s/n WA 13575
GEC model BC6447 Five valve table radio housed in a black Bakelite case with gold and cream speaker grille and surround to dial. Original valve line up: X118, W118, DH118, N118and U118. AC/DC 200-250V 25-60Hz. 2 wavebands (Medium 187-572m and Long1050-1875m) UK 1958
This is one of the first valve radios to have a printed circuit. I felt sorry for this little radio covered with dust sitting in a junk shop and bought it for £4. The knobs are not original, the printed circuit board has a crack and the speaker grille a small chip. The dial cord had come adrift but was intact though the pulleys needed lubrication. The picture here shows what it looks like after a preliminary clean. Apart from removing dust and cleaning the printed circuit board all I had to do was to replace one 0.01 mFd capacitor and insert two dial bulbs. Unfortunately I do not have any 20V 0.1A ones so have put two 6V 0.3A ones in circuit as a temporary measure. Before energising the radio I tested the electrolytic capacitors and wired in a new mains lead (the original had been cut short). when all this was done the set worked perfectly on both long and medium wavebands.
The combined volume control and on/off switch on the left has a circular dial with the word "OFF" and a white band to indicate the volume. Behind the tuning knob on the right is a lever to operate the wave change switch.
Although the radio has an in-built ferrite aerial there is a socket for the optional connection of an external aerial.
Here you will see where I have repaired the cracked left hand corner of the printed circuit board using a two part epoxy resin and provided extra support across the cracks using thin aluminium bent over the edges. A crack under the large green dropper resistor had been previously bridged by the yellow wire seen on the underside of the board on the right hand side. Apart from this I could see no evidence of any previous repairs other than several of the valves were not original. The aluminium electrolytic capacitor is dated September 1958. The GEC label on the loudspeaker hides the fact that it was made by Goodmans in Wembley.
