George's British Radios...

Last Updated on January 20, 2013

These sets are some of the British radios I have obtained from different parts of the world... I want to extend my thanks to the many people who have helped me find radios for my collection from all over the world. Many people from the net have offered me wonderful radios over the years. I wish you good luck in your own hunt!

Radios from England

Venus - Manufactured in England in the early 1950s by Champion Electric. This radio was just recently purchased at our local antique radio club (New England Antique Radio Club) swap meet in Nashua New Hampshire. I had wanted to find an example of this radio ever since I saw a photo of it in the book 'Radio Art' by Robert Hawes. I had seen one in London a few years back, but the price was prohibitive. I was not expecting to find this radio here in the US, and I was surprised, to say the least, when I walked into our meet to set up and saw this radio sitting on a table near mine! I was stunned, excited, and overwhelmed. Once I recovered, I was able to locate the owners and arranged for the purchase. The radio is a light pink in color, with some of the color seeming to have been bleached out by the sun. I have not tried it out yet to see if it plays.. The radio is in relatively nice condition, and from the dust inside, I would think it has been in storage for quite some time.

	Bush E.B.S. 24 - Manufactured in England in the early 1950s. This radio was purchased in this very unfortunate condition. The dial was what hooked me, as it is very unusual, and it is in very good condition. I have finally completed the process of restoring this 6 band set. It uses RimLock valves, and has a very unique tuning indicator at the top. I have created a seperate page for the ongoing saga of this radio.. Please follow this link, or click on the radios to the left for lots more information! What made this project so interesting was that I received assistance from many people who have seen the project page, and provided advice, information, documentation, and even parts! You will find everything from additional photos, to pictures of the owner's manual, and a schematic of the radio on that page. Many Thanks to all those who have helped!

	Cossor Model 479 AC/E - Manufactured in England by A. C. Cossor Ltd, London. My guess would be that this set was made in the late 1930's or early 1940s.. This set was obtained on eBay, and turned into something more interesting than I thought.. I started restoring the radio. The cabinet looks like it had someone hit it with a few swipes of a paint brush, so there is definite cabinet work required. I am in the process of restoring it electrically. One of the IF cans was open, but luckily, it turned out that the lead had broken at the terminal inside, and was easily repaired. Encouraged by that bit of luck, I am now in the local oscilator section, and am fighting possible bad valves.. So the set is under the bench at the moment awaiting time when I can really roll up my sleaves and delve in.. This set uses an OM4, 2 OM6, an OM10, 6V6, 63ME, and a 53KU. The power valve had come loose in shipping and was found floating inside the radio.. and again, as luck would have it, it did not break, and functions well! I am missing two push-buttons for this set. If anyone has a spare, please contact me.. I will try to post a closeup and dimensions soon. It was the large brown dial that caught my fancy.. It is in fine shape, and I think will look wonderful when back-lit!

	Ferguson Model 388A - Manufactured in England by Ferguson Radio Corporation, Ltd. Locations listed are Enfield and Middlesex. It also has a stamp saying "A Product of Thorn Electrical Industries, Ltd." This is an AC Mains set, most likely from the 1950s from the design. The radio is 25.5 inches wide (not including handles), 8.5 inches high, and 9 inches deep. The design intrigued me, and I purchased it from a fellow collector who found it at a swap meet I was attending.. After a bit of cleaning, it came up and ran quite nicely. It has 3 bands, Long, Medium, and VHF/FM.

	Ekco SW86 - Manufactured in England by Ekco. This radio was made in 1935. This set has 5 valves. This set is 22 inches wide, 12 inches high, and about 9.5 inches deep. It came in a brown bakelite, and a black/chrome model as shown here. This was an export model with Shortwave. I purchased this from a collector in New Zealand, and it was a bear to ship, as it is VERY heavy!. The dials for this radio had shriveled and discolored with age . I used Correl Draw and created a new main dial and an inner dial using my ink-jet printer, and taking the printout, and having it laminated with a plastic coating. It came out quite nice, and I am quite proud of myself! (Big grin..)

	Ekco A22 - Manufactured in England by Ekco. This radio was made in 1945. This set has only 3 valves. This set is a bit over 13 inches in diameter, and about 7 inches deep. It came in a brown bakelite, and a black/chrome model as shown here. This was the first Ekco that I had obtained.

	Ekco AD65 - Manufactured in England by Ekco. This radio was made in 1934. This set has only 3 valves. This set is about 14 inches in diameter, and about 8 inches deep. It came in a brown bakelite as shown, and a black/chrome model. This is the most recent Ekco that I have obtained. It is the "classic" round Ekco radio for collectors, and prices usually reflect it! The dials tend to warp, as this one is doing. The best thing I have found is to try to make a color photocopy of the tuning dial, and laminate it with a plastic coating. I would love to know if there are reproduction dial scales available. The photocopy works quite well, and alows me to preserve the original look.

	Wells Coated R.A.D.65 - Manufactured in England by Gerry Wells. This radio was made in 1994. This set has 4 valves. This set is about 15 inches in diameter, and about 8 inches deep. It is a wooden radio and it is painted to look like bakelite.

	Ekco AD76 - Manufactured in England by Ekco. This radio was made in 1935. This set has 4 valves. This set is close to 16 inches in diameter, and about 7.5 inches deep. It came in a brown bakelite, and a black/chrome model as shown here.

	Emor Globe - Manufactured in England by Emor in 1946 and 1947. This set has 4 valves. This set is 12 inches in diameter, and stands about 60 inches tall. The radio is tunes by rotating it on the stand. A beam of light shines on the tuning dial wrapped around the middle of the sphere. This radio was known to come in a red and green version as well as a chromed and gold plated version. Thanks to Kevin Parrott for showing me the gold and chrome versions as factory original! This particular set has been wired as a AC/DC set, and does not contain a transformer. It is not know if this is a field modification, or factory original. The chassis has space for a transformer.