|
Post by elorens on Jun 8, 2020 21:45:58 GMT 12
The Courtenay 85 I’m working on at the moment has no on/off switch, on either volume or tone controls. The tone pot looks original, while the volume pot is small and looks like a more recent replacement. I’m very tempted to replace this with a more period pot, complete with switch. However, when I look at the circuit diagram, no switch is shown, which seems strange for a 1938 radio. Can anyone confirm that these radios were switched on by plugging them in? And what’s the best thing to do now? If I fit a pot with switch, do I compromise the radio’s authenticity?
All those radios I was going to fix during lockdown, and now it’s over, and still a heap of them waiting...
Thanks
Lawrence —
|
|
peter
Tinkerer
Retired, collector of vintage radios and test equipment for restoration and repair.
Posts: 97
|
Post by peter on Jun 9, 2020 9:47:47 GMT 12
I understand that was the case - that plugging them in switched them on. The main reason for this I've read was the NZ requirement that the on off switch be in both the phase and the neutral lines of the mains - not just in one as in the USA. This meant the on/off vol pots would have required a double pole switch adding to the expense of the radio - so I understand the NZ makers left them off until they became cheap enough.
|
|
Steve
Society Members
vintageradio.co.nz
Posts: 724
|
Post by Steve on Jun 9, 2020 14:52:47 GMT 12
Actually by this stage Radio Corp were fitting on-off switches to all models that I'm aware of, although what they were not doing was documenting them on their schematics. In some sets they were a stand-alone extra control - as in the model 38, 24 and 25 etc or they were built into the tone control (as was the usual practice back then). There were probably exceptions to the rule, but that is how I typically find them. My Columbus model 84 has an on-off / tone control although I couldn't say if its the factory original or not.
Actually fitting the power switch to a tone control is a great idea for the life of the pot (if you only take into account that it has a finite number of 'wipes'). If you wire the tone backwards to its conventional way, so that fully anti-clockwise (at the switch end of the wipe) is 'bright' (which is where most people prefer it) means that you really only treat the control like an on/off switch anyway. And you might never need to touch the volume because its probably in the right spot from the last time. Having it on the volume control as we are used to today (well, WERE used to before touchscreens) means the control is used more than it probably needs to be.
|
|
|
Post by elorens on Jun 9, 2020 21:52:27 GMT 12
Many thanks, both. Have decided to go with the switch.
On a more philosophical note, but related, how much do I have to change a Courtenay 85 (or any other model, for that matter), before it is no longer that model? If I make a new cabinet out of stainless steel, or change the electronics so that it covers the FM band or doesn’t need valves any more, then most people would agree that it is no longer what it was. But what about smaller changes? Has anyone put out any guidelines on what is ‘acceptable’?
Thanks
Lawrence —
|
|
Steve
Society Members
vintageradio.co.nz
Posts: 724
|
Post by Steve on Jun 9, 2020 23:16:31 GMT 12
If someone published guidelines about that I'd immediately distance myself from them as a total crackpot. Personally I think its VERY subjective. I actually briefly touch on that in my latest video (hot off the press today). Here is my take: It's your radio, and its not rare. Its old, but they were made 'en masse' and there seem to be quite a few still around. Making it go means it lives on. Making it match your decor gives it purpose and a reason to be on display - if painting it the colour of your kitchen makes it fit in and it spends 10 happy years on top of the fridge playing oldies in the morning while you make coffee then its doing its job. Its not original, but does that really matter? Of course, if you painted a Pacific Elite black and gold and screwed rabbit ears on the top I'd hunt you down and slap you silly, but hopefully we can all tell the difference between old, rare and valuable. I gave up arguing with a guy once who believed no old radio should be touched, even the dust on it was a historical artifact and should be preserved as part of its story. I prefer the idea that it was designed to be a radio and give listening pleasure - once it can no longer do that, what is it exactly? I have a couple of 'shelf-queens' but only because I haven't got to them yet. There is no radio in my collection that I wouldn't at least repair, whatever that