Gustavo in Toledo Spain has an EC958 set to sell. It looks in nice condition and he says it is complete and works well. The S/N plate does not identify what edition it is but it looks like a pre /7 variant. Gustavo is looking for offers and hopefully local collection. If you are interested then please contact him direct on e mail: Marugan Gustavo <pavi70@yahoo.com>
Zeljko Curkivic 9A4NA in Split Croatia has an Eddystone EC958/7, badged as a Marconi H2311, for sale. He proposes to put it on E Bay eventually but wanted to offer here first. He sold a similar one in 2019. Zeljko states that the receiver is in working condition but will need some restoration. It does receive signals on HF but as it was in the storage for a long period, the receiver will need checking and alignment. As far as he can see it is all original and nobody has played with it. For some reason the digital display only shows 0.00 or 9.99 as it can be seen on the photos. If anyone is interested please email Zeljko at curkovic1970@gmail.com for price, more details and more photos if needed. Zeljko will be attending the HAM Radio fair at Friedrichshafen on 29.06.2024 and he is willing to bring it with him to save on delivery and courier charges. See his QRZ page 9A4NA he has a fantastic morse key collection.
Gerry O’Hara VE7GUH, an EUG Trustee and prolific contributor of Eddystone Restoration projects and advice, recently took his ‘much-modified EC10 MKI off the shelf and switched it on to find all it would do was hiss at him!), It was the first time Gerry had checked the set out since he wrote about the restoration for the EUG website (this one).
Gerry has posted a video of this to YouTube (here) so with Gerry’s permission I am posting it here on the EUG website, The set is now (mostly) working again, and back on Gerry’s shelf.
Chris G0EYO EUG Admin
It was with great sadness that I learnt of the passing of Peter Lankshear, an early member of the Eddystone User Group, of New Plymouth, New Zealand, on the 31st of March 2024 at the age of 95. Peter was the much loved husband of the late Iris and will be greatly missed by his three children, seven grandchildren and eight great grandchildren, plus his many friends from the world of vintage radio.
Peter was a life member of both the New Zealand Vintage Radio Society (NZVRS) and the Historical Radio Society of Australia (HRSA). He wrote numerous articles for a number of publications, including the NZVRS “Bulletin”, the HRSA “Radio Waves”, the American “Old Timer’s Bulletin”, the British “Radio Bygones” and the Eddystone User Group’s Newsletter “Lighthouse”.
Peter wrote about his early life in EUG Newsletter No 37 pp 22 & 23 (available here). He commenced work with the New Zealand Broadcasting Service as a technician and in 1950 was transferred to the Quartz Hill Receiving Station high on the hills above Cook Straits which separates New Zealand’s North and South Islands. Being midway between the Equator and Antarctica it was ideal for world-wide radio reception. The station was installed during WW2 as a vital news and information source and post war developed into an international monitoring service providing reception reports on transmissions received from Asia and North America. A principal function was monitoring the BBC General Overseas and Pacific Service. It was at Quartz Hill that Peter first encountered Eddystone receivers in the form of a pair of S680X receivers which were installed as Search receivers. Peter was impressed with the build quality of the Eddystone receivers compared to the American and Canadian sets they already had and vowed to own one. He did eventually but it took him 35 years to acquire one. Peter spent most of his working life with the NZBC and his hobby was collecting and restoring vintage radio sets.
Peter was a prolific contributor to the NZVRS “Bulletin” and their website lists nearly 100 articles he wrote on vintage radio equipment including the Eddystone 940 and the 870A between 1988 and 1996. Peter built up a huge collection of vintage radio’s over the years but he disposed of this to other collectors before his death and Daniel Hockey, ZL4VR, became the owner of his four Eddystone receivers (S640, S750, S680/2 and S940). Apparently Peter was keen that his beloved radios went to someone who would not only keep them in use but was also a younger radio enthusiast. Daniel is 36 years old and has been interested in vintage radios and test equipment since he was a child. It was Daniel who was kind enough to notify me of Peter’s passing so I think Peter’s sets are in safe hands.
Peter and Graeme Wormald G3GGL (SK), the previous EUG Newsletter Editor and Administrator often corresponded on Eddystone matters, and Graeme wrote about Peter’s love for the Eddystone marque. RIP Peter and thank you.
