Pye T19D

Pye T19D veneered wood case with sloping front £22.1s.2d plus purchase tax. Valve lineup: ECH35 EF39 EBC33 EL33 AZ31 Long, medium and 6 short wavebands, Cambridge, UK 1950

This set was introduced in 1949 and is similar to the 19D which was introduced 1948. It was followed by the P35 (1950). Radiogram models 19RG (1949) and P35RG (1950) are electrically the same. All four sets have the same 8 wavebands (16m, 19m, 25m, 31m, 49m, MSW, MW and LW) except model 19D which has 13m (21.3-22 MHz) waveband and the MSW covers 3-8 MHz. The 19D has no separate 49 m band as this is covered by the MSW band. I have been told the T stands for trawler band (which on this set covers 1.5-4 MHz - obsolete allocation as they all use VHF now).This radio was working well but the on/off switch which should be operated by the tone control switch was broken and had been replaced by a toggle switch at the rear of the set. As far as I could see none of the components had been changed and the radio apart from the switch replacement is 'as built', the main electrolytic smoothing capacitor is dated April 1950.

Although the nameplate clearly states that the radio is intended to operate on 200-250volts, this model has an additional voltage selector. I wonder if this was a model made for export as the servicing information and schematic diagrams for this model and the 19D show transformers without the additional tappings.

I saw on the internet that someone else had the same problem with the on/off switch and that they had used a switched potentiometer mounted on a bracket so I decided to give it a try. This shows how I adopted the suggestion, the bracket and toggle switch are now redundant.

When I last switched it on I found that it produced plenty of mains hum due to the failure of the main smoothing capacitors. I purchased more modern and smaller ones and have hidden them in the original aluminium casing. I now have good reception on all wavebands (though not much voice or music on the shortwaves nowadays) and I was surprised that nothing else seemed to need attention, how’s that for a 1950 radio? The two core mains lead has now been replaced with 3 core and the chassis connected to earth.

History of Pye see: www.pyetelecomhistory.org/
http://www.pyemuseum.org/divisions/consumer/radio-tv_history.php
Schematic click here: