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Old 29th Dec 2016, 8:05 pm   #1
high_vacuum_house
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Default Ferguson 352U radio

I got this radio about a fortnight as a Christmas present to myself.
The restoration process was as follows.

Lots of dust cleaned out.

Chopped off mains lead replaced, new mains plug with 1A fuse fitted.

Dial bulbs O/C and replaced.

Several wax caps replaced all meggered with surprisingly good insulation after being removed!!

Gold coloured trim behind dial come adrift and glued back on.

Knobs cleaned.

On winding up on variac dial lamps and heaters lit but no HT. burnt spot on voltage dropper and O/C. Replaced with a 7 watt 220 ohm resistor. Trying again produced reasonable sound but then there was a flash and a crackling noise and could see the old metal rectifier sparking and producing smoke. This was probably why the original voltage dropper section went O/C. This was replaced with a 1N4007 diode and found that it had also taken out the dial bulbs and so were replaced again. On switch on again there was no dramas but the radio came on as normal. The volume pot was crackly and responded to some servisol.

The set was then left on for the rest of the day on radio 4 where it performed well though the directional ferrite aerial meant it had to sit at a silly angle on the bench. Luckily it has provision for an external aerial.

The cabinet was in good condition and other than a wipe with a cloth needed no further work

Christopher Capener
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Old 29th Dec 2016, 9:25 pm   #2
Nickthedentist
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Default Re: Ferguson 352U radio

What a nice looking little set. Not a very common one, I think. How about some pics of the inside?

N.
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Old 30th Dec 2016, 7:46 pm   #3
threeseven
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Default Re: Ferguson 352U radio

Nice set, good job. Haven't seen one of those before.
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Old 31st Dec 2016, 1:20 pm   #4
high_vacuum_house
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Default Re: Ferguson 352U radio

Good afternoon,
Here are a couple of pictures of the back of the receiver.

The chassis is quite bare with no valve rectifier and the low power output valve is almost the same size as an ECC82. The circuitry is as basic as can be with only a few R's and C's underneath the chassis. Also not seen is the smoothing electrolytic which is mounted upside down to normal. Probably a good idea as if it was the normal way up it would be nearly touching the hot voltage dropper resistor. The speaker is a small oval one mounted underneath the tuning dial.

The ceramic terminal block seen behind the dropper resistor is my replacement for the dud metal rectifier. I have positioned it this way as it keeps the uninsulated HT surge limiting resistor clearer of the chassis than before and it was located only a couple of mm away from the chassis with the original metal rectifier. It also keeps everything held firmly in place nicely including the 1N4007 HT rectifier diode.


Any idea why someone put a blob of yellow paint on the top of the valves ?
Christopher Capener
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Old 1st Jan 2017, 3:08 pm   #5
flyingtech55
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Default Re: Ferguson 352U radio

Quote:
Originally Posted by high_vacuum_house View Post
Any idea why someone put a blob of yellow paint on the top of the valves ?
Sometimes folk did this if they were substituting valves and wanted avoid getting mixed up. I used to do this while substituting PCBs for 'quick and dirty' fault tracing. I used a cheap nail varnish for the purpose. The then current girlfriend usually had one she no longer used or was given free with something because it was a horrible colour.

TimR
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Old 1st Jan 2017, 6:49 pm   #6
G6Tanuki
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Default Re: Ferguson 352U radio

Love it! .. it's amazing what can be achieved with just three valves. And in an 'interestingly' styled case too.

I guess these were aimed at the bedroom/kitchen-radio second/third-set market, as an improvement and advance on the ubiquitous late-1940s/early-1950s 1-V-1 TRF kit-radios?

Either way, it's good to see it back in action!
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Old 2nd Jan 2017, 5:28 pm   #7
Herald1360
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Default Re: Ferguson 352U radio

Should be just as good as any other 4+R set, it just has the same active parts in fewer bottles. It looks like a prime candidate for a capacitor dropper- plenty of room and no complications with shared HT feed to upset the symmetry. Much cooler, too.

I wonder if that case was used for a mains/battery set? There's an obvious "battery compartment" at the bottom under the chassis.
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Old 4th Jan 2017, 3:51 pm   #8
Phil G4SPZ
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Default Re: Ferguson 352U radio

Nice one, Christopher, an unusual set saved. I've certainly never seen one like it before.
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Old 20th Jan 2017, 3:24 am   #9
MurphyNut
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Default Re: Ferguson 352U radio

Very good job, they are pretty little sets, mine just needed all the wax capacitors replacing and it now woks very well. Not the best sounding radio you'll hear, but to be fair these were quite low priced sets in their day.
It does however look great, I like the clever tuning dial that lights up in the centre of the speaker grill, very attractive.
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Old 20th Jan 2017, 8:30 pm   #10
terrybull
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Default Re: Ferguson 352U radio

This is the set I offered on this site and Christopher went for it. There was little interest other than him.
You made an excellent job Christopher. Well done. Almost wish I'd kept it.
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