Can Astor tube radio be converted to 110V?

J

Joerg

Guest
Hello All,

Got the old Astor radio to work again. However, since we moved to the
US, does anybody know whether the transformers in these can be rewired
to 110V?

The radio has no type number or anything and so far I was unable to find
it on the web. It is 35cm wide, 20cm tall and 16cm deep. Off-white
plastic case, four knobs, the tubes point to a 'birth date' maybe around
the late 50's. The dial shows no frequencies but it's AM only and has
Australian station codes on the dial.

While the chassis is rock solid and boast a gorilla sized variable
capacitor, the transformer looks rather crude and so I didn't want to
pull any wires around for fear one might pop off. I did notice that
there is a green/yellow wire coming out of it and going right back in
(???). I doubt this has anything to do with protective earth since the
mains cable into this radio doesn't have that.

Guess what came out of the speaker when this radio woke up again:
Elvis.... and I like country ;-)

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com
 
Hello All,

Found some more info about this radio on the web:

Astor Model BPJ, Year 1959, 5 tubes, called "Quality Five" in the
Astor ads.

Unfortunately no schematics which would have really helped. This little
radio has a remarkably good sound.

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com
 
"Joerg" <notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote in message
news:shZGd.2819$8Z1.2@newssvr14.news.prodigy.com...
Hello All,

Got the old Astor radio to work again. However, since we moved to the
US, does anybody know whether the transformers in these can be rewired
to 110V?

***Joerg,look in your "in box".

Brian Goldsmith.
 
Hello Brian,

***Joerg,look in your "in box".
Click to expand...
I did but there wasn't any message from Australia. Maybe it is still on
the way through various routers though.

Meantime I did find some schematics for other Astor units and all but
one of them showed that the green wire must be for conversion to 200V. I
guess that must have been because voltages hadn't been standardized in
Australia in the old days. So for now little Astor resides in the office
where there is 230V, but it's noisy there because of all the LAN and
modem stuff.

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com
 
On Tue, 18 Jan 2005 01:05:28 GMT, Joerg
<notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:

Hello All,

Got the old Astor radio to work again. However, since we moved to the
US, does anybody know whether the transformers in these can be rewired
to 110V?

The radio has no type number or anything and so far I was unable to find
it on the web. It is 35cm wide, 20cm tall and 16cm deep. Off-white
plastic case, four knobs, the tubes point to a 'birth date' maybe around
the late 50's. The dial shows no frequencies but it's AM only and has
Australian station codes on the dial.

While the chassis is rock solid and boast a gorilla sized variable
capacitor, the transformer looks rather crude and so I didn't want to
pull any wires around for fear one might pop off. I did notice that
there is a green/yellow wire coming out of it and going right back in
(???). I doubt this has anything to do with protective earth since the
mains cable into this radio doesn't have that.

Guess what came out of the speaker when this radio woke up again:
Elvis.... and I like country ;-)

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com
Click to expand...

Something this old, for safety - I would be extremely tempted to have
it rewound, or have a transformer custom made for it - with dual
110/240v primary.
(this can easily be achieved by having 2 x 120v primary windings that
you can connect in series of parallel as required)


1>You should be able to use a 240 - 110v transformer "backwards" to
power it in the USA. I would use a transformer with a VA rating a
little bit higher than the VA rating of the radio (say 20%) however
due to the fact that the primary of any transformer will always have a
higher wattage rating than the secondary to compensate for losses in
the transformer (magnetising, heat etc).

Oatley electronics are a good source of good, cheap used and surplus
transformers.


2>When in USA - you could check among the collectors or part suppliers
there to see if you can buy a transformer there that is 110v primary
and the same secondaries. Im sure that most designs in the west used
similar valves, and therefore same voltages would be used.

3> you might not have to do anything. Residential USA does have 120v
mains, but it is done as 2 x 120v (180 degree out of phase) with a
centre neutral. Therefore there is also 240v available there if you
go across both "phases". This is usually used for stoves, heaters and
such appliances where the current draw would be massive if 120v was
used.

If there is easy access to both of these in the area the radio is
going to be used, you can take a 240v socket with you and install it
for the radio.

Im pretty sure though that in their industrial areas they have 3 phase
power - in their case the 3 phase voltage it is 208v, which may be
enough too.

------------------------------------------------

Another problem you should investigate is whether or not the radio
will work with the USA AM band.

