top, the rear and underneath the chassis, looks like it was done prior to building the radio as the one underneath the chassis is under the band switch.
It has the model number 607 stamped on the top and rear of the chassis as can be seen in the photos.
Have replaced the mains lead and installed it through a gland, also fitted a mains fuse as I like to do.

When I worked at Gladesville Hospital in the early 1990s there was practically several of these on each ward. One in the charge nurse's office, another in the dining room and another in the patients' TV room. There was a mix of valve and transistor models scattered everywhere though both models were in similar cabinets. This must be a later model as the ones I speak of had polished timber cabinets rather than the Formica we see here. I am guessing late fifties to early sixties.

In my early times as a collector, it was great to see so many valve radios still in active service.

I did comment that I though 607 valid. However, Its not listed in my AORSM's.

That has 3NE Wangaratta on it & I don't think it fired up until the mid 50's

This model definitely post dates the AORSM.

It looks like a short wave version of the "Club" models which were made from the late 1950's & throughout the 1960's. This one looks to be from around the mid 1960's going by the original Anodeon Anocaps under the pan.

The radio was made by Zenith at their factory at 9 Rhodes St, West Ryde.

Rather thought badge engineered, seeing that they disappeared from the AORSM's so early.

I think Anodeon was something to do with AWA? I know I have found Black Jacket AWA branded caps & the ones with out the jacket & same construction, extremely reliable.

That looks like a wooden frame so at least there may be an easy way to sort out the vandalism.

Marc

Anodeon products were made by EIL (Astor). EIL’s Electronics City was just down the road from Zenith in Concord. Maybe a convenient source for the Anocaps.

Calstan branded radios have always been made by Zenith.

It has a wood grained Formica over particle board, so no real way to get these initials scratched in it removed.
Have now been able to trace out the circuit for this radio.
Will post a copy when I do final draft.
From what I can see from tracing out circuit the external antenna connection is only used when switched to SW band.
Just seems to use the BC antenna coil with no external connection when switched to BC band, this seems quite odd.

In my Calstan the antenna is connected to one aerial coil primary, but the two primarys are in series thus feeding both AM and SW.
That way they avoided having to use another set of contacts on the switch.
Your set would be the same.
I'll bet my circuit will be the same except you have the extra RF stage making the set a real hot job for the day.
Fred.

Just be careful there, normally the "Farm Radio" had the TRF stage. Beware that, that is not AGC / AVC

One of the things they did was to cut off AGC to the Pentagrid on SW. Sometimes that also meant all AGC to all valves. The TRF Valve could still have AGC along with the IF. The reason for killing the AGC on all but 6SA7 was that at the higher frequencies, AGC de-stabilised the valve.

Marc