Chris Pettitt G0EYO – EUG Administrator
Peter with his collection
Paul Kalas G3VCN in Portsmouth has an Eddystone EC10 for sale @ £50 plus postage at cost or collect from home QTH. If you are interested contact Paul on paulg3vcn@gmail.com
Alan Cavender G4FNM in Stocksfield, Northumberland wants a KW160 ‘one-sixty’ transmitter to go with his Eddystone 730/4 receiver. If you can help Alan then please contact him at – alcav@yahoo.com
Clive Walker M1MST, near Ludlow has an Eddystone 730/1A for sale. Clive says he has had this a long time and it is working (PLEASE NOTE THE SPEAKER IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE SALE). The mains is wired directly in to the rear of the radio. Internally the radio looks OK and still has the original trimmer and spare fuses.
It will be collection only from SY8 4ND near Ludlow. No post on this one. Clive is looking for £150 for this receiver. If you are interested then contact Clive direct on e mail clive.walker5@btopenworld.com
Sian and Roger Digby contacted me about some radio parts that belonged to Roger’s grandfather who passed away some 60 years ago and who was a keen radio enthusiast and had been the owner of an Eddystone Receiver which Roger remembers his grandfather using to listen to overseas shortwave broadcasts when he was a boy. Roger kept the set (he can’t recall the model number) for some 40 years after his grandfather’s death and finally passed it on to another radio enthusiast who had helped his son with a motorbike problem. Roger’s wife Sian had found a box of radio parts belonging to the grandfather when sorting through some cupboards in their garage. They passed them on to me in the hope that they might find a new home with someone in the Eddystone User Group. Here is a list:
If you see anything of interest then contact Chris G0EYO EUG Admin on g0eyo@blueyonder.co.uk.
Simon M5POO in Corbridge, Northumberland is looking for a Multi Wave Switched Coil Unit originally made around 1935, for a little project he is working on. The one he is specifically after is the Cat. No. 961 option with 260/600 metres as the lowest frequency option. If anyone have one, either used or unused that they would be happy to part with please drop Simon a line at simon(at)m5poo(dot)co(dot)uk.
Interesting anecdote from EUGer Roger Tricket about his lifetimes experience with his much loved Eddystone EC10 receiver
In 1969 I was posted to a position in New Guinea, so took delivery in Melbourne early Jan 1970 of a new Eddystone EC 10 Serial 6605. It has been to New Guinea, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, England, Thailand and a number of locations in my home country, Australia.
EC10 above ICom 8500
It has been turned on continuously since new apart from periods in transit, so now in 2024 it seems it would have been on for all of about 50 years of its 54 year life (2024).
Still used every day for a shortwave broadcast I like and as in all those years when not listening, I turned down the audio, but leave the set running. It has generally been fed from 20 – 30 ft aerials, sometimes thru a mini aerial tuner. Now wire aerial through 1 to 1 toroid transformer into coax to the set. (note the station closed about 2020). Now in general use but always on tuned to WWV.
WWV freq on dial
Alterations – replaced all electrolytic capacitors about 2015; the agc line cap now uses a bipolar cap as there was a question relating to the circuit polarity, it works better now. When adjusting the mixer trimmer with metal shaft screwdriver, it shorted and killed the mixer transistor, which has been replaced from a stock of replacements I keep ( these have the leads wound together in attempt to avoid the dreaded whiskers ).
Rear view with power and antenna connections
The power supply is a 9v plug pack and fed to an 8v voltage stabiliser built into the case about 2016. However for some 30 years it was fed with voltages from various sources 6v to 12v and even a standard mini 9v battery, on which it will run for several hours. Note: set runs positive to earth so cannot use common power supply with other equipment – the plug pack has negative to earth so reversal is done in the voltage stabiliser which uses feed in from an isolated input plug; see pic.
The aerial terminal was replaced with a coax fitting ( for 50 Ohm line ) which feeds an internally mounted mini toroid balun – 50 to 75 Ohms so the twin diodes are removed. The BFO injection Capacitor was increased to 3PF. As a signal strength meter I use a 100 Microamp meter direct into the audio out socket as this carries the AGC voltage in the original wiring from the factory.
Original box and instructions
Compared to a modern Icom R8500 receiver it does a very credible job, though frequency drifts notoriously with daily temperature changes!
It is now 2024 and I am in my mid 80s so with luck it will outlast its owner………
Compared to a modern Icom R8500 receiver it does a very credible job, though frequency drifts notoriously with daily temperature changes! It is now 2024 and I am in my mid 80s so with luck it will outlast its owner……
Interesting note of relevance – Nasa used these same germanium transistors in early space exploration and it has been found “whiskers” grow in the RF metal case transistors and kill them. There is a document available where Nasa explores this subject. Hence this set needs to run continuously which seems to avoid the problem.
Note – In 2021 the on off power switch in the RF gain control failed and there is now a mini switch on the rear.
Roger Trickett