Pls help me identify this radio, probably 1935

Dear forum.

I stumbled upon this radio, alas the backplane is missing. There is little info. At the scale it says Undy 538, I can read tubes P2, AS4120, and probably AB495, but I cannot find that tube anywhere. it has some Varley inductors (I guess) and a BRIMHO loudspeaker.

What brand is this? Schematics? type?

Arjen

• Front (41 KB)
• frontdetail (42 KB)
• back (44 KB)

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Hello Arjen,

can you provide a good, detailed and readable view of the dial scale please, including the "Undy" text? Perhaps also an image of the speaker (showing BRIMHO).

It would be wise first to try and determine the maker if any, then we can go into the technical details.

The chassis design surely looks haphazard. Varley was a British brand, it would be interesting to see where other components originate from. The tubes are most likely replacements according to what was available at the time.

My best guess at first glance is this is a homebrew radio in a professional cabinet, perhaps taken from another radio altogether.

Kind regards
Mark

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Thank you for replying.

This item is for sale at the moment and I took the pics from the add. So further details are not possible at the moment.

However, I think you are right when suggesting it is a homebrew radio. Unless someone could confirm this is an actual brand radio (not homemade thus) I think I´ll let this one go.

Thanks

Arjen

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Dear Arjen,     I would not be too hasty in calling this radio a homebrew cabinet with a named chassis. I have a collection of radios that were produced during the 1932-1948 time period in Great Britain. Most of them were of let's say an eccentric design. They were rather plain, but with well built cabinets. To take this comment  further, a lot of the chassis design was also sometimes a little eccentric. But the end result was a functioning radio. Your radio was most likely made by a very small company in Great Britain, which would make it rare and desireable to own. In the 30's and early 40's there were lots of tubes coming from small companies that are almost impossible to find today. I am fortunate with a couple of my sets in that they use those tubes that are still in working condition.When the tubes go, the radio is useless except for display purposes. These radios are still fun to collect and fairlly inexpensive to buy, mostly because they were 220-240 volts.  Have fun, Garrett.

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