The Companion 249

Bulova Watch Corp.; Woodside (NY)

Data
Forum
Pictures
Collections

  • Year
  • 1955 ??
  • Category
  • Broadcast Receiver - or past WW2 Tuner
  • Radiomuseum.org ID
  • 69035

 Technical Specifications

  • Number of Tubes
  • 4
  • Main principle
  • Superheterodyne (common); 1 AF stage(s)
  • Wave bands
  • Broadcast only (MW).
  • Power type and voltage
  • Line / Batteries (any type) / 117 / 2 x 1,5 & 1 x 67,5 Volt
  • Loudspeaker
  • Permanent Magnet Dynamic (PDyn) Loudspeaker (moving coil)
  • Material
  • Leather / canvas / plastic - over other material
  • from Radiomuseum.org
  • Model: The Companion 249 - Bulova Watch Corp.; Woodside
  • Shape
  • Portable set > 8 inch (also usable without mains)
  • Dimensions (WHD)
  • 250 x 170 x 70 mm / 9.8 x 6.7 x 2.8 inch
  • Notes

  • Leather case with strap.

    See the same radio with different colors: 246 and 247.

  • External source of data
  • Volker Jeschkeit

 Collections | Museums | Literature

Collections

The model The Companion is part of the collections of the following members.

 Forum

Forum contributions about this model: Bulova Watch Corp.;: The Companion 249

Threads: 1 | Posts: 1

I recently restored a Bulova Companion radio chassis and leather case.  Presented below are my discoveries and experiences with this poor abused, now rescued, radio:

There is an Aerovox Resonant 0.1 uf resonant capacitor (resonalnt at 455Khz)  between circuit common and chassis.  I performed some tests to verify it's resonance and to better understand its function.  But to no avail.  It was eventually replaced with a UL rated Safety Cap of the same capacitance.  

With out the capacitor at all the radio experience "Birdies" all across the dial.  With the original Resonant Cap some birdies were experienced high on the tuning band.  See below test results:

> Line at 117vac; original selenium rectifier; 8 volts across filament string.
> No resonant cap - Birdies all over the band from 1620 to 530.
> Original Resonant cap back in - Birdies from 1620 to 1500
> New 0.1 uf Safety - Same birdies as Resonant cap.

 
> Replaced Selenium with Silicon and 180 ohm 2w resistor (tweaked for 6.20
volts across filament string (1.4v rated filaments all 4 tubes including the
3V4) at 120 vac) -
> Input AC Resultant
120vac  Same birdies as new 0.1uf non res.
117vac  One birdie at ~1600
109vac  No birdies at all.

 
> After alignment at 120 vac one birdie remained with very clear strong
reception.   Receives well at 117vac and Ok at 109 vac.
> Tweaked (moved) lead wires around oscillator coil and eliminated the last birdie!

 

It appears that the resonant Cap may have had another purpose.  One possibility is to filter out  Maritime wireless  location transmission and/or "Ship to Shore" radio phone operated at 455Khz.  This cap was used to shunt induced RF to ground. Other theories were tabled.  The full conversation may be viewed at http://antiqueradios.com/forums/Forum11/HTML/006043.html.  

The operation of the radio is quite acceptable and with out birdie once the new capacitor was installed, the rectifier replaced and the filament series string voltage adjusted with an added series resistor (just after the new 1N4004 silicon rectifier) to set the voltage at four (4) times 1.4 volts.  The 1.4 volts is the specified voltage for all four tubes in the radio.  The operation line voltage in my shop is ~117vac.  The isolation transformer was set to 120 for final testing of the restoration.

This text and pictures of the radio's origonal condition can be found on http://www.ppinyot.com/Bulova/bulova.htm

Also -

1) Is it possible to see a side picture, more detail of the strap, so that I may reproduce the strap for the unit I have? 

2)  Has anyone successfully restored the gold color embosed paint on this or a similar radio?  I want to try and restore the gold paint on this Bulova radio. 

All comments welcome.

Thanks,
Paul Pinyot.
paul[A*T]ppinyot.com

Paul E. Pinyot † 2013, 20.Aug.05

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