Unknown Radio

This radio was found in Tasmaia, Australia.  The only word found in it is Pile, suggesting a French speaking country of origin.  The dial is clearly European and it has 4 valves, currently 1R5 1T4 1S5 3S4. There are push buttons for selecting the frequency band

• Picture of the Radio (83 KB)

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Jim,

This is indeed a French model with BC, LW and two SW bands.

Perhaps more views can help with identification: back, open lid, chassis, speaker etc. Another possibility is the dial scale, sometimes the manufacturer and/or a type is printed in the covered area(s).

It is well possible that this is a kit that was offered by one of the numerous small companies that provided parts and sometimes ready-assembled receivers - often without any indication as to type or manufacturer.

Kind regards
Mark

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Thanks very much for helping here Mark.  I will get more photos to you soon.

Best wishes for the new year.

jim

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Hi Mark,

Additional Photos.  And some observations.

It uses a 7.5v battery and a 90 volt battery.

The AC supply uses 2 silicon diodes for each supply.

The case is leatherette covered wood like a cigar box wood.

The volume control is geared reduction drive

The screws are flat blade counter sunk with metric thread

Thanks very much for looking at this, I know you must be very busy.

Regards

jim

• AC Power supply (157 KB)
• AC_Power_Supply (157 KB)
• Battery_Compartment (80 KB)
• Dial (77 KB)
• Chassis_front (121 KB)
• PCB (96 KB)
• Speaker (104 KB)
• Valve_on_PCB (117 KB)

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Hi Jim,

Thanks for the images. As I already thought, there's no indication of a manufacturer anywhere.

However we can make some observations:

• it's a (small) series production
• it might still be a kit radio - you'll be the judge of that: is the soldering done reasonably professionally everywhere?
• the mains transformer might be for 25 Hz mains, entirely not uncommon at that time
• the dial is fairly standard. Export models would usually omit MW in favour of an additional SW band. Also "usually" export models have 50 Hz mains (but it depends)
• it has no RF preamp stage
• the year of build is somewhere between 1956 and 1959. You might be able to determine it more precisely if you are able to locate date stamps on electrolytic caps or the speaker chassis.

That's about all that can be said right now. It might be worth asking on one of the french forums if somebody knows this radio.

What are your questions otherwise?

Cheers,
Mark

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Hi Jim,

As I happened to stumble across this thread after a while: is there a follow-up? Did you learn anything from the French colleagues?

Cheers
Mark

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The radio is an Arena from Denmark  the only info found is:

Ove Hede Nielsen began making radios in 1928 in a corner of his father's bicycle making plant. Annual productions of Herofon radios reached 10,000 units in 1939. In 1955, the Herofon name was changed to Arena and began simultaneously producing TVs. By 1960, Arena was the largest Danish producer of radios. Into the 1960s, Arena's development department created the component system, which led to faster repairs and the production of turntables and speakers. Arena's fortunes turned downward in 1970 when they suffered a devastating plant fire, the second of three, in the Hede Nielsen Factory's history. 12,000 radios, 4000 TVs, 20,000 speakers, and 1,000 turntables were lost in the blaze. Subsequently, Arena was sold to Rank Bush Murphy, from England, their business deteriorated, and employees ran the business with no success. In 1975, Scandinavia's most modern radio and TV factory closed, forever. Nothing on the web that I could find.

The brand was found on the silk screened PCB and a model number G48B hiding under the first if transformer and converter tubes socket.

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"Export models would usually omit MW in favour of an additional SW band"

You mean LW. It has LW, which is very rare  on export unless export within Europe. Also French + LW would only be in parts of Europe (not French speaking Africa or Canada).

I suppose the version with French scale could sell in Belgium, France, Luxemburg and Switzerland. I wonder did they have a German scale version too?

Arena stuff was nice. Rank Radio International sold some of it in the UK. Rank's Bush/Murphy didn't survive long past demise of the Arena brand. Brands sold to Harvard International and then to the owner of Argos. Argos since sold to Sainsbury supermarket. 

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I don't mean LW. French export models usually have LW and a number of SW bands, and no MW band. That is what makes them "export", because such models could not be sold in continental Europe where MW reception capability was mandatory. "Export" here means models destined for e.g. the French colonies at the time (called outre-mer).

As I already wrote to Jim per mail: it's not certain that this is an Arena (DK) product. In my opinion it seems much more likely to be a production of Arena (René Halftermeyer) in France, who specialized in PCB development in the late(r) 1960s, but was largely a parts supplier for dial scales, variable condensers etc.

We are waiting for feedback from Jim.

Regards
Mark

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Hi Jim.

When I read the paragraph you wrote on Arena, it immediately reminded me of a Danish TV dramatization called Kroniken written by Stig Thorsboe and Hanna Lundblad. It was a 22 episode series with sub-titles in English and featured several families, the chief one of which coincidentally was called Nielsen, the father having started a radio business in Denmark. The story progressed from 1949 onwards when the fictitious company Bella decided to venture into television and it ended in the early 1970's when the factory was lost in a large fire. If you search Wikipedia for Kroniken, you can read the translated text from Danish to English with the appropriate browser. Clearly, Arena's story looks as though it was used as one of the major plot lines for this very popular TV series in Denmark from 2004 - 2007. So, perhaps some of our Danish members will be able to offer some additional information on Arena for you.

Kind regards,

Stan

PS I agree with you that Mark is 'top notch' when it comes to answering questions on this forum, and Michael, too.

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