entailed. Sometimes I'll re-stuff caps, but not much any more. For my Pacific 107 I'll do what I can to make it look original but it won't be... it will be largely all new parts in disguise. Is there any difference between new parts and disguised new parts? Do you put on an old wool suit and heat your soldering iron in a brazier... do you work on a wooden stool under a 25 watt Edison lamp? So, that probably doesn't answer your question - which is fine because I don't think there IS an answer. Its up to you. But if you want a simple one: if its rare and valuable then definitely be sympathetic to its origins, if its just rare then try to preserve some of its origins... but if its just old then go nuts Just remember that a restorer 50 years from now may want to reverse what you've done, so try to make any changes reversible. And send me orignal photos for the site so that restorer has some kind of reference to work to. I've said too much. Its your radio. You decide its fate
|
|
|
Post by DHockey on Jun 10, 2020 10:56:40 GMT 12
I agree with Steve that the world of radio restoration is very subjective. Putting switched pot on a radio that didn’t have one originally is fine in my book. Radios were designed to be used and enjoyed and it is remarkable that we can continue to do that so long after they were made. If someone had suggested to one of the assembly line workers building Courtnay 85’s that people in 2020 would still be using those radios, they would not have believed it!
Anyway there are no hard and fast rules, but here are some things that I won’t do to a radio -
• Change out a EM speaker for a PM one • Substitute a valve if a socket change or rewiring is required to make it work • Change a power transformer if drilling or other hackery is needed to make it fit (same goes for other major above chassis components) • Fit Bluetooth or any other Auxiliary connections. • Put a Courtney or Columbus branded speaker in any non- Radio Corp set - this is against my religion ;-p • Refinish a cabinet unless the original finish is well and truly past it. Happy to put up with the odd scratch and water mark here and there.
Have I done some of these things in the past? Yes, sure I have, but as I’ve built up experience and parts the need and desire to do them has reduced.
|
|
|
Post by elorens on Jun 11, 2020 20:32:33 GMT 12
Thanks, Daniel and Steve, comments duly noted and largely agreed with. I see that this post has had over 70 views, but only three people have felt able to comment. It would be great to get some more feedback!
Regards
Lawrence —
|
|
|
Post by Richard on Jun 13, 2020 10:42:45 GMT 12
I'd add a switch to the Volume or Tone pot, if youre lucky enough to have a switched 500k or 1M Pot on hand.
|
|
|
Post by Peter Walsham on Oct 10, 2020 21:45:13 GMT 12
I have a wee comment to make, if I may?
Early NZ made radios didn't have on/off switches fitted only partly for the cost reason as Peter (earlier comment) suggests. However, there is another reason why radios weren't fitted with on/off switches. This reason is because houses (with reticulated electricity) often didn't have a power point as such, and radios were often fitted with a reversible lamp socket adaptor. The electrical wiring regs of the time stipulated that a switch had to be wired to switch the phase, and as a lamp holder adaptor could be inserted either way in to the lamp socket, this could not be guaranteed. A double pole mains on/off switch would have made the radio compliant, however I would suggest that these were not only expensive, but as rare as hens teeth! I'd also like to add that there appeared to not be much in the way of a 'standard' power point 'design' in those houses that did have the odd one, and that parallel 2 pin power points (similar to those that America & other countries use) were installed in some areas of NZ, and the 2 pin plugs could be inserted into these either way. NZ also used other types of socket pattern for power points as well. Other patterns may have had reversible plugs as well. The 'Lamphouse' sold a number of made up adaptors available to cater with most variations. Note: Mains earthing of a radio set didn't appear to be a requirement back then! When 3 core mains flexes & 3 pin mains plugs were made mandatory, it became possible & convenient (and economical) to fit a single pole mains switch to the radios.
For the radios that do have on/off switches, I usually change the wiring for a switched tone control so the audio is 'bright' at the fully anticlockwise position of the control, because (as Steve notes) this saves considerable wear on the now hard to get switch pots. and people seem to prefer to have maximum treble!
|
|