Whilst on holiday in the Isle of Wight, I happened upon this little radio in a vintage shop, I found it very interesting so I after checking market prices of it on eBay, I made an offer.
![](https://vintageradioservices.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG_20200907_183954-894x1024.jpg)
Interestingly, the shop keeper wouldn’t budge on price, so I took it anyway, and as I also found another identical radio on eBay, I bought and collected that one on the way home too!
I’ve always found pre-transistor portables very interesting as they use really efficient little valves that run a 1.5v heater, easy for powering from a AA or C type cell. The only other battery they need is a 90v one, which is little more tricky to come by.
Both these radios had issues, the shop bought one needed new capacitors and re-wiring of the frame aerial.
The eBay one while looking slightly newer, had a burnt out audio transformer which I found was caused by a bad audio coupling capacitor. This forced the audio output valve to pass constant DC through the transformer. Fortunately, I had a small 100v PA transformer laying about with I used to repair this set. Once all the capacitors had been replaced, everything begin to work again.
![](https://vintageradioservices.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG_20200913_212033-1024x622.jpg)
Case restoration comprised cleaning and new leather paint, cleaning up the chrome and cutting some new leather handles.
As these are jewel case radios, they have a flip open lid that automatically turns the power on when open and also hides a frame aerial.
![](https://vintageradioservices.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG_20201114_174541-812x1024.jpg)
![](https://vintageradioservices.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG_20201114_231104-699x1024.jpg)
I’m not quite finished with these radios, as like all my radios, they must be usable and 90 volt batteries aren’t made any more. I’ve been developing a 9v to 90v DC-DC converter to allow this radio to work from a single AA and 9v cell.
Hey beautiful pye p114bq i have that exact model aswell as a bush ac34 plus a murphy and a unidentified 4valve radio that needs alot of work