Good Evening Everyone,

First up I'd just like to congratulate all concerned with the content, tone and very obvious enthusiasm on display on this forum and wider site.

About me...I have dabbled in guitars and amps, valve mostly obviously, for the the last almost 30 years. In the main basic trouble shooting with a few mods when it was shown to be worthwhile. Keeping something original as possible is important to me...within reason.

So why now for radios? I had always loved the radiogram in the lounge room and 2 old bakelite radios in the garage of my now late parents-in-law. Since their passing these have now come to our house and the radiogram is going to be my first radio restoration project. Fix the thing that you see everyday I say and it is now in our lounge room. So I will obviously need the assistance/guidance of experienced hands.

The first thing I need a handle on is who made it and a schematic. I have sent some photos to our esteemed admin that I hope will appear below. The only name appears on the dial of the radio itself - Viscount, a name I can only find associated with English Ambassador units.

Valves in order left to right when looking at the chassis are:

6X-?; 6AQ5; 6AV6; 6AN7 (hiding behind the cap); 6BA6

Any assistance would be greatly appeciated.

Cheers
Tony

Is that rectifier a skinny 6X4 or a fat 6X5?

I am not familiar with this brand, but possibly an 'Aeradio' (of QLD) brand unit:

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/aeradio_rc2.html.

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/aeradio_g14_2.html.

G'day Tony,

Welcome to the forums. Your feedback is much appreciated.

Many radiograms from the late 1950s and early 1960s with unusual names were made by the larger manufacturers and branded for the major department stores. Farmers, Grace Bros, Anthony Horderns, Mark Foys, Waltons, David Jones, and many others had 'house' brands at the time.

One other thing that makes identification hard at times is that manufacturers outsourced their cabinet-making to specialist suppliers such as Ricketts & Thorpe. I know of one cabinet style that was even shared amongst HMV and Kriesler.

GTC's lead is a good one. Hopefully we can get some more information to you soon.

Watch your fingers with the innards - the high tension voltages exceed the mains voltage and it bites hard. The turntable motor will also operate at 240 volts.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

Now that we have the photos, it looks to be a 6X4.

Another well known QLD brand with that valve line up is Music Masters. There seems to be a model number that looks like 5VO, though the set does appear to be generic.

The stations marked on the dial go up to 3NE Wangaratta, which opened on the 27/3/1954. The stations that opened after that date are not marked on the dial. This would indicate the set was made in late 1953 or early 1954. Radio manufacturers were generally fairly up to date with the stations marked on their dials.

I would not be surprised if the Velvet Action (Stromberg Carlson) record changer idler/jockey wheel is badly perished. The problem with the Velvet Action changers is that the wheel does not automatically retract from the motor pulley when not in use. This causes damage to the idler wheel with lack of use for extended periods.

Just a further observation.

There are no Tasmanian stations marked on the dial and the Brisbane metro stations are the only ones shown in large type. This would certainly indicate Brisbane/Queensland origin. My gut feeling would be going for Aeradio or Music Masters for circuit information. I dont have any of the later AORSM manuals which contain these circuits but someone else here will.

Can you please take a detailed photo of underneath the chassis for Brad to upload - might make it easier to work out who made it.

Thanks to all. It's been a big day clearing up after the storm so a bit of detective work is welcome.

I agree the most likely candidate seems to be the Aeradio. The family were Brisbane based and the valve arrangement seems right.

I have emailed Brad a photo of the underside of the chassis as requested by Monochrome. Hope it helps.

After the storm it might be a couple more weeks before I start work. There is a bit of tidying up to be done in the shed!!
Tony

Photo uploaded.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

Is the grey thing between the power transformer & the tuning gang a speaker transformer or a filter choke?

Comparing the Aeradios & Music Masters, the Aeradio has a choke and the 6AQ5 is cathode biased. The Music Masters doesn't have a choke and the 6AQ5 is back biased. The radio in this thread is cathode biased.

Try and get hold of one the Aeradios circuits that GTC mentioned and see if there are any similarities.

Thanks for uploading the image Brad.

Good question Monochrome but my knowledge doesn't extend far enough to answer but it does have serial numbers or similar on it. They are:
1XA31771C
??60/3018

I'll have a look for schematics for the Aeradio units GTC mentioned and get back to you if/when I find something.

Thanks once again.

Use Control Panel to 'unhide' your email address and I'll send you the schematics.

Thanks GTC, my email should now be visible. Once I am happy which one of the 2 units you mention it is, I'll add some of the photos to the radio museum site.

And then of course the fun starts. Christmas holidays are looking good!