Wireless of the Week

14/09/2025

Hi Folks

Well, as promised a little earlier, here’s my latest repair story. The Pye Model 806 was introduced in 1938 at the height of the boom in sets with Push-button tuning. Featuring full coverage of the Long, Medium and Short-wave bands, along with no less than six station pre-sets (for LW and MW stations) and four Tone-control pre-sets the specification of this set is somewhat impressive to say the least. However, this particular example is somewhat more complicated, as it has been quite heavily modified, (probably in the early 1960’s) as will soon become clear.

The original valve line-up of this set is TH4A (Frequency changer) TV4A (Magic Eye Tuning indicator) VP4B (Intermediate Frequency amplifier) TDD4 (Audio Amplifier) and PenB4 (Audio Output.) The rectifier is a DW4/350. But already this is where it gets complicated – Between the TH4A and the VP4B an additional plug-in I.F. coil has been added, with a valve socket to accommodate it (see photo 1) and an additional valve has been added – an extra TDD4. Additional modifications have included the addition of two rotary controls and a push button on the front (the two rotary controls appear to have once been wired one into the RF stage and one into the audio stage, but now are completely in-effective, the push-button switch is not connected to anything at all.) This has involved drilling holes in the front of the cabinet to accommodate them, which is a shame, but in fairness it looks to have been neatly and professionally done, and to a high standard at that. (See Photo 2)
So needless to say, quite a mystery going on here. You may recall that I restored one of these back in 2022 (see here for full details of that repair https://www.facebook.com/profile/100063285004857/search/?q=Pye%20806 ) however I was attracted to this one owing to the fact that my original 806 had an incorrect mains transformer fitted, making it prone to dangerous over-heating. In theory of course I could have had a new transformer built for it, but acquiring this set instead was undoubtedly a much cheaper (and simpler) option…. apart from all those modifications that is!
First job to do was to replace the mains lead as this was cracked and perished. I then powered up the set (the seller had mentioned that it was working, however it needed some attention as the sound was distorted) and sure enough it worked – some very slight distortion, but only very minor. The seller had suggested that this distortion may be due to an incorrect output valve having been fitted, however it actually turned out to be much simpler than that. (The output valve was in-fact the correct one after all.) An unusual feature of this set is the Expansion Indicator, which is a small 6.3-volt lamp, which is switched in and out of the audio circuit, by pressing the ‘Expansion’ button on the tone selectors section of the control panel. This brings the lamp into the audio tonal circuit, (in place of trader sheet marked Resistor 29, which provides negative feedback coupling when the Expansion lamp is not in use) thus creating sound expansion. In this case, however, the fitting had worked loose, causing the contacts of the lamp too short to chassis. Clearing this short, cured the distortion – and got the lamp working nicely – when the expansion button is pressed and the volume is turned up, it flickers in time to the speech and music, a pretty cool feature!
Following this, however, I observed another somewhat strange fault. I would have a station tuned in, (the pre-set buttons were also set up by this time – see photo 3 for a close up of these – note some of the station names and how the button of the selected station is illuminated!) when all of a sudden, the tracking would jump – each station would move up the dial by approx. 30 – 50 meters, and the push buttons would be thrown off tune. After a while, it would correct itself. This was eventually traced to a faulty capacitor (condenser) in the RF circuit – having sought advice on the issue I was able to trace the fault to a 0.002 uf Mica capacitor in the tuning section (on the Trader service sheet, this is C18 – Part Oscillator auto – circuit coupling) – even nudging it with the insulated end of a screw-driver would be enough to knock the fault on or off. Needless to say, this was promptly replaced.
Following this, however disaster struck – the magic eye that was in this set when supplied to me, was very dull, so naturally, I decided to replace it. I dug a replacement out (TV4A) which was a known good one and fitted it. Unfortunately, however I accidentally did the holding clasp up too tight the result being – you guessed it – the glass envelope cracked! A good Magic Eye valve completely ruined! After turning the air very blue I managed to search online (because of course I didn’t have another one going spare, now did I) and find a replacement for a good price, which thankfully worked. But an annoyance, nonetheless!
Then, it was a case of (once again) tuning in all the pre-set buttons. This is a case of using a screwdriver to tune in the corresponding coils and trimming condenser for each button. Each button covers a given section of the LW or MW bands, allowing up to a maximum of six stations to be tuned in. However, there was still a persisting problem – button six was only wanting to tune in ‘when it felt like it’ I tried repeatedly cleaning the contacts with WD40/contact cleaner – no joy. After much head-scratching, the mystery was eventually solved – and what a fluke – basically C17 (as listed on the trader sheet) is the fixed tracker for the MW Oscillator circuit, valued at 0.00055uf – this turned out to have an intermittent fault. So why was it only affecting one of the push-buttons you may ask? Completely by chance is the answer – it happened to be located right next to button six, and when button six was pressed, this would nudge it slightly, causing the fault to present itself. When one of the other buttons was pushed, it would be nudged back, causing the fault to clear! (Seriously, what are the chances??)
Needless to say, this condenser was replaced, the button tuned in, and the set is now performing nicely on all wavebands and all push buttons. – The first one I have tuned to Radio 4 LW (while it lasts) – the second one is blank, the third is tuned to Radio Caroline, the fourth tuned to Radio 5 Live (693 K/c’s, 433m) the fifth to Radio Five Live (909 K/c’s – 330 m) – Radio Five Live is of little use to me being that I am not a sports fan, however it was something to put on those buttons in an era when the MW is sadly becoming more and more devoid of stations. Finally, the sixth button is on my ‘pantry’ transmitter.
In future, I may fit a new frequency changer valve (TH4A) as the current one is prone to frequency drift, which of course can be annoying when using the pre-sets.
An additional job on this set was to wire a 160-ma fuse into the HT Supply. The idea/theory being that if a component short-circuits or overloads, the fuse will blow, thus removing any undue strain from the mains transformer. (A very expensive job if that burns out as any radio collector will know!)
But otherwise, a well performing set with coverage of every domestic frequency available at the time, some unusual features and four tone-pre-set buttons, which can be used in any combination. A pleasure to restore and to listen too. Hopefully the video will demonstrate this. – If you can excuse my appalling camera work that is!

