"Rare Set"?

[60 oldjohn]

I have a GEC BC562 Transistor radio from 1960. Its a bit unusual as it is a FM only set. There is one on the Radio Museum site, apart from that nothing much else that I can see on the internet. Have you one in your collection?

John.

[paulsherwin]

I've certainly never come across one.

[Paul_RK]

Hello John,

Two here, one of them with a different covering that uses more Vynair and has beige leathercloth in place of the woodgrain Fablon-or-similar. The one like yours has probably had its telescopic aerial replaced at some time, the other still has a brass one which I take to be original. I've also a BC564 hiding somewhere, LW/MW set in the same style of case.

Paul

[lesmw0sec]

I had one of those and it was jolly good until a trip around Wales in the pannier of an ancient Royal Enfield motor cycle caused an unfortunate amount of damage!

[60 oldjohn]

Paul S, FM only so I would not expect them to sell that many when MW & LW were so popular.

Paul RK, somehow I was expecting you to comment, but never expected two of that style. My set has very low volume, barely audible. I will have to check it out. I have had this set on the to do pile for about 4 years. When I googled it not much. I thought some one may have done a repair on this forum, but it seems not. That is why I ask the question.

John.

[60 oldjohn]

Originally Posted by lesmw0sec

I had one of those and it was jolly good until a trip around Wales in the pannier of an ancient Royal Enfield motor cycle caused an unfortunate amount of damage!

Was that the FM only version? I would not expect the Plastic covering (Sticky back Plastic) the wood case to take much damaging. Heat and vibration would soon make a mess of it.

John.

[Paul_RK]

I don't think I've ever done much to either of mine. It's probably some years since either of them last saw power, and one has a fair amount of volume available but with extreme distortion. The other sounds delightful and demonstrates why there was some justification for producing a VHF-only portable at such an early date: its audio quality seems not far at all behind that of a VHF Herald, if maybe a touch too brilliant with the Fidelity button down.

[lesmw0sec]

Originally Posted by 60 oldjohn

Was that the FM only version? I would not expect the Plastic covering (Sticky back Plastic) the wood case to take much damaging. Heat and vibration would soon make a mess of it.

John.

Yes the FM one. The M/C had a solid rear-end, so it was quite a fancy ride. The result being that most of the components were dislodged from the pcb!

[60 oldjohn]

Originally Posted by lesmw0sec

Yes the FM one. The M/C had a solid rear-end, so it was quite a fancy ride. The result being that most of the components were dislodged from the pcb!

I bet you were gutted. They were an expensive set back in the day. Was it binned or repaired?

John.

[lesmw0sec]

Sad to say it got binned, although I had kept it in the barn for years. Apart from the PC damage, the plastic top had a nasty crack and the covering had degraded.

[60 oldjohn]

Originally Posted by lesmw0sec

Sad to say it got binned, although I had kept it in the barn for years. Apart from the PC damage, the plastic top had a nasty crack and the covering had degraded.

Fast forwards 40 or 50 years and things may have been different.

Paul RK, Has yours any numbers ? my little ticket was held on by its corner, now glued in. YK1184 & Final Test 47 Any correlation with yours?

John.

[Paul_RK]

The woodgrain set has YK1337, the same Final Test stamp 47, and a slip of paper just marked 003517 sellotaped on its base. The other carries serial number YK2442 (just - I'll give it a dab of PVA adhesive to help keep it there for a few more decades), but no Final Test stamp.

Paul