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Post by trombone on Jul 26, 2022 12:31:57 GMT 12
Hi everyone, With this continual rain idle curiosity seems as good a way to while away the hours as any and hopefully someone will know the answers. Firstly,sorting through my car radios the other day I decided to put all the Autocrat sets in one pile.The number I have is of course classified information withheld from certain parties located domestically.And in recent times I have been preoccupied with other(more interesting ?)sets. But the attention is now taken by these Autocrat (also often branded Ford) sets. They seem not to have any model numbers attached - only an aluminium tag with a serial number on them. Does any one know if these numbers simply began at 1 and went forward from there, such that a higher number means a newer set than a lower number? Secondly and perhaps a bigger question -was Autocrat in any or many ways a technical innovator with their line of car radios? Did they develop their own circuits or did they import,borrow or adapt others circuits for their valve equipped sets? Thirdly I have got a bit interested in a different Bell Colt - the Model 3CR7 also listed as 3B7 which is a 3 valve vibrator equipped car radio.The NZVRS circuit library circuit for this set (1958) carries the annotation "Plessey kitset". Does this mean Bell bought them in as kitsets and assembled them here? Can anyone throw any further light on this? And lastly, was this the only car radio Bell made? Cheers everyone and hopefully the rain will stop soon.BTW - does anyone know what the metric equivalent of a cubbitt is?Or a good source for marine ply?
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Steve
Society Members
vintageradio.co.nz
Posts: 734
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Post by Steve on Aug 6, 2022 17:40:44 GMT 12
Hi David, I can't meaningfully answer any of your questions, not even the cubit one - but somewhere I have a Bell car radio which needs to find its way from me to you at some point... since you're not counting them, one more won't matter - right? If I had to guess at some - the higher the serial, the newer the production (if not design) Autocrat was designed locally to the best of my understanding - at least until they partnered with Sanyo in later years. 3B7 was the code for the Cadet or Champ Colt from memory - but I can't remember if that was a factory designation or one applied by enthusiasts later on to distinguish the chassis based on the numbering system used for other Bell Colt chassis'. I do vaguely recall seeing it on a car radio circuit as well, but they had so many codes its reasonably to think they might have doubled up at some point. A Plessey kitset could mean the RF section? Plessey made various components but they are probably best known for tuning gangs, and to a lesser degree speakers (at least to my mind). They might have made whole car radio kitsets though - that would be an interesting research project. Cheers, Steve
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