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G4EBT > OLDSET 18.07.08 18:23l 162 Lines 6021 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 428470G4EBT
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Subj: Oz vintage "Unadyne" radio
Path: IZ3LSV<IK2XDE<DB0RES<DK0WUE<GB7FCR
Sent: 080718/1608Z @:GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU #:10000 [Blackpool] FBB-7.03a $:428470G4
From: G4EBT@GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU
To : OLDSET@WW
Strewth Bruce, some radio stuff!
In my absence from packet I've focused on vintage valve radio restoration.
Back in Jan 2004 I mentioned on here that I have a local acquaintance in
his 40s who was born and grew up in Melbourne, but that in 1998, for
reasons best known to himself, he came to live in nearby Beverley, East
Yorks. (Curiously, he has absolutely no trace of an Australian accent).
He had an intriguing little one-vale radio, which at first sight looks
like a pre war vintage "breadboard style" radio. It's on a wooden box type
base, about 9" x 6", and about 2" high.
It has one four-pin pre-war Marconi valve, one fixed basket weave coil,
and two moving ones - one for tuning and one for reaction, which can be
swung to and fro with levers across the fixed one.
There's a flying lead which can be plugged into one socket or another to
introduce an additional fixed capacity to expand the tuning range of the
coils.
It has one grid leak resistor mounted above the breadboard.
On closer examination, it has a small transformer, which is to enable low
resistance and well as high resistance 'phones to be used. It has a
battery holder for the heater voltage, and at first I was puzzled as
to where the HT supply was meant to come from.
I then noticed a row of four pairs of studs on the underside back skirt of
the wooden box, which I realised are actually M/F stud connectors for four
PP3 9V batteries in series to give 36V.
It was bought as a kit in Australia as a Christmas present in Melbourne
back in the early 1970's when he was a child, and is called "Unidyne 1A".
There's no maker's name on it.
I ended up buying it. I doubt that it's valuable, but it's an interesting
conversation piece, and I guess it's quite rare. I did a google trawl of
the net, and come up with nothing.
I got a bit of info via packet in 2004, but when earlier this year I
learned of the newly formed Australian Vintage Radio Society, I decided
to contact them, and Warwick Woods, their President, was very helpful.
It transpired that the little kit set is indeed a Unidyne, and it made
it's appearance in 1983, as a repro 1920s set, initially produced by a
company in Queensland. Later the firm seems to have been taken over by a
Richard Wilson who ran a small electronics manufacturing company in
Ballarat, Victoria.
Attached to his factory was the small 'Orpheus Radio Museum' that
contained a number of interesting old receivers. Unfortunately the museum
was closed a number of years ago and the contents are believe to have been
sold off.
Warwick went to the trouble of locating a 6-page article on the
construction of the Unidyne kit that was published in 'Electronics
Australia' in 1983 and e-mailed it to me. (EA is now also defunct).
He also attached an advert for the set, from Orpheus Radio, that was
printed in 1992. After this time the kits seemed to disappear from the
market.
Warwick tells me that worked in the UK for about five years back in the
1960's when he was over on a working holiday after leaving school. He
worked for Dansette Products, a company that was unknown in Australia
at the time but very well-known in England.
Dansette record players often turn up at car boot sales in the UK and
vintage radio fairs, and in last month's "Radio Bygones" - a UK
subscription only vintage radio magazine, these was an article on
the Dansette and other popular record players of the 60s.
After Warwick returned home, he eventually ended up designing radio and
audio equipment for the Australian market, which - as in the UK and just
about everywhere, is now almost totally taken over by products from China
I don't think many on here share my interest in vintage radios, but for
any that do, the following info on the Australian Vintage Radio Society
which I put out some months ago might be of interest:
Meetings are held on the fourth Saturday, (afternoon), of the month, and
visitors and prospective members are most welcome.
The AVRS address is:
P.O. Box 3099, Syndal L.P.O.,
Victoria, 3150,
Australia.
The Meeting Venue is:
Syndal Nth. Guide Hall,
Florida St.,
Mt Waverley, 3149. (Melway 61J9).
Usual Starting time: 1.30pm.
To quote from the Society's website:
Meeting attendance is a great opportunity for members, including:
*being updated by committee on items of interest and having
an opportunity for input into future Society activities
*members can announce their "wants and needs" to source
information or bits from the incredible collective resource
of our membership
*an informative talk is given by a presenter with
experience in the field of restoration or history
*networking with other members over coffee
is a great chance to share the experience
*A display of radios and related equipment on a specific theme is usual.
*Trading tables and mini-auctions are regular features
To apply for membership to the society, simply fill in an official
membership form from the website and send it with your remittance
in Aus Dollars to the Society's Treasurer at the above address.
Membership Costs are modest:
Once only Joining fee of $5.
Plus Annual membership of:
Australia & New Zealand: AU$30.
All other Overseas Countries: AU$35
(Membership isn't confined to Australia - anyone is welcome to join).
The benefits of membership include a circuit diagram service, a component
bank, training classes on a range of restoration topics - French polishing
for example, and a bi-monthly newsletter.
For anyone interested, the Society's website is here:
http://www.avrs.org.au/
In anyone on here would like me to forward the copy of the Electronics
Australia article on the Unidyne radio, just drop me an SP with your
e-mail address (or postal address if no on internet) and I'll happily
oblige.
Real radios glow in the dark!
Best wishes
David, G4EBT @ GB7FCR
Cottingham, East Yorkshire.
Message timed: 17:01 on 2008-Jul-18
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