Radio's obsolete. Surely not.


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10 hours ago, catfan said:

I stream music & video wirelessly via a WD 4TB NAS, does the job perfectly !

 

 

The Western Digital drives have a very good reputation.  But what software do you use to organise your music etc?

 

Col

 

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I like my radios and I think dab is a marvelous invention.  Our parent's  first radio was prewar with a huge accumulator like a car battery for the valve heaters and a dry battery for the valve H

A long list of great memories there Willow Wilson. After a long afternoon shift and a quick pint before 10:30 closing I often fell asleep to Sailing Bye, the theme from the Shipping Forecast.

There was a short piece on the BBC news the other day and a reporter went out and showed a standard portable radio to a number of young people. It was a complete mystery to many of them who simply did

Do you know if it works on Win 7?

 

I don't like 8 and haven't been persuaded on 10 yet.

 

Col

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Found an old radio in our basement name looks like Thorola, mesh with a casing around.  Not in to bad condition as its been there since about 1938.  Any ideas of where it was made.

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Thorola seems to be a well known old make.  I suspect your set may have some value.

 

Here are a load of pictures.

 

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Thorola&client=firefox-b-ab&dcr=0&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjT6L6D39_WAhWBJ1AKHYW9DgsQ_AUICygC&biw=1344&bih=887

 

They seem to have been of American manifacture and not cheap.

 

There are specialists in this field who I could probably discover via my hi-fi contacts.  Chap called Philip Knighton in Somerset used to deal in such stuff, but may be retired by now.

 

Edit:  Oh dear.. It seems that Philip left us last year.  Info here on a specialist forum. 

 

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/showthread.php?t=127119

 

I can only say that I visited his Philip's shop in Wellington Somerset  a number of times and always found him to be a true Gent.  I bought a Rogers Cadet valve amplifier from him.

 

There's a lovely recording of Richard here on Youtube.  It has nothing to do with Nottingham, but I think many of us will relate to his story and his recollections of his life.  The way he 'took things apart'. His obsession with motorbikes, etc.  Lovely stuff and well worth a listen..

 

Col

 

 

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7 hours ago, Gem said:

Found an old radio in our basement name looks like Thorola, mesh with a casing around.  Not in to bad condition as its been there since about 1938.  Any ideas of where it was made.

Be careful Gem if your tempted to try this. The capacitors degrade over time and if you just plug it in, you may cause damage that is expensive or almost impossible to put right. 

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speaker_a.jpg

 

This is the radio we had in the early 60s (Rediffusion). I remember an earlier one which was much more ornate. TV came later but we all loved the radio and it was on for most of the day. Listen With Mother, Music While You Work, Woman's Hour...happy memories!

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7 minutes ago, Jill Sparrow said:

 

speaker_a.jpg

 

This is the radio we had in the early 60s (Rediffusion). I remember an earlier one which was much more ornate. TV came later but we all loved the radio and it was on for most of the day. Listen With Mother, Music While You Work, Woman's Hour...happy memories!

Technically I don't this is a radio Jill.  Redifusion actually sent the signal to your house, a bit like an early cable tv system albeit just audio and it did play radio stations. I think you had a choice of only a couple of stations and paid a rental. 

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17 minutes ago, letsavagoo said:

think you had a choice of only a couple of stations and paid a rental. 

It is only a speaker, yes, but there was a switch on the window sill with a choice of 5 or 6 programmes. Certainly covered classical music because we listened to plenty of that!

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Jill, just been announced on Radio 3 that just after 11 o'clock this morning they will play something by Hildegard of Bingham.

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4 hours ago, letsavagoo said:

Be careful Gem if your tempted to try this. The capacitors degrade over time and if you just plug it in, you may cause damage that is expensive or almost impossible to put right. 

 

Good point.  A couple of people I know use something called a 'Variac' to slowly bring the things up to mains voltage.  Can avoid nasty surprises. 

I suppose it depends what Gem wants to do.  It could be polished up as a ornament, or, it could very likely be restored to full working order.. whlle there are still AM radio stations for it to receive!

 

 

Col

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3 hours ago, Chulla said:

Jill, just been announced on Radio 3 that just after 11 o'clock this morning they will play something by Hildegard of Bingham.

 

Bingham?

 

Surely it was Bingen.. or are you joshing us Dave?

 

Col

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3 hours ago, letsavagoo said:

Technically I don't this is a radio Jill.  Redifusion actually sent the signal to your house, a bit like an early cable tv system albeit just audio and it did play radio stations. I think you had a choice of only a couple of stations and paid a rental. 

 

 

Indeed.  We had one.  There was a switch in the corner by the front window and you could get the BBC 'Big 3'  Light Programme, Home Service and 'Third 'Programme.  Roughly equivalent to  BBC Radios, 2, 4 and 3.

 

As I recall, they occasionally put a bit of Luxembourg through it too.  Later I think we got TV through it too but I could be wrong.  On Bestwood Est, there was a receiver mast near the bottom of Gainsford Crescent.  I was led to understand that it was the receiver for Rediffusion and all the cables from nouse to house were fed from it. Last time I looked at our old house on Southglade Road, ( Maybe 5 years ago) there were still a few old nails with bendy lead cable ties high up on the wall where the Rediffusion Cable was fixed.  They would be plastic cable clips these days.

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41 minutes ago, DJ360 said:

  Later I think we got TV through it too but I could be wrong.  

 

We didn't have Redifusion but I remember that from other people who did have it. I think you got TV sound but no picture (difficult on a radio).

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I seem to remember getting Sky tv through one of those (or similar) switches that was on the window sill in the very early days of Sky tv

 

Rog

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31 minutes ago, Cliff Ton said:

 

We didn't have Redifusion but I remember that from other people who did have it. I think you got TV sound but no picture (difficult on a radio).

 

Yes.  Fair point Kev.. but what I meant was that I think we got effectively Cable TV. We did have to have a set though.. :)

 

I recall a a chap next door breaking into the cable  to get some sort of signal from it.. that would be late 1960s, by which time we were proper posh an using our own aerial...

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You are correct, Col. My mistake, but an honest one because I only heard her name, didn't see it. Here is the piece that Radio 3 played, sung by a soprano, but not as here by a choir. Not bad for 12th century. 

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Here is the little piece about Philip Knighton which I forgot to put in an earlier post.

 

 

Col

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1 minute ago, Chulla said:

 

You are correct, Col. My mistake, but an honest one because I only heard her name, didn't see it. Here is the piece that Radio 3 played, but sung by a soprano, not a choir. Not bad for 12th century. 

 

Indeed!

 

I have been meaning to investigate this  stuff for years.  There was a piece or a CD called 'Feather On The Breath Of God' getting a lot of recommendation in the audio press some years ago.  I really must seek it out.

 

Col

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Here it is:

 

 

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