Pye were nervous when the transistor component was first produced in the UK around 1956 and released their first all transistor radios under the name
Pam 710, a company they had recently taken over. Their own radios turned up towards the end of the decade and some had the same circuit is the other
Pamphonic products. This was the case with today's featured radio, it's a model that doesn't turn up too often.
It makes good use of the 6
NKT transistors, 3 RF stages and 3 in the audio stage. Battery life was good from the PP4 and later PP3's drawing 12 mA with no signal. The cabinet is made from black plastic with a chrome plated plastic front and square mirrored chrome dial area. A bright red tuning dial brightens the whole thing up. Much of the chrome around the edges had worn off, falling away as the two halves were un-clipped to replace the battery over it's 60 years of life. The radio was fully working when I brought it and just needed the PP4 battery terminals replacing with PP3 ones.
The chassis is remove from the front/speaker housing by removing the tuning dial, unscrew brass center and pull away to reveal the two screws holding the front to the chassis, take care with the the tuning capacitor as it now has no fixing bolts to hold it still.
Inside there is no need to remove any screws, most were rusty and I cleaned them up with an electric brush and added a little oil after.
I cleaned out the inside and put back together, touching up the missing chrome with a silver felt tip pen. Just a final picture is next to the 1958 Pye transistor that was designed with a retro clock look. It looks like it came from the style of the 1930's. I display some of my smaller radios on glass shelves, they are cheaper than cabinets and can utilize space above radiators.
No comments:
Post a Comment