Comms. receivers, especially of the vintage variety, is one of my key interests, and (surprise, surprise) that includes Eddystone radios.
I could go on at considerable length to answer your question, based on my experience as an owner, user and repairer over the last 50+ odd years or so. But I'll try to summarise.
Generally speaking, they were built to last - in actual point of fact, most models have lasted far, far longer than the designers ever anticipated! (I know that for a certainty since that is what I was told by an original Eddystone Radio design engineer; I used to be employed by Eddystone Radio). And, in their day, most sets were very expensive.
In terms of performance, again, generally excellent (when fully refurbished - if necessary), but like all manufacturers, a wide range of products was produced over the years for various applications and various price ranges: generally speaking, the more you pay, the better the performance & you get more user-facilities, etc. - but it really depends on what you want to use it for and what performance you require.
As regards construction, again, very good (although there are some serious weaknesses in some sets, IMHO). The only negative comment I will make is that on all of their radios, the layout under the chassis does make maintenance difficult: in some places (fortunately not many), component replacement is virtually impossible. Many parts are still readily available, but the Eddystone-unique parts are, of course, now very rare, difficult to source and can be quite expensive when they do become available - mains transformers, for example. Fortunately, in my experience, during repair work, it's usually the common things like resistors, capacitors and valves (no rare ones used that I'm aware of) that require replacement.
If you have any particular model - or models in mind, and would like to know more about them, or alternatively, you have a particular need (e.g. Amateur radio only; general coverage broadcast, VHF/UHF only, etc.), please send me a PM. If any of them are in my experience / knowledge base, I'll be only too happy to advise.
Al.
I could go on at considerable length to answer your question, based on my experience as an owner, user and repairer over the last 50+ odd years or so. But I'll try to summarise.
Generally speaking, they were built to last - in actual point of fact, most models have lasted far, far longer than the designers ever anticipated! (I know that for a certainty since that is what I was told by an original Eddystone Radio design engineer; I used to be employed by Eddystone Radio). And, in their day, most sets were very expensive.
In terms of performance, again, generally excellent (when fully refurbished - if necessary), but like all manufacturers, a wide range of products was produced over the years for various applications and various price ranges: generally speaking, the more you pay, the better the performance & you get more user-facilities, etc. - but it really depends on what you want to use it for and what performance you require.
As regards construction, again, very good (although there are some serious weaknesses in some sets, IMHO). The only negative comment I will make is that on all of their radios, the layout under the chassis does make maintenance difficult: in some places (fortunately not many), component replacement is virtually impossible. Many parts are still readily available, but the Eddystone-unique parts are, of course, now very rare, difficult to source and can be quite expensive when they do become available - mains transformers, for example. Fortunately, in my experience, during repair work, it's usually the common things like resistors, capacitors and valves (no rare ones used that I'm aware of) that require replacement.
If you have any particular model - or models in mind, and would like to know more about them, or alternatively, you have a particular need (e.g. Amateur radio only; general coverage broadcast, VHF/UHF only, etc.), please send me a PM. If any of them are in my experience / knowledge base, I'll be only too happy to advise.
Al.
