Serial Number 349/....
Bush TR82C Transistor Radio LW/MW Wavebands (158 to 280 kHz
and 525 to 1605 kHz) with push button waveband selection, off/on/tone
control and volume control.Powered by a single 9v PP9 battery.Seven
transistors (AF117, AF117, AF117, OC71, OC81D, OC81, OC81) with
push-pull output driving a 5 inch Celestion loudspeaker.
Like many transistor radios of this era it has a socket for a car
aerial in the back panel. UK 1963
I was lucky to get this radio as part of a job lot on Ebay as nobody
else seemed to want them. There was not much wrong with it that could
not be rectified with a good clean, though it had been dropped at some
time and there were a couple of chips to the case and the cover to one
side of the handle was missing. I had to replace the rubber grommets
which hold the tuning capacitor in place and use epoxy adhesive to
repair one of the internal fixings. It has a cream coloured cabinet and
blue leather look sides and chrome trim. This one of the later versions
of the TR82, which has the less reliable AF series transistors. Unlike
the original TR82 this has an earphone socket and the BUSH on the front
is part of the plastic moulding rather than the separate brass letters
of the originals.
The following is an interesting snippet from the operating instructions:
Transistors may be expected, under normal operating conditions to
have a much longer life than valves. If, however a transistor should
need be replaced, this must be done by your dealer. Transistors cannot
be plugged in like valves and for the purposes of servicing the must be
treated in the same way as other components.
I was puzzled by the circular indentation on the lower right of the back panel and discovered that this case was designed in 1957 to house the Bush MB60 5 valve mains/battery MW/LW portable radio. This case designed by David Ogle was used for many years and is perhaps the most remembered British transistor radio. More recently the design has been resurrected and used to house a modern set including a VHF band.
The white circular disc on the aluminium chassis has the chassis number A349. The pushbuttons actuate a conventional rotary wafer switch.
Martin J. Pratt who is a
Director of R&M Rentals Ltd recently contacted me to say that his
granddad Robert J Sprules
who worked for Bush before and after WW2 designed the circuit for this
model. Sadly he passed away in 2013 but was still repairing the odd
TR82, he was 92. Martin has a number of working examples of the TR82.
How much is it worth? �10-�15.
You can find a link to a very informative article on these radios here: http://www.vintage-radio.net/ Have a look as well at the page describing my other TR82 radios: bushtr82b.html and bushtr82c_2.html
