I have been collecting old radios, electrical and electronic
test equipment over many years. Three or four of the items shown and
described on this site belonged to my father
who was a Radio Ham, others have been given to me by family members
some have been bought at junk shops but many have been given to me by
owners who had no further use for them but would like them cared for
and remembered rather than consigning them to a skip.
I now have a collection of over 180 radios and more than 180 pieces of test
equipment, as well as
miscellaneous items, telephones, calculators and barometers and
thermometers.
CLICK THE PICTURE
Many of the radios and pieces of test equipment are now working well but several are in need of attention. I have been able to locate schematic diagrams for many of them but for others I have had to resort to tracing out the circuits.
Please have a look at the colour photos and descriptions, and help me with the identification or provide me with information about the radios and pieces of test equipment. As you will see several people have provided useful information concerning some of the items, if you have any suggestions or observations please let me know and I will update the pages appropriately.
I have a number of old electrical and electronic
engineering books, one of which is a 3rd edition 1916 of "An Elementary
Manual of Radiotelegraphy and Radiotelephony by J A Fleming who, more
than 100 years ago produced the first Fleming valve. (see picture on
right)
I am interested in getting things working and unlike the websites of some other collectors you will be able to see what is inside many of the vintage and antique radios and pieces of test equipment.
The navigation system includes thumbnails which I hope are big enough to get a general impression of the various items in my collection. Please click on those that interest you for further information. This will bring you to a page with a more detailed description and sometimes showing the interior, schematic diagram, a price guide, historical information and links to other websites. Use your Browser Back button to go back and click on another thumbnail. You could use the Google search box on this page to find all the references on my site for a particular item. (type "cossor" to see what happens.
Some of my radios
appeared in a BBC4 TV programme "Gagging for It: TV's Hunger for Radio"
in 2007. You can also see some on one of the
Guardian web pages.
My Regency
TR1G featured on a Channel
4 programme "Stephen Fry's 100
Greatest Gadgets" in August 2011. It exceeded my expectations and came
in at number 12. The programme was shown again in April 2012.
In September
2014 I was
interviewed by Mike Hicks for a short piece which was broadcast on Mustard
TV (a local TV station) and in
June 2015 answered questions on Radio Norfolk. In January last
year I was interviewed again by Mike Hicks fo Radio Norfolk and this
time some of my radios were heard "on air".
I now have quite a collection of AVO and Evershed and Vignoles instruments and lent a number to MEGGER for a display during their Open Day to celebrate their 50th year in Dover in November 2016.
This site was first created in February 2001 and was last updated on 4th March 2022. Most of the pages on the site should now be more readily viewable on a mobile phone or small screen device. I am gradually adding new items and making minor changes. Please come back again.
made on an iMac
click on the iMac to see links to sites
of other members of the family
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