Seeing the offer and eventual sale of an Eddystone 1650/6 receiver brought back memories of the original sale and their subsequent disposal by the customer onto the Government surplus market.  The 1650 set was the company’s first microprocessor controlled general coverage communication receiver. Introduced in 1984 and went on to have many variants, all looking the same. It had a sealed membrane front panel and covered 10kHz to 30MHz in 5Hz steps. It also had a 99-channel memory, any number of which were scannable and with any portion of the frequency spectrum sweepable. Tuning was either by keyboard or knob and it had a built-in motor-tuned pre-selector option. It was a double conversion super-het with a first of IF 46.205MHz, and second IF of 1.4MHz. Could operate from AC mains or 24V DC and was remotely controllable Prices c.£3.5k in 1984.

In 1988 to Government asked us to quote for a special version which would be controlled by computer. I personally didn’t see the specification as it was restricted but it clearly did not require a tuning knob or front panel controls. This set was designated the 1650/6. It was to be used for some sort of FSK operation and had two IF centred filters with a special 5kHz product detector. (more…)

Eddystone 960 Transistorised Receiver

The 960 was the first transistorised communications set Eddystone produced and they are quite rare with a production run of only 150. Performance was reputed to be inferior to its valve equivalent, the 940. This example looked in reasonable condition although there was no guarantee of performance. In the end it sold for £333 on E Bay. Obviously much fought after and the price probably reflects its being the first transistorised set. I remember  Bill Cooke, MD and Chief Engineer at Eddystone, telling me that he was tasked with using as much existing stock as possible and I believe the transistors were fitted into “valve-holders”.

Apparently these first transistors such as the OC171, OC45, OC71, OC83 and OA70 were very expensive and god help any engineer who destroyed one during the sets development.

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