I have a feeling they are different freqency/ or 9/10 khz spacing
etc. In this case there isnt much point in taking it, or making a
power supply for it.
 
"KLR" <kenreed@yahoo.com> wrote

Another problem you should investigate is whether or not the radio
will work with the USA AM band.

I have a feeling they are different freqency/ or 9/10 khz spacing
etc. In this case there isnt much point in taking it, or making a
power supply for it.

***Er,please,it's an
"Astor Model BPJ, Year 1959, 5 tubes, called "Quality Five" in the
Astor ads" and it is fitted with a continously variable capacitor and valves
not a microprocessor and PLL!!!!!

Brian Goldsmith.
 
"KLR" :
Another problem you should investigate is whether or not the radio
will work with the USA AM band.
Click to expand...
** ??????????????????????????????????


I have a feeling they are different frequency/ or 9/10 khz spacing
etc. In this case there isnt much point in taking it, or making a
power supply for it.
Click to expand...

** Vacuum tube radios were capable of tuning ANY frequency within the AM
band via a marvellous stepless device called a "variable tuning gang ".
Many solid state radios have a miniature equivalent and can perform the same
feat.

All such radios can also speak in any known language and reproduce every
known form of musical sound - how primitive humans back in the 1920s first
achieved this feat is still shrouded in mystery.

Only the damn 110 volt / 240 volt issue sometimes confounds them.





............... Phil
 
------------------------------------------------

Another problem you should investigate is whether or not the radio
will work with the USA AM band.

I have a feeling they are different freqency/ or 9/10 khz spacing
etc. In this case there isnt much point in taking it, or making a
power supply for it.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Click to expand...


OOPS
Disregard this part

I was thinking of modern PLL type tuners when it was written, and it
doesnt apply to the older design such as these.

my apologies for this mistake, which others have already corrected.
 
Phil Allison wrote:

"KLR" :

Another problem you should investigate is whether or not the radio
will work with the USA AM band.


** ??????????????????????????????????

I have a feeling they are different frequency/ or 9/10 khz spacing
etc. In this case there isnt much point in taking it, or making a
power supply for it.

** Vacuum tube radios were capable of tuning ANY frequency within the AM
band via a marvellous stepless device called a "variable tuning gang ".
Many solid state radios have a miniature equivalent and can perform the same
feat.

All such radios can also speak in any known language and reproduce every
known form of musical sound - how primitive humans back in the 1920s first
achieved this feat is still shrouded in mystery.

Only the damn 110 volt / 240 volt issue sometimes confounds them.
Click to expand...
....and also the 50hz v 60hz issue ... , but not in this case I should think

David

.............. Phil
Click to expand...
 
Ahhh reminds me of the big 4 gang tuning caps in some of the better (in those
days) communication receivers - 3 RF stages!!!

David

Joerg wrote:

And that variable capacitor in the Astor BPJ is the largest I ever found
in any radio.
Click to expand...
 
"quietguy" <david1133@REMOVE-TO-REPLYoptusnet.com.au> wrote

Ahhh reminds me of the big 4 gang tuning caps in some of the better (in
those
days) communication receivers - 3 RF stages!!!

David



***Out of curiosity,which communication receivers used three stages of RF ?

Brian Goldsmith.
 
Sorry Brian, but I cant remember the model/brand etc of those - I never owned
one but a friend (Reg Brown) used to do them up, and I used to hang around his
workshop and learn stuff, around age 14 or so (thats roundabout 45 years ago)
- I only ever owned an AR8

David

Brian Goldsmith wrote:

"quietguy" <david1133@REMOVE-TO-REPLYoptusnet.com.au> wrote

Ahhh reminds me of the big 4 gang tuning caps in some of the better (in
those
days) communication receivers - 3 RF stages!!!

David

***Out of curiosity,which communication receivers used three stages of RF ?

Brian Goldsmith.
Click to expand...
 
Hello Brian,

***Out of curiosity,which communication receivers used three stages of RF ?
Click to expand...
There were quite a few. The one I remember from a repair job was from
Hallicrafters. Check this out:

http://antiqueradio.org/art/halli0917.jpg

Here is the one I had as a kid, I believe with two ganged RF sections
plus oscillator:

http://homepage3.nifty.com/ja1vbn/radio/trio/9r59ds/9r59ds-after_top.jpg

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Welcome to EDABoard.com

Sponsor

Back
Top