The
R210 communications receiver
|
|
To see
a prototype of this model... scroll down |
|
I must admit to knowing
nothing about this model when I first acquired it, but my thanks
go to Jan Poortman, PA3ESY from Goor in Holland, for sending
me some very useful info (reading this again in 2019 I see
that was back in January 2002 when post rather than broadband
was the only option!). Jan has a T1154 which can work on
40 or 80 metres and when I get my vintage station back on the
air I look forward to a QSO!
I've now been contacted by Jerry
Mayfield who worked in Bridgnorth at the old ATE factory which
was once RGD. The factory appears to have ceased production of
domestic radios badged RGD in 1952, then continued with the name
Regentone, who bought them out, until 1960 when they were bought
by STC who sold sets badged as KB or ITT. RGD had moved to Bridgnorth
around 1940 as part of the government plan to move military radio
production away from areas likely to be bombed. ATE took over
the factory in 1952 until 1964 when it was taken over by Plessey
who had bought out the ATE company. Plessey were rationalising
production over their new empire so various sites switched over
to new product lines or were simply phased out. The Bridgnorth
factory was adopted by Decca Radar in 1968. I'm a little unsure
of the dates and the goings on but Decca Radar was bought by
Plessey and part of the business moved to a factory in Liverpool
city centre where I worked for 20 years, whilst the design and
manufacture of the Radar hardware was moved to Cowes on the Isle
of Wight.
During all this takeover business,
Jerry tells me he remembers the R210 being made at the Bridgnorth
factory. Maybe this set was a natural follow on to the WW2 radios
made by RGD because the older technical staff at the factory
must have been RGD trained? After rationalisation of product
lines Plessey concentrated the design and production of military
radio equipment at Southleigh (research), West Leigh (development)
and Ilford (production).
I bought this example of the
R210 at the Ringwood street auction in 1999 (before it stopped)
for a couple of pounds. This was quite a high bid! I remember
the auctioneer, each week saying before the start of proceedings,
"a pound is the minimum bid NOT the maximum bid". In
the end they packed it up as they couldn't make ends meet. The
set came with an external mains power supply and it worked OK
except the filmstrip dial was damaged.
The receiver has a tremendous
weight for its size and must have spent its service life in something
like a Centurian tank. It formed part of the "Larkspur"
range of British Army sets introduced in the 50s. The mechanical
design has a chain drive and loads of gearwheels together with
a very long tuning scale fitted between two rotating drums. It
looks pretty similar to the R216 VHF receiver
made by Ekco.
The R210 uses a collection of
B9A and B7G valves fitted in diecast chassis sections.
Frequency coverage is in 7 bands
viz.
2-3MHz, 3-4.5MHz, 4.5-6.8MHz,
6.8-9.1MHz, 9.1-11.4MHz, 11.4-13.7MHz and 13.7-16MHz. |
 |
|
The set was evidently
abandoned when the dial filmstrip broke. I removed it but haven't
worked out how to fix it! I kept the parts in a box but there
was an avalanche in the workshop one day and the box contents
spilled out so the odd part may now be missing. |
Side view showing part of the
wavechange switch assembly |
Top view showing dial film winding
drums, chain drive and gear trains |
|
|
I've now recovered this receiver
from a spare room where it's been residing for 17 years and must
now search for various dial parts which needed replacement or
renewal. I've regained interest now that I have a similar R216.
More info to follow including
pictures taken with a decent camera. The originals were taken
in August 2000 with a Sony camera using a 3.5 inch floppy disk
as memory and reduced in size for dial-up Internet which I recall
ran here at something like 35kbs on a good day. |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Here's some better pictures of
my first R210.
The yellow finish has been done very
professionally and it's hard to say whether this was done by
its last owner, an Army Depot or even the manufacturer. I guess
it was done by the last owner.
The receiver has a couple of pairs of
leads sticking out the back terminating in a choc block. These
went to a home-brew power supply which came with the set. At
first sight I thought these were a pair for valve heaters and
a pair for HT, but looking at the PSU, it has a jack socket on
the front so the thinner wires are for the loudspeaker/headphones
and the thicker wires for the vibrator and heaters.
If you're interested you may like to
compare these pictures which, from the date on the capacitors
dates it to 1958, with those of my second R210 which is a prototype
dated 1955.
The vibrator in the yellow receiver
is indicated as "VB1" and carries the codes Z1-6130-99-110-2609
and B4/SS/691 |
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I
acquired the example below in 2019 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
I haven't had time to open the
case and examine what's inside but I did notice that the front
panel differs from the yellow example above in that the lettering
is engraved and filled rather than being raised. I suppose that
casting the lettering might have saved some money?
I suspect one of the front panel RF
connectors is also different from that in the production run? |
|
|
Now the interior revealed. Maybe
untouched since 1955 as that's the date on the condensers? The
coils and trimmers are arranged perfectly. |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
That cylindrical object
is a 24 volt vibrator. |
 |
 |
|
I suppose I should feel
some attachment to this receiver as it was developed by ATE with
whom I served my graduate apprenticeship after leaving university.
After 20 years, in 1985, I was transferred from the
old Linesman factory in Liverpool to the Christchurch
site of Plessey where each of the older buildings is still
known by its old SRDE designation... SD4...SD5 etc.... SRDE produced
the original design of the R210 and who knows... maybe in the
same hut as I worked? |
|
|
