Eddystone Receiver Choice

[pwdrive]

Hello all, If I was to go for an Eddystone valved receiver for SWL DX etc what would those that have used them recomend?

Maybe top three receivers as a choice, I am ok for servicing/maintainance etc.
Plenty on the web but would prefer advice from those that have actually used them.

Lawrence.

[Alistair D]

Are you looking for general coverage or amateur bands only?

There is a link to the Eddystone user on my spreadsheet. Lots of useful information on their website.

Al

[pwdrive]

Hello Al, If I had to make a choice I would have to go general coverage first unless a dedicated amature band one came up for reasonable money beforehand.

Lawrence.

[Alistair D]

I don't think there is such a thing as a cheap Eddystone.
My choice would be a 940.

Al

[pwdrive]

Thanks for that Al, as you say I don't think one would be cheap, what I meant by reasonable money was the going rate for a decent example for which I would have no objection paying if the seller is an honest person, I hear they are a bit like Collins receivers insofar as once obtained owners are reluctant to part with them, I wish they would as a well looked after Collins is my holy grail, I have entered Eddy. 940 in my note book to start the ball rolling.

Lawrence.

[Yorkie]

I went through an Eddystone stage and had most of them at one time or another. The 940 was an excellent general coverage receiver, and the EA12 the top of the range amateur bands only. However, if you do get a 940, or indeed any Eddystone, you need to be prepared to do some restoration work to bring it back on spec. The 940 used a lot of Hunts caps which are small oval shaped and well past their best. Also, the carbon resistors go high in value, as well as generating noise. There is an excellent Eddystone User Group where you can get advice and information on likely faults and weak points, circuits, manuals, help on the nightmare task of re-stringing dials, and so on.

They're very large and heavy, and though they were very well designed and robust, and do give a good account of themselves, there are far better receivers available today with better sensitivity, selectivity and filtering, and with 'product detectors' rather than simple BFOs. But really, people don't buy Eddystones for top performance any more than they'd buy say an MGB car to drive at sustained high speeds for long distances on motorways, when any most modern small family car would outperform it.

Whenever we buy anything old it's not really a rational decision, but a triumph of nostalgia overcoming common sense, from which we derive immense enjoyment in so doing!

Expect to pay £150 - £200+ for a good unmolested 940, and perhaps £250+ for an EA12 (which is a double conversion receiver with crystal fllters). The main problem in getting hold of one is that most are in the hands of Eddystone collectors who hang onto them, and they tend only to come onto the market when someone either passes away, or downsizes. Those that do come onto the market tend to go on e-bay, where it only takes two people to want one desperately enough to send the price over the top. When we buy anything on e-bay, we may be pleased with our purchase and happy with the price we pay, but as with any auction, we pay the highest price that anyone was prepared to pay for that item at that time. Despite the e-bay rhetoric, we don't 'win' anything, we buy it at the highest price going.

The most over-rated Eddystones were the EB35 transistor broadcast receiver, and the EC10, which purported to be a 'communications receiver'. Though attractive, compact and well constructed, a glance at the circuitry will show that they differed little from other standard transistor radios of their day. A 'sheep in wolf's clothing'. They often suffer from serious corrosion due to batteries being left in them when stored for many years.

Good luck in your quest Lawrence!

[pwdrive]

Thanks David, the reason for eventually wanting one is mainly for a comparison receiver and bench cruiser when working on other stuff ie: signal drop...is it the receiver I'm working on, my aerial gone down, Mag. storm, X flares etc. The idea is to have it permenantly wired up on the bench ready to go and quick to tune for quick comparison checks etc plus general every day cruising about for assessing band conditions, DX etc. prior to digging out one of the boat anchors. Not worried about maintainance etc as i am a qualified service engineer and cut my teeth on valves (That sounds bad...I won't forget to spit the pips out next time)

Lawrence.

[Michaelr]

I agree with David , wrt to the 940 and and the EA12 , although I wish I could have got my examples for the prices he mentioned.

My EA12 cost me just under £400 but was a very good example in good condition, however after about 6 months of regular use I had to rework it completely with new caps and quite a few resistors.There are some Vinknor inductors in various places like the slot filter and the bandpass filter , if these were to go it would be a problem finding replacements.

A nice performer and useable.

I have just sold my 940 , this was an ex "Reuters" unit and was very lively it too has a product detector again cost me just under £250 with the silky smooth dial even general coverage are useable on ham bands.

These old comms valve sets like most boatanchors are deliberately designed to be "tank like" that is how they get a lot of their stability, the chassis are very rigid , in the case of eddystones many had the main RF sections encased in a die cast aluminium chassis. Once warmed up it is amazing how thermally stable they remain.

If you want performance , general coverage as well as very useable on the Ham Bands go for Racal RA117E ( if you have to an RA17) or a Collins R390A. Certainly if you are going to spend over £200 a RA117E/ RA17 is achievable and over here in the UK there is enough information to keep it going. I had a RA117E in the early 90's and wish I had never got rid of it.

Mike

[Skywave]

Hi Lawrence,

From the specification of your needs, as excellent as the 940 is, I think that it's a bit of an overkill - especially considering the price that this model usually commands :omg:. What you didn't specify was physical size - and if that really is an important criterion, then the EC10 Mk. II just about fits the bill - provided that you can live with its limitations. If size - but still an Eddystone - really isn't a factor, but general coverage and price are, and you're not after the highest spec. available, then an 840C or the earlier 840A seem a good choice. (The 840A is an a.c. / d.c. set - I presume that that isn't an issue?). The S.640 could be a relatively cheap-n-cheerful acquisition, especially if it is declared as 'needing work; spares or repair' and provided you can live with the poor selectivity (1600 kHz I.F.) Other strong contenders - and a bit more expensive, but with better performance - are the 730/4 and the 680X - both, when properly set up, will give a good account of themselves. (Speaks from experience). The S.750 is an excellent G.C. receiver (again, after maintenance); double-conversion: 1620kHz and 85 kHz; image rejection ratio above 14 MