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General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc.

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Old 17th Jan 2018, 11:08 pm   #21
Trevor
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Default Re: What's your most treasured piece of electronic junk.

Heathkit os2 scope swapped a good amp for it in 1972 and i still have it along with an eagle valve audio oscillator learnt more from that pair than i could ever believe
i must have done 100,s of hours with them
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Old 17th Jan 2018, 11:10 pm   #22
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Default Re: What's your most treasured piece of electronic junk.

Not exactly junk but a little long in the tooth - Racal/Amplivox Astrolite headsets and headphones. I have been collecting, cleaning, rewiring, dismantling and refurbishing these indestructible units for over twenty-five years. They can be fiddly to fettle and were ludicrously overpriced for a relatively basic item. Yet they were robust, long-lived and made in their thousands. I'm amazed production hasn't been restarted, after all, the Airlite 62 is even older than the Astrolite and is still being made !
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Old 17th Jan 2018, 11:24 pm   #23
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Default Re: What's your most treasured piece of electronic junk.

I've got far more valuable pieces but my favorite has got to be my TV22 which I bought in 1986 and has followed me all over the country.
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Old 17th Jan 2018, 11:54 pm   #24
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Default Re: What's your most treasured piece of electronic junk.

Two thing here, first is a revo crystal set, reason being that my grandmother worked there in tipton and my earliest memories are of going there with dad to collect her from work, the other thing is a tiny screwdriver that belonged to my first employer and is a reminder of very happy days servicing very old tech that is now collected and discussed on this forum.
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Old 18th Jan 2018, 12:01 am   #25
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Default Re: What's your most treasured piece of electronic junk.

My Hammond A100 organ.

Here's an inside view of one, we all know what an organ looks like from the front.
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Old 18th Jan 2018, 11:45 am   #26
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Default Re: What's your most treasured piece of electronic junk.

(Laughs) not keen on the word "junk" to describe our much loved and valuable vintage audio 'pieces' !!

My most treasured piece has varied over time depending on what aspect of VW I'm into at the time. In terms of art deco styled 30s mains radios that I started with and collected for many years - and I suppose I still do - it is my Cossor 375 that has been with me since 1977 - over 40 years. My current thing being 70s 'monster' hifi receivers, in this area it has to be my Pioneer SX-1250 rated at 160W/ch. And in terms of late 50s, high quality table radios, my huge and rare Grundig 5080 has to be my most treasured. With its 15W 2 x EL84 output it could fill a small working men's club with sound. BTW, the photo was taken when I first got it, those cabinet marks are all sorted now!
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Old 18th Jan 2018, 12:56 pm   #27
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Default Re: What's your most treasured piece of electronic junk.

HP8640B signal generator ... followed closely by BBC EP14/1P A.C. Test Set.

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Old 18th Jan 2018, 1:13 pm   #28
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Default Re: What's your most treasured piece of electronic junk.

My most treasured item has an emotional attachment to it, It's a Decca "Debonette" TP50.

My late Father was a self taught radio/TV repairer and one job he had was the above radio. Although he was a whizz with valve equipment, he was a little unsure about "This Modern Transistor Stuff".

A guy at work asked him to "Take a Look" at a Decca Debonette. Unfortunately whilst twiddling with it my Dad was trying to adjust a ferrite core and, of course, it cracked and became firmly stuck.

To give him credit, he was very annoyed with himself, so much so and, as this radio was still a current model then, he went to the local radio shop, bought a brand new radio and swapped the new chassis into the other case.

I think he lost quite a lot of money in the process and charged the client only a minimal amount. The non worker & the new case were put away in one of his cupboards and remained there for several months.

At this time I was around 14 years of age and already mucking around with transistor radios etc. and the school summer holidays arrived and so.......whilst Dad was at work, I took a look at the radio and found the fractured ferrite core and worked out how to extract it. At that time UHU was the glue that most people had around their house, as ours did.

To cut a long story sideways I stuck the broken bit back with UHU glue and, after giving it enough time to harden and, with a razor blade, carefully trimmed off the surplus from the threaded core, inserted it back and carefully adjusted the core with a trimmed wooden tooth pick.

With radio fully working again, when Dad arrived home, I proudly handed it to him to show my handy work.

The response being "What the hell were you doing ferreting around in my cupboards without my permission, put it back and don't do it again without asking me first" !!!

I stormed of to my bedroom but about an hour later he came into my bedroom with the radio in hand and handed it to me saying: "Right, well done, you can have the radio for yourself and now show me how you managed to repair it and these are for you" He then handed me a tool roll, containing a whole kit of service tools and said: "Tomorrow I'm going to order a subscription from Practical Wireless for you" .

And the rest is history.

Below is the ACTUAL radio, restored by me, a couple of years back.
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Old 18th Jan 2018, 1:45 pm   #29
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Default Re: What's your most treasured piece of electronic junk.

For me it's the Cossor 916 I rescued from an antiques shop and restored in 2016.

