Hello there.

I've had an interest in electronics all my life and my father who was a WW2 radar technician was always building something in the workshop. He built our first TV in 1956 and I've had an interest since then.

I've built quite a few solid state amplifiers and such over the years and only recently I've built a valve preamp and power amp for my music system.

I recently came into possession of a 1947 Monarch 5 valve EMP radio that I am contemplating attempting to get back to life.

If there is anyone who can point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it.

I'm recently retired and live on the coast in South West Victoria.


Cheers

Peter

Welcome to the site, Peter.

As a kid I always wanted to build my own telly though at the time (and still today) I only ever managed to acquire enough knowledge for sound, not vision. So I am stuck with radios, though once I shift back into a house with enough space for a telly or two, I'd like to grab a couple and have someone with the required experience get them going for me.

Monarchs were made in Melbourne by Radio Corporation in a badge-engineering arrangement. They were closely related to Peter Pan and Astor radios.

UPDATE: That relationship poses a question... Is your radio a console or a mantel model? After some quick research, there was a Peter Pan EMP model, which was a console.

Hello, welcome to the forum.

The circuit for your radio can be found in Kevin Chant's web site
https://www.kevinchant.com/uploads/7/1/0/8/7108231/emp.pdf
which should be a good start.

Perhaps the first thing that you should do is to build a dim bulb tester which is essentially a short extension cord with a 240 volt 60-100 incandescent watt bulb mounted in a batten fitting fixed to a board in the active line. This will allow you to test it without letting the smoke out.

The tutorials will give you a start and there are very knowledgeable forum members who are able to help with any problems.

Hi there STC830 & Brad

Thanks for the welcome & suggestions. The current limiting device is already done as part of my previous excursions into valves. I have a copy of the circuit from Kevins site and I've been refreshing my knowledge through Youtube.

We were one of those families that seemed to have the whole street around just before tea time so they could watch the telly. They were not that common when dad built ours.

The radio I have seems to be essentially an All American Five design if i'm right. A bit more attention to the power supply but the actual radio seems pretty similar in design.

It's a cabinet design. The cabinet is in excellent condition . Its been in the same family since it was purchased in about 1947. I suspect for the last 20 years or so its been used as a flower pot stand. One of the valves has a date of 1947 on a small paper label. When I figure out if its possible and how I'l post some pictures.

Cheers

Peter

Email your pics to Brad (above) with the forum post details and he'll put them up.

Welcome to V-R.

Suggest opening a new thread in Tech Talk with the title 1947 Monarch 5 valve EMP and post the photos there. Otherwise we'll likely end up with a model-related technical discussion with the title Introduction.

G’day and welcome to the forum!

Gee built his own TV! Do you know if it was a kit or was it from scratch and he bought a then off the shelf tuner? I have heard that it was an option at the time.
Sure sounds like a awesome guy to have met.

I’m sure you’ll be right at home here

Lance

Hi Peter (Destino),

Welcome. A nice part of the world you live in .... I grew up nearby ... a couple of klms further south west ... still frequent the area regularly .... that is, until Covid Lockdown of Melbourne. Now stuck at Home.

Probably a good idea is to let the Group know of the test equipment you have available and your familiarisation with using it eg Scope, Signal Generator(s), DMM etc ... gives the responder an idea as to what level to pitch their advice.

Over the years, I have found that a lot of the 'problems' identified with the piece of equipment that I was fixing were actually problems with how I was using my test equipment. Knowing the affect of your test equipment on the circuit and its limitations are important.

Cheers,
Ian (Tinkera123)
Melbourne