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Something a little different: Raleigh Electronic radio

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Lloyd
(@lloyd)
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Hi all :)

I purchased this rather unusual looking set last weekend on eBay, and it arrived in one piece on Friday.

It's made from some sort of plastic, not Bakelite, and in a lime green and black. It looks white in all the pictures, mostly because it's a bit sun-bleached. The makers name is Raleigh Electronic Industries Ltd. I've never heard of them or seen one of these radio's before, were they kit radio's? It looks fairly well built, there is a huge metal cased capacitor bolted to the chassis, and it has a line cord dropper, which I quickly bagged up as it looked like there was asbestos in it, and when flexed I could see bits of dust floating out of it :ccf

There's a wooden panel in the base of the radio, which has got woodworm, so that's bagged up and full of worm killer, I'd never seen so much sawdust come from such a small bit of wood! The dial is plastic too, and the pointer is printed onto a disc of perspex. I'm not sure the valves are the correct ones, as there's a top cap connection floating about with no top cap to connect it to.

Has anyone else got one of these, or even heard of them before? I had a google around, but all I could find was some info about those Hong Kong transistor radio's in the 60's and 70's.

Regards,
Lloyd.

 
Posted : 05/04/2014 2:44 pm
Marc
 Marc
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Hi Lloyd,

I'm sorry I can't help you with your questions but I had to comment on the radio, It's very nice and not run of the mill, It looks quite a cutie :bba
I guess it's an American import set with it having a line cord.

Look forward to seeing it progress :aad

Marc.

Marc
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RSGB call sign 2E0VTN

 
Posted : 05/04/2014 3:03 pm
Paul_RK
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Very nice, I'd probably have had a go for it myself if I'd not all too recently been handed a box at the front door that rattled so much I knew to expect the worst. Those Sprague capacitors are always good to see, at least if you happen to be someone like me who's resistant to changing old components indiscriminately - they lasted much better than most run-of-the-mill waxies and may still be good enough at least in roles that aren't too critical. I'd not heard of Raleigh either, but the chassis looks well up to usual commercial standards to me, and I'd have said of UK design.

Paul

 
Posted : 05/04/2014 3:44 pm
Lloyd
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Hi Lloyd,

I guess it's an American import set with it having a line cord.

Look forward to seeing it progress :aad

Marc.

I thought that when I first saw it, but then noticed on the back cover it says Raleigh Electronic Industries Ltd, London England. It does have the full address, but I couldn't quite make it out. I thought it was quite a cute radio too, I'd already bid on a DAC90, but then spotted this and bid on this and left the DAC90 alone. I already have 2 of those, so don't really need another!

Very nice, I'd probably have had a go for it myself if I'd not all too recently been handed a box at the front door that rattled so much I knew to expect the worst.

Paul

I know that feeling all too well, I had 3 Bush VHF80's smashed, and the most recent was a small Alba C116LW that arrived in half! This radio already had a crack in the top right rear corner that I knew about from the listing, luckily no more appeared during shipping, it was well packed with a load of those air bag things. I've glued the crack, unfortunately the glue went off very quickly, and the crack is still visible, but at least it's nice and solid and won't spread.

Good to know those caps will probably still have life left in them, I don't like changing components for no reason!

Regards,
Lloyd.

Just found a date on the big metal cased electrolytic, Jun 44.

 
Posted : 05/04/2014 4:32 pm
sideband
(@sideband)
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I wonder if it is a 're-badged' import? Maybe bought in from the States and reworked with a line cord to work on UK mains and given a new identity.

What are the markings on the dial? Is it marked in metres or frequency (kHz)? If it's marked in kHz, almost certainly American in origin.

 
Posted : 05/04/2014 8:18 pm
Lloyd
(@lloyd)
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Possible, The dial is marked in metres, it's a 3 band set too.

Here's a close up of the dial:

Regards,
Lloyd.

 
Posted : 05/04/2014 8:50 pm
Anonymous
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being marked third home and light for the bbc stations I would imagine that if not made in England then made for the British market .
Rob T

 
Posted : 05/04/2014 9:31 pm
Marc
 Marc
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Hi Lloyd,

Like Rich that's the train of thought I had, imported and brought up to British spec here, plus the year "1944" how many restrictions were in place then....so re-hashed Yank ?

Marc.

Marc
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RSGB call sign 2E0VTN

 
Posted : 05/04/2014 9:47 pm
Paul_RK
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Just found this http://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/show ... &styleid=2 - another example, which turned up five years ago Down Under! The valve details at least may be helpful. Just doesn't look American in construction to me, so I'd go with the guess that's floated there, as to its being the product of one of the many small enterprises set up just after WWII to build sets largely using surplus parts and take advantage of the seller's market that existed because of the very limited supply of new radios during the war years. The Sprague capacitors were around in great quantity at the time, and several mainstream manufacturers, including Pye as I recall, made good use of them.

Paul

 
Posted : 05/04/2014 10:30 pm
Lloyd
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Well found Paul! I looked over there and all I got for results were things about a member who lives in the US.. I searched 'Raleigh electronic', which is probably why it didn't get much.

Very interesting to see another, and that it's travelled so far! it confirmed 2 things for me, 1 of the valves is definitely wrong, and all the knobs are the same, so for the 3 missing from my set I can copy the remaining one using silicone moulding stuff, and smelly resin.

I thought maybe it was made from war surplus, that metal cased cap looks like something more suited to a military radio like the R1155!

As to re-hashed Yank, maybe the cabinet and bare chassis were shipped over and built up here? The cabinet is actually made from 5 separate pieces bonded together, so could have been flat-packed for shipping! Having a line cord dropper could just be because the cabinet is plastic, it might melt with the heat from a dropper. I'll have to replace the line cord too, as it's falling to bits. I reckon I'll try a dropper capacitor in it's place.

Cheers,
Lloyd.

 
Posted : 05/04/2014 11:58 pm
Lloyd
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We have life!

I've found that the valve line up should be : 6K8G, 6K7G, 6Q7G, 25Z4G and 25A6G.

Someone had replaced the 6K8G with another 25A6G, a duff one at that with no heater continuity! I ordered a 6K8 (the metal version!) but it hasn't arrived yet, so I had a dig through my radio pile, and found an un-named radio, possibly a Little maestro, or a kit that was based on a similar cabinet, and that has a 6K8G fitted, so I've borrowed it. Plugged the whole lot into both my bench power supplies, one generating just over 60V for the heaters, then added a bit on top of that with the other PSU for the HT, which is just shy of 100V at the moment. The main smoother is duff, that gets very hot, but I have reception on all wave bands, had Absolute radio blasting out of it quite loudly, so looks like those Sprague cap's are probably OK! It even has a tone control...

Regards,
Lloyd.

 
Posted : 08/04/2014 11:00 pm
Marc
 Marc
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Hi Lloyd,

Great stuff so far ! :aap

Marc.

Marc
BVWS member
RSGB call sign 2E0VTN

 
Posted : 08/04/2014 11:52 pm
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