Hi All,

Firstly thanks to those who set up and run this site - what a great resource.

My background in electronics, and radios, is limited. I have always had an interest in building and restoring things - I guess I tend to tinker a lot and I always feel the need to have a project of some sort on the go.

I joined the Army at 17 and served for 35 years as a Combat Engineer. During my time I picked up a trade as an electrician and qualifications as a builder; however, my primary role was as a Combat Engineer with a specialist qualification in Explosive Ordnace Disposal. As I moved constantly I restored classic bikes as a hobby and resotred a few magnetos along the way.

Since leaving the Army and having a bit of space and not moving every couple of years in between renovating our home I have commenced the restoration of an FC Holden ute, which led me probabaly having to restore an old Air Chief radio down the track. While I search for one of those to restore I thought it was time to teach myself how valve radios work and how to restore them. I have done a bunch of research on the internet, watched a bunch of YouTube videos and got hold of a 1939 Mullard Model 43 radio to learn on. I have checked the circuits and the valves, and they appear to be OK so I am about to start the process of recapping the old girl to see if I can bring her back to life.

My end goal is to restore a radio for the FC ute and then to try and get a Vietnam era mine detector that I have back to operational. I operated one in the Army for a number of years (well post Vietnam) and am keen to get it working for the grand kids to play with (and to have behind the bar for the big kids to play with after a few cold ales!)

I look forward to learning from the wisdom of this group. I am not sure that I will be able to offer much in return at this stage. I trust that at some stage, with a bit of expereice, I can give back to the forum and help others to learn as well.

Cheers n Beers
Craig

G'day Craig and welcome to the site. I am jealous of the FC Holden (my favourite model because of its looks) but the budget doesn't go as far as acquisition at the moment. You may already be aware of this, but there is a huge wrecking yard near Cooma, which I did hear was about to close down, where there are dozens of FE and FC Holdens if you need bits and pieces.

Hi Brad,

Thanks for the welcome. I had an FC as my first car in 81 so I have always had a soft spot for them. I am aware of the wrecking yard but am fortunate in that the ute I found, after several years of searching, is pretty much complete and the parts that I am missing are the hard to get bits - like an Air Chief Radio (not that utes came out with them). I have a spare motor from an EK that needs a full resto plus the original from the FC that runs but has low compression so that is the major issue. Easy to repair but requires the injection of a few beer tokens and some time. The rest I can put back together and live with; progressively rechroming components as I go. While that happens in the background time to get on with restoring the Mullard!

Cheers