Best wishes,

Chris

14/09/2025

Heads up time everyone - I will shortly (hopefully later today) be posting details of a 1938 Pye 806 valve radio, which I restored earlier this year. Will include photos, video and a write-up. Best wishes, Chris

12/08/2025

Hi Everyone, thought this might be of interest - four days of vintage pirate radio nostalgia, from the LV18 Lightship in Harwich. Kicks off at 9AM UK time on Thursday. See post for full details, but remember, if you are in or near to Harwich, Essex, you can tune in on your Medium-wave wireless - 190m, 1575 K/c's.

Posted onon 19th July 202522nd July 2025 We are live from our floating studio from 14 August! Keith Skues has promised to be in our studio on Saturday and Sunday 16 & 17 August – we are looking forward to seeing him and our other wonderful presenters onboard from 14 August. We’ll be broadcasting...

03/07/2025

Hi Folks - Hope you are all well - just had word that Radio Mi Amigo is carrying out Medium-wave tests from the LV18 in Harwich, Essex on 1575 K/c's (190m, on a vintage radio.)

22/06/2025

Greetings one and all
May 2025 saw the exact 20th anniversary of me acquiring my first Vintage Radio – an Ekco PT378 transistor radio of 1963. In addition, this coming Wednesday, June 25th, it will be exactly 20 years since I started working at Adams Radio shop in Ipswich - I stayed there until it closed in 2013. So, here is some light reading to mark this double milestone, with a bit of fun at the end. Much of what follows below was originally published on here in May 2015, when I was marking my tenth ‘anniversary’ albeit with some recent edits. Following this the ‘Wireless Top 20’ is new. Either way, hope it is enjoyable and interesting!
May 2005. A cider-mad music and radio history obsessed 18 year old with hair half way down my back, I am approaching the end of an electronics Qualification at the Suffolk College. Having used some experience gained from this, I have achieved a basic restoration on my Mum’s Ultra 6302 stereogram (also featured on this page…somewhere) but bear in mind that this has been in the house since before I was even born, and how that came to be is another complete story in its own right. I had however been impressed by the performance of this piece, and was using this in-conjunction with my Mum’s Fidelity radio ‘CRP 7’ portable record player (1971) to listen to my then small collection of records, along with some of the analogue radio stations available in Ipswich at that time. Namely SGR FM, Classic Gold Amber, Virgin Radio, Radio 10 Gold, Arrow Classic Rock, Big L, and of course ‘Pirate Radio Skues’ on BBC Eastern Counties. (Having thoroughly enjoyed the first ‘Pirate BBC Essex’ a year or so earlier.) It goes without saying of course that, apart from a few notable exceptions I didn’t have much in common with most of my peers!
So anyway, one day in what must have been about April time I’m walking past the Samaritans charity shop in town after college, and I notice a 1960’s transistor radio in the window! Immediately I am taken by this, in its blue and grey case, gold speaker grill and round tuning dial. The shop was closed at the time, but I was really taken by this, so stopped and had a good look.
Three weeks later I walked past again, and it was still there – only this time the shop was open! So I decided to go in and ask to have a look. I saw there was a price on it of £15. (Bear in mind this was before the recession hit!) Closer inspection reveals it to be an Ekco. (I later find out it’s a PT378, in this case from about 1963.) I ask if it works or not, to which one of the ladies replies: “Well surely, you wouldn’t want to actually use it, best just to keep it for display!” I reply that I like these things to work if they can, and I persuade them to lend me a screw-driver so I can take the back off and see what battery it takes. I then proceed to do this on the shop counter, and ask them if they mind waiting while I nip round to a shop to get a nine volt battery! Amazingly, they agree to this and I do so, only to find that I’ve got the wrong one! (A bit naive in those days, didn’t realize that it needed a PP7 battery when in-fact I had come back with the much more common PP3!) So I then make them wait again while I walk to another shop, further away and eventually came back with the correct PP7. I put this in, turn the radio on, turn the tuning control and immediately the shop is filled with the sounds of Classic Gold Amber on 257 meters! (The former Radio Orwell transmitter, now broadcasting as Smooth Radio. – Edit: This was switched off in June 2023.) I think the girls in the shop were as surprised as I was! I then agreed to buy the set – they kindly knocked it down again to £14 to help me with the cost of the battery! So off I went, and caught the bus home with it safely wrapped up in my rucksack.
