ISSN 084-6209

The Vintage Wireless and Gramophone Club of Western Australia

RADIO-GRAM

Issue 103

May, 2007

Nipper Night — March

Everything to do with “Nipper” and a few other things as well!

Richard’s Repro of the original Nip-

per painting with the Edison machine

Rodney’s Nipper memorabilia

Also at the March meeting:

Merv showed off his

crank operated

Pathéscope, and a

1927 Batyphone 5

Steve Austin had this large

Brown Bros horn loud-

speaker plus this English

Cameraphone with a tor-

toise shell horn

VINTAGE WIRELESS AND GRAMOPHONE

CLUB OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA Inc.

THE SECRETARY’S REPORT

EXECUTIVE 2006-2007

We are almost half way through this year and

so far, club nights have been

President:

Len Lewis

entertaining.

143A Drummond St., Bedford 6052

Phone: 9276 4436 (h) 9227 5405 (w)

Vice President: Richard Rennie

Unfortunately, the guest speaker for April, Mr.

Ian Verbart was unwell and

Secretary: Trevor Currie & Vince Taylor (minute Sec)

unable to attend. On behalf of the club, we

Trevor 9386 7475; 64 Meriwa St., Nedlands 6009 (for

wish Ian a speedy recovery.

correspondence) or tjc60@iinet.net.au

Treasurer:

Barry Kinsella

Club Website: http://vwgc.org.au

Thanks are due to Tony Smith, who at short

Committee: Trevor Currie, Andrew Wakeman., John

notice provided three vintage

Newman, Vince Taylor and David Tennant.

16mm films from the National Film Archives.

These films are a valuable

Appointments: Librarian: Trevor Currie; Editor: Rod Ed-

ward; Publicity/Website: Richard Rennie.

resource and we will have more film nights in

the future.

Meetings are held on the fourth Tuesday of each month

(with the exception of December) at 8pm in the Veteran

Car Club rooms at 6 Hickey Street, Ardross. Visitors are

always welcome!

I would like to take this opportunity to remind

Although the main interests of members are wireless re-

every member that the AGM is

ceivers and gramophones (or phonographs) , many mem-

almost upon us and this gives all of us the op-

bers are also interested in amplifiers, telephones, musical

portunity to play an active

boxes, tape recorders, television receivers and other asso-

part in the running of our club.

ciated equipment and memorabilia.

Under the clubs constitution all elected and

Radio-Gram is published four times per year, in Febru-

ary, May, August and November.

appointed position are open for

nomination at every AGM. (I am unaware of a

Please send any articles and advertisements to the editor:

more democratic organization

Rod Edward 23 Webster Street Nedlands 6009

than this.)

Phone: 9386 1998 (h)

So please consider this privilege and organize

e-mail: isaiah@bigpond.net.au

your nomination and seconder,

Please make sure your ‘copy’ is submitted by the meeting

before the June meeting.

night prior to the issue month.

Advertisements are placed FREE of charge, but should be

of a non-exploitive nature.

Please notify the secretary or the editor if you change your

Trevor Currie

address.

Subscriptions: $20 (payable in June)

(Concession rate: $15)

Page 2

RADIO-GRAM

Notes from the Minutes Secretary, Vincent Taylor

Tuesday 27 th Februar y 2007. Minutes taken by Vince Taylor. 19 members present.

Club Presentation .

Club member Tony Smith gave a talk on two of the projectors from

his collection and demonstrated them with short films. A Swiss

made Moviemite single sprocket projector showed a 75-year-old

film entitled `How Talkies Talk’, demonstrating the sound on film re-

cording process. After that, an Australian manufactured, budget ma-

chine by Precision Engineering showed a film from the early 1970s

on how vinyl records are made. This machine was purchased new c.

1955 from Kodak in Plaza Arcade.

Items of Interest:

Steven Austin showed a 1929 Polly Portable record player from his collection. This incredibly thin and

small portable had an interesting reproducer fitted with a cardboard oscillator.

Trevor Currie showed a Radiotone radio manufactured by HP Radio of Murray St Perth. He is in need

of a tuning condenser and vernier pan dial for this set.

Rodney House showed off 2 unusual portable projectors he suspects were used for advertising. One

plays 45-rpm records and projects filmstrips, whilst the other was a rear and

screen projector screening 8mm film in a cassette format.

Merv Thompson showed a 16mm Siemens Silent projector and camera

from the 1950s. The camera box was a gem with the cabin sticker from

the P&O liner Orcades still on the side.

Vince Taylor showed a 1929 Columbia Plano-reflex Grafonola suitcase port-

able that he has recently finished conservation work on. Also shown was a red

HMV model 205 suitcase. portable in as found condition. This basket case is the next restoration project.

Tuesday 27

th

March 2007. Minutes taken by Vince Taylor. 17 members present.

Items of Interest. ( See lower section of the front cover)

Club Presentation.

Nipper Night. (see front cover)

Trevor Currie showed a Little Nipper mousetrap patented 1907. He also showed a transistor Nipper radio from the 1970s.

Richard Rennie showed a repro of the painting showing the original Edison machine, a 1947 HMV calendar, the first HMV

LP record and the first RCA Victor 45rpm record.

Rodney House brought in a 1988 Nipper calendar, HMV jumper, coffee mugs, paper weight, tie bar & cuff links, record &

tape care kit, HMV record cleaners, Box of 5000 needles, Matchbox toy truck with logo, Needle cutter and Speed tester.

Vince Taylor showed early Nipper records including Gramophone Concert, Gramophone Monarch, Zonophone Celebrity and

His Masters Voice.

Tuesday 24

th

April 2007. Minutes taken by Vince Taylor. 18 members present.

Items of Interest.

Richard Rennie showed a 2 Box set recording of the complete Holy Bible. The Old and New

Testament recorded on 7 inch 16 2/3 rpm discs. Richard is looking for the 33 to 16 rpm gearing adaptor

originally supplied with this type of recording.

John Newman showed off a 1960s English Wondergram record player. This magnificent modernist

design folds down to brick size and was the first portable transistorised record player to be put on the

market.

Tony Barbatano showed a 1908 English HMV Monarch gramophone. This ma-

chine was complete and original except for the horn which is a repro brass

flower petal type. The machine was demonstrated and produced a fine sound.

Steven Austin showed a 1909 Edison Triumph Model D. This big, fairly rare

machine used the model B diamond reproducer and a 3 spring Trident motor

that plays 10 cylinders with each winding. This machine is complete except for

the horn and needs some restoration.

Tony Smith showed a radio recently purchased at auction. When obtained it

was found that the set had no valves. Displayed as a word of warning for club members bidding on items that they have not

had the opportunity to inspect thoroughly.

Meeting closed at 9.30 p.m.

Tony Smith showed 2 early films from the Australian Film Archives collection. One featured the Raycophone factory

and its workings. The second was a silent film advertising Magnavox radios.

Issue 103

Page 3

President’s Report

Len is still trying to get the hang of the email, and got his offsider to send this jpeg image of his

typewritten report. Unfortunately my Optical Character Recognition software failed to convert it

into readable text, so you will all have to decipher it for yourselves!

The club may have to invest in some liquid paper for Len!

…...Editor

Page 4

RADIO-GRAM

Yours,

Len Lewis

Coming Events

May 22: A comparison in sound. Electric verses Acoustic 78 sound

reproduction. Trevor Currie.

June 26: AGM. Filling of executive and other club positions and re-

newal of subscriptions.

Please support this meeting!!

Issue 103

Page 5

A SATISFYING RESTORATION OF AN ORDINARY RADIO

Dominic arrived at my workshop with a bakelite radio under his arm, it was a Kriesler 11-7

and he said. “This is his late parents radio, it was the first luxury item they bought after they

settled in Australia and there was not a day that my mother did not turn it on”.

He wished to continue the tradition, as a mark of respect to his parents and he wanted a

good repair.

The radio was still going but “ didn’t sound to good”. It had the obvious 100hz power sup-

ply hum but I also noticed there was another buzz, the kind you would expect if the earth

shield came of the grid lead. I asked Dom, when was it repaired last. He thought it had

never had any service.( the radio was made in 1948, 57 years of continuous use!)

A couple of years ago Dom got fed up of reaching behind the fridge to turn it on and off,

so he fitted a modern volume control, with a switch.