It ticked several boxes.

It is the same vintage as the set that used to entertain me with "Watch with Mother" when I was a toddler (actually an HMV 1802 or 1803).

I was a TV repair tech throughout the '70s and 80s, so worked with valve TVs, but this Cossor is significantly older than anything I have worked on before.

It has a round tube, and being a Cossor it evokes echos of wartime RADAR.

Last and by no means least, I was able to rediscover forum member Kat Manton's method of using a PC to generate 405 line programme material directly, and bring it up to date, considerably reducing the cost compared to using a standards converter.

I am very fussy about what gets shown on my Cossor, nothing made before 1960, and definitely nothing from that johnny-come-lately Independent Television!
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Old 18th Jan 2018, 8:50 pm   #30
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Default Re: What's your most treasured piece of electronic junk.

For me it has to be the old 40s Decca Deccalian I dragged (willingly) into the 21st century. With a Garrard 2025 deck and a switched input for CD, it sounds wonderful.

I am also deeply attached to my Variac - best £14 I ever spent.
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Old 18th Jan 2018, 9:07 pm   #31
Malcolm G6ANZ
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Default Re: What's your most treasured piece of electronic junk.

I don't really have a single piece of kit I would single out. My 1930's wirelesses would be strong contenders, a Cossor and a Lissen. But also ,strangely , bits of linacs that I have rescued as well as the electron trees that I made, as in my avatar.
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Old 18th Jan 2018, 9:24 pm   #32
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Default Re: What's your most treasured piece of electronic junk.

AJS F4 and Dr Nesper Berlin headphones.The AJS (1924) came to me from a school friend over 50 years ago and the same person found me last year and since met up as he only lives a few miles away .
The headphones were given to me around 11 years of age by a an elderly gent on a bus when I was carrying a home brew crystal set I had swapped for a wind up gram.

Then of course my Avo Multi Minor my late father got me when I started work in 1960/61 (£9.10 shillings I think)
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Old 18th Jan 2018, 10:00 pm   #33
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Default Re: What's your most treasured piece of electronic junk.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rambo1152 View Post
Last and by no means least, I was able to rediscover forum member Kat Manton's method of using a PC to generate 405 line programme material directly, and bring it up to date, considerably reducing the cost compared to using a standards converter.
Graham's Kat Manton method of generating 405 line and 240 line signals ranks high on my pleasure ratings too as it adds another level of functionality to the HMV901 I bought in 1978 after being fascinated by a similar set (in rather better condition) in our local museum as a boy. This set still tops my bill.

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Old 19th Jan 2018, 12:41 pm   #34
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Default Re: What's your most treasured piece of electronic junk.

My most treasured would be my 45 year old Decca Bradford colour television which I have owned for since 1977. But I would never dare call her a piece of junk as she would probably flash over and hiss at me before going into a very long sulkish breakdown.
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Old 19th Jan 2018, 5:01 pm   #35
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Default Re: What's your most treasured piece of electronic junk.

I can honestly say that virtually everything in my collection means something to me largely because they were obtained from my old shop customers and friends.
A very difficult question indeed.
I also have some BA box spanners that I purchased from an old dump of a tool shop when I was around 13. I still use them on a regular basis. John.
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Old 20th Jan 2018, 5:33 pm   #36
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Default Re: What's your most treasured piece of electronic junk.

Seriously......is there really such a thing as electronic junk? Then again my better half is convinced that I have no concept of what the term "junk" means.
My most coveted piece of electronic treasure would be my first and only stereo that I purchased in 1978. Harmon Kardon 430 Twin Power, B&W DM10 book shelf and Dual 505 turntable.
At this point, only the turntable needs to be looked at.
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Old 20th Jan 2018, 5:39 pm   #37
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Default Re: What's your most treasured piece of electronic junk.

Congratulations Dan on having the mindset to hang on to that stereo and to keep enjoying it.
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Old 20th Jan 2018, 6:25 pm   #38
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Smile Re: What's your most treasured piece of electronic junk.

Hi,
A tricky question. But I suppose, for me, it's a toss up between my Series Five Ferrograph and my KB LG40FM radiogram.
But for pure sentimental value, it has to be my Grundig TK120 tape recorder, because my Dad bought it back in 1967.
Cheers, Pete.
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Old 20th Jan 2018, 7:53 pm   #39
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Default Re: What's your most treasured piece of electronic junk.

I usually treasure especially anything that has been-

-Thrown away once then retrieved
-Gifted by friends or family
-Through a war
-Through a dishwasher
-Rescued from funky upcycling
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Old 21st Jan 2018, 1:36 am   #40
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Default Re: What's your most treasured piece of electronic junk.

In the same way as some earlier posts:

All of it!

I have made use of odd bits sometimes to remanufacture broken bits of kit like switches and knobs etc.
Or "upcycle" redundant odd bits into my DIY projects.

Please note no rare PX4 valves or other genuinely rare and valuable parts were harmed in the making of these projects.

A
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