On the bus I bumped into an old school friend and showed him – he was somewhat bemused, and commented on how ancient it was!
When arriving home, I told my Mum I’d done something adventurous – at first she thought I’d gone and booked myself a haircut!
In the months that followed I quickly made friends with many others that had similar interests. I also began helping at a local radio shop (now closed sadly, but see photo’s) where I learnt most of what I now know. I then went on to acquire a second set, a Dansette 111 from the same Samaritans shop in August that year. (Grossly irresponsible, as I had lost my job just three days earlier, but the girls in the Samaritans shop did recognize me!) I can also remember showing the Ekco off at a local youth club where I volunteered at the time, however in the Autumn I rather foolishly tried to improve its performance. I should never have done this – I didn’t know what I was doing at the time, and ended up wrecking the poor thing. Hence why she has never appeared on here as a ‘Wireless of the Week.’ Despite various attempts over the years to undo the damage, to this day she is still in the garage in pieces, hence why she has never appeared on here as a ‘Wireless of the Week.’ I can only hope that one day wisdom will catch up with me and she will live again! (Edit June 2025: This set now lives again! 😊)
So here we are twenty years later. The hair is a lot shorter and I’m afraid to say a bit thinner as well! I also notice The Samaritans shop has appeared in a different location in Ipswich, Suffolk College has been knocked down and replaced with a new build, and most (but thankfully not all) of the shops where I was buying records at that time have now either closed down, or stopped selling records. One thing has led to another, the collection is, and shall we say a little bigger and now includes vacuum cleaners, telephones, televisions and irons. Not to mention a few explosions and electric shocks along the way! (No, don’t try this yourselves anyone!) I only keep one or two things at home at any one time though, the rest is in a secure lock-up several miles out of town. Nonetheless the cider still flows (along with some decent real ales) and so it’s now back to June 2025, where I am marking 20 years as a radio collector. To finish off, just for fun, here’s a top 20 rundown of different ‘Wireless Sets’ with Catchphrases inspired by two legends of broadcasting: Alan Freeman, and Keith Skues. Link to the appropriate music to play while reading this out is in the comments section below. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7-HaRezJgQ

Jambo World, I greet you well, it’s time for the Wireless of the Week Top 20!

At 20
Start off Feeling Fine it’s The Ekco U29
In at 19
Forever clean, it’s the Ever-ready Skyqueen
Down to number 18
it’s Regentone with that still magnificent Multi-99
At 17
Falling free with HMV and their model 463
At 16
Pick up the Dog and Bone, for it’s Marconiphone with their T15DA not ‘arf
Talking of 15, which we weren’t
It’s those Kolster-brandes with their trusty KB-10
At 14 Bardo-kadogo it’s Phillips with the 22RB471
In at 13 it’s Schaub-Telegraphia with the Super (Unlucky for me) 34
At 12 it’s The Champion, it’s the Planet
At 11 It’s Ultra with the T401 right;
Talk amongst yourselves Wireless pickers as we move on to the big Ten:
Double your numbers time at 10
It’s Bush with their very own DAC 10;
At 9 down from seven
It’s Pye with their delightful QPAC
At 8, hang on a minuite mate
It’s Philco with that booming C-six-three-eight
In at 7 get your kicks
It’s Ekco with their AD thirty-six;
In at five, you’re in for a treat Wireless Pickers;
It’s Tefifon’s radio fun with their model T541;
Stayin’ at four take all you can get
As you Tune to cardboard shoes on Philco’s Might People’s Set
Alright Wireless Pickers, let’s get cracking with the top three;
At Three Get your radio fix with Pye and their Model 806;
At two, down from one, it’s Ferranti with their still magnificent ‘Nova All Wave’
And Finally,
It’s number one time Wireless Enthusiasts;
Up an incredible eight Places;
We’ll Ride on Time with Goblins magnificent ‘Timespot’
And that is your Skuesy/Freeman Type Wireless Top 20;
Give me ten years and I’ll make it a thrifty thirty;
In the meantime and in Between Time;
Tune that crystal clean Internet stream to Mi-amigo or Radio Six;
Where you can get rid of your blues with Cardboard Shoes!
Thanks To the Late great Tony Adams who taught me all I know
And to everyone who reads this page for helping it grow
Lala Salama;
Goodnight;
And stay bright!
Ta-rraaa!

