Hacker Mayflower 2 model RV20 valve radio

Hacker Mayflower 2 model RV20 . This is a High fidelity FM only (87 - 104 MHz), AC mains operated eight valve table top radio with 6.5 W push pull output. It is housed in a 12x18.5x 7.75 inch walnut veneered cabinet . Power requirement 200 - 250 Volts AC, 40 - 60 Hz, 60 W. The set is equipped with a single 10 X 6 inch elliptical speaker (stereo broadcasting was not generally available in the UK until 1971, some eight years after this model was designed)

Valve line up: ECC85, EF89, EF80, EF80, EB91, EM84, ECL86, ECL86 and a full wave metal rectifier.

This valve radio was given to me by Milford Harrison who remembers it as a child. He grew up with a GEC BC4940 "the radio" (also now in my collection) and remembers particularly Hancock's Half Hour on it in the 50s he tended to look at it when it was on so a visual memory too - it was a wonder at that age. That was replaced in the early 60s, with the advent of FM, with this Hacker and the GEC BC4940 went to an outside shed/workshop where it was used until his dad died some 30 years later. The Hacker of course was a revolution in sound quality and he played LPs through it as well till he went on his way and it beat his mate's Dansette hands down! It made him appreciate sound quality ever since and if life was still mono he would probably still be using the Hacker. Milford guesses that it was purchased from Beales of Bournemouth, a shop which is still going in about 1963.

I needed to do very little to this radio other than to clean the inside of dust, remove spots of white paint from the woodwork and lightly stain and polish the cabinet to bring back the original patina. The station markers made of triangular sections of polished brass were removed and cleaned and the slot in which they slide was cleaned out and extended so that one could indicate the position of Classic FM between 100 and 102 MHz.

History
As young men the Hacker brothers started their own manufacturing company in 1927 in Maidenhead and initially used the name of their father, H. Hacker. The trade name they adopted was "Dynatron", and in 1936 the company name was changed to Dynatron Radio Ltd. The firm made expensive, high specification radios and radiograms. The post-war period was difficult for Dynatron and in 1954 the company was taken over by Ekco. The Hacker brothers were retained as joint managing directors until in 1959 they parted company with Ekco and set up Hacker radio. Ekco merged with Pye in December 1960. In 1967 Pye was absorbed by Philips, and in 1981 Philips sold Dynatron Radio Ltd to Roberts Radio.