2 valve Home Build (2019)

 

All 1920s components in a 2019 display cabinet. I wanted the world to see how this periods components were so well made, it's a sin to hide them away in a cabinet. The circuit is my own design, but inspired by period drawings in early radio books. The aerial coil was sold via the Wireless World publications, I picked it up along with many other early parts from house clearances' over the years. The green box at rear is a home made 7.5v Grid Bias battery using a number of 1.5v types in series, no real current is drawn by that, so it should last many years. Brass connecting terminals are quite hard to find a reasonable prices, they too came from clear-outs.

The front controls are cast iron and plated and the innards a joy to behold, getting the controls in the right place to balance out the look of the front was a little tricky, but I got there in the end. The lid hinges open for access to the batteries and terminals. I run it on a period power pack apart from the bias, but it can be used all on batteries. Reaction tuning on left aerial tuning on the right with band switch and on-off combined in one unit under right dial. The tuning numbers dial (centre) is just a tiny window, very popular in early 20s designs. It's nice to see the disc behind the front, normally hidden by the wood.

The 20s components were bolted to the steel base of the display cabinet, originally intended to be hung on a wall with collectables in, I found the box from a major retail store fairly cheap.

I display it with a home made horn speaker that was made I think from a 1920s car horn with a modern headphone (Sony) driver isolated via built-on a transformer.

No comments:

Post a Comment