22/06/2025

Hi everyone....Hope you are all well in this Summer Heatwave. Just a heads-up that very soon (hopefully later today, if not soon after) I will be posting a special write-up to mark 20 years since I had my first vintage radio. Just a bit of fun, with some hopefully amusing antidotes to boot. Will be on this page very soon. All the best, Chris

24/05/2025

Sorry to hear of the sad news of the passing of John Lait. Although I didn't know him personally, he had been a regular reader and contributor to this page for several years, and for that I will miss him, as I'm sure many others will. RIP John - and many thanks for your interest. Best wishes, Chris

18/05/2025

Hi Everyone. As promised, my latest repair story. We have here a Roberts model R500 from 1963, which is a vintage portable transistor radio covering the Long, Medium, and Shortwave bands, all of which are occupied by Amplitude Modulation (AM) radio signals. This is a set which I repaired for a local guy and is now entertaining it’s owner once again for the first time in approx. 30 years. Reception on LW and MW is achieved using the sets internal ferrite rod aerial, and for these broadcasts, the radio will need to be orientated to achieve the best reception. For Short-wave a retractable telescopic aerial is used.

Also provided, if needed, are sockets for an external aerial, and connection to a tape-recorder

When the set arrived on my bench, it was infact working on Short-wave, however LW and MW were completely deaf – that is unless I attached an external aerial, however this yielded some mad results – stations appearing in totally the wrong places, SW stations coming through on MW, MW stations coming through on LW, in other words a total mess! Signficant repairs to this the LW and MW tuning were needed and included:
Fit new capacitors in the RF stages:
1) 390pf,
2) 300pf,
3) 0.01uf
4) 0.022uf
Repairing a broken connection to the tuning transformer for LW and MW, to restore reception on these bands – the PCB track was damaged, so I bridged the gap with a piece of wire. (It's difficult to see on the photos, but on the close-up you might just be able to pick out the wiring behind the ferrite rod. You will also see where I had to tape-up some of the aerial wires after my soldering iron accidentally caught the insulation - school-boy error I know, but no voltage is present here, so I can do this with out any concerns for safety or performance) In addition, I fitting a replacement tuning core to the MW/LW RF transformer, as the original was cracked and crumbling – I sourced a replacement from a ‘scrap set’ I have here – although this has helped return reception to the Medium wave band (and intermittently to the Long-wave band) it is not exactly the same as the original, hence it has not been possible to get the calibration exactly right – so for instance Radio Caroline on 463m, comes in closer to 440m, where as BBC Radio Five Live on 433m, comes in closer to approx.. 410m, etc etc….
Unfortunately one thing I was unable to do was to get LW working reliably – it basically plays when it feels like it. However, BBC Radio 4 on 1515m is the only station that can reliably be received in this country, and this is currently set to fall silent on June 30th, 2025 – only weeks away at time of writing. After this the LW button will be all but obsolete anyway, so following discussion with the owner it was decided not to pursue this any further.
In addition I also Supplied and fitted two PP9 battery converter clips – these give a choice of converting to either a 9 volts PP3 battery, or, they come with an attachable AA block, which can be used to fit the radio with two blocks of six AA batteries if preferred.
For good measure, I also carried out minor adjustment of Intermediate Frequency circuits to improve performance on all wave bands;
Although no expert on cabinet repairs, I gave the case and buttons a brief clean with a Wet-wipe so as to freshen them up a bit. The k***s, I removed and washed them in fairy liquid water, using an old toothbrush. I have also freshened up the brass-work with Brasso.

I believe these radio’s were supplied in a range of different colours, (wooden cases, coated in Rexene) as shown in the photos and video, this is the red version.

Hope this has been of interest,

Speak again soon,

Regards

Chris

14/05/2025

Hi one and all - just a heads-up that this coming weekend (probably Sunday)I will be posting the repair story for a Roberts R500 transistor radio, that I recently repaired for somebody else. Also, I still have a Pye 806 radio from the 1930's available for sale if any of you are interested? See previous post. Many thanks, Chris