I suggested that I replace all the condensers and give the chassis a service , this would cost

$xx to bring back the reliability.

“Oh” said Dom, “I was prepared to spend twice that amount to get it going.”

“Well, my friend, have I got a deal for you!”

For that amount of money I will give it a full restoration. This includes completely stripping

the radio ,clean and polish the cabinet, replace the perished grill cloths, fit a reproduction 3

Page 6

RADIO-GRAM

core mains lead ,checking the emission of all valves. A full restoration.

Now, if there is anyone out there who is new to restoring valve radios, you could not find a

more suitable make or model to start with.

Kriesler’s design and construction on most of their radios, in a word is sensible.

They are easy to dismantle and more impotently to reassemble. The circuits are simple and

the performance is good.

When I removed the four screws that retain the cabinet bottom, I identified one non origi-

nal component (apart from the new volume control) and that was a Ducon electrolytic con-

denser, one of those grey plastic coated type from the 1960s ,you guessed it, it was this one

that had failed .So the forty year old condenser had failed but the rest of the 57 year old

ones were still going!

After completing the overhaul I was still left with this ‘grid buzz’. I noticed that Kriesler

used unshielded tinned copper wire to connect the audio from the detector and the gram

pickup terminals to the grid of the first audio amplifier valve. This was where all the buzz

was coming from.

But I was puzzled because this is original wiring. So all these radio should exhibit this prob-

lem, clearly they don’t.

Then the penny dropped. When Dom had fitted his new on/off switch he had to extend

the mains wiring around the chassis to reach the switch. This was the source of the buzz.

If it was my radio, I would have fitted a vintage volume control and restored the mains lead

back to the direct termination on the transformer. But Dom was proud of his modification,

so what was I to do? Modify the modification!

I replaced all the tinned copper leads with good screened audio cable, being careful not to

create earth loops. This solved the problem.

The real satisfaction in doing this restoration was the expression of joy on Dominic’s face

when he came to collect his mothers radio. “Ah, it’s new again”.

Moral of this story.

Be kind and love your mother. She might be the only one who loves you!

Trevor Currie

Issue 103

Page 7

The Vintage Wireless and Gramophone Club of Western Australia

Important Notice to All Members

Membership Subscriptions are due by June 30 2007

Don’t wait until the last minute!

Rates are likely to rise after The AGM on June 26

Bring your money to the AGM - or send it to the sec-

retary.

$20 normal subscription, $15 concession card holders.

(If you have recently joined the club, you do not need to renew this year)

A non-member has two American Valve Stereo Amplifiers for sale. These are relatively new, using four

Russian made EL-34’s in the output. Price negotiable and would be in the range of $500 plus or minus.

If interested, contact the editor (see inside cover for contact details)

Bower Bird Records

RADIO REPAIRS

284 Fitzgerald St North Perth 6005 WA

Phone/fax: 9227 5405

TREVOR’S RADIO RESUR-

Website: www.bowerbirdrecords.com.au

RECTION

Email: bowerbirdrecords@hotmail.com

We do repairs to:

I am a qualified technician with over 40 years experience

Valve Wireless sets

in the service industry

Gramophones

and hold a Western power license.

Radio-Grams

I can repair and restore the following.

Stereos and Turntables

VALVE RADIOS , RADIOGRAMS

We also sell:

RECORD PLAYERS , CAR RADIOS

New Styli and belts for turntables

VINTAGE AUDIO AND HIFI EQUIP-

78 needles for gramophones

MENT

Records– 78’s, 45’s and 33’s 7” & 12”

EARLY TRANSISTOR RADIO

CD’s, tapes and cassettes

Quotes are given on all jobs before repair.

Every day is 50% of all records, tapes and CD’s!

I can also repair and re polish wooden and bakelite cabi-

Good quality stock always wanted.

nets .

All Credit Cards (Except Diners Card) accepted.

Please contact Trevor Currie

Open 10 am to 5:30 pm 7 days a week, except

Xmas day and Boxing day.

Phone ( 08) 9386 7475

Wanted to Buy: Edison 78 reproducer that was an

Email tjc60@iinet.net.au

extra to fit Table Model (1918 - 24)

This advertisement has been paid for by donation to The

VWGC .