hacker: RV20; Mayflower 2 - a Rebuild

To any RMorg Hacker Radio Enthusiasts,

I don`t know if anyone amongst the RMorg membership is also a member of the Hacker Group forum as I am, but if anyone is contemplating any major work on one of these truly brilliant valve radios, I did an article on the total re-build from chassis up, and sent the photographs to the Hacker Group.

There is a downside, even if not a major one, if anyone would like access to these photographs - you need to join the Hacker  Group, as these are only available to members.

On accessing, because of the security, you will be requested to join the Hacker Group as I said.

There are 20 photographs in total, and show the errors I made when trying to refurbish the wooden case, as well as details which I didn`t cock-up, like capacitor replacement.

 You should note that in the last photo` there appears to be a gun under the table in my total mess of a conservatory where the rebuild took place - as a form of explanation, this was only an air rifle which I was simultaneously servicing!

For any American readers of this article, the Hacker Group has recently been in contact with the Grundig Radio Group in the US, where these Grundig enthusiasts have just come across the Hacker radios, and there is cooperation between the two Groups over introducing themselves to one another.

regards

graham guy 

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Please note that I tried to add links to the original article, but despite numerous attempts, failed miserably. 

Perhaps someone who knows how to do these things, and has the time to be bothered and thinks it worthwhile, could add the links to both the Hacker Group Forum website, and the actual photo` file itself.

My thanks in advance for this: I promise to try to find out how to do this myself in the future if I need to - I tried the FAQ info article by the way, but failed at that too! 

 

graham

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Hello Graham,

I'm a member of the group, you will find several pics of my sets posted there.

Hacker radios aren't well known outside of the UK, which is a shame as they are almost certainly the best quality transistor radios built here and the Mayflower model one of the best FM valve sets.  

I can't work out how to post links on here either but you could post a pic of your restored set on the Mayflower RV20 model page.

Regards ......... Howard

 

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Good Afternoon Howard,

                                   And thanks for your reply; I have indeed already looked at all of your impressive radio collection - you certainly seem to know your stuff as well, even if we share the lack of ability with adding links. 
I don`t really see the point however of adding my own Mayflower to the model page as it will just demonstrate my lack of ability when it comes to woodwork refurbishment: Bakelite I`m ok with, but woodwork surfaces I just seem to make worse. The only thing I ever found out about woodwork surfaces & their improvement was the use of walnuts in obtaining a protective shine, but the Mayflower needed a bit more than that, and a bit more than I was capable of at the time, and I am no better now.

The point of mentioning the re-build was that it demonstrates to those with minimum radio knowledge like myself,  but with an ability to follow a diagram & solder, that a rebuild of something that started out as well built as the Mayflower, is a perfectly viable possibility.

 

regard

graham

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Hello Graham and Howard,

I can only agree; these are lovely sounding sets, but also a doddle to work on. I'm not really a "valve person", but starting with these sets has really boosted my confidence. It's just a shame that most other manufacturers fail to use such neat tagstrips :-)

I've only just joined up here, but it's nice to see some familiar faces!

All the best,

Mark

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