Have long been interested in valve radios, but up until a few weeks ago had none. Noticed a console on gumtree, bought it home for 40 dollars, not working, and with a broken dial glass. Glued the glass, and thought....this thing is really cool...I might get more! I collect antique clocks, and the old radios seem to fit right in....wooden, dials, glass etc. I quickly bought a table radio, plug removed, so I dont know it will run. Then, this weekend brought home another console...it works, but needs work. I can solder, so look forward to fixing my radios soon.

Welcome to V-R.

The removed plug is for a reason. It's very unwise to power up old radios until they have been checked over by an experienced person. Doing so can cause otherwise avoidable damage to parts that are difficult, or impossible, to source these days. Worst case scenario: old sets have been known to catch fire.

There is an antique shop in Mayfield called Coliseum Antiques and they have a whole wall of radios - hundreds of them. When I was there just before Christmas there was a sign stating that the radios were no longer for sale. That may or may not still be the case so worth a look. I did notice that the back half of the shop did receive a big makeover and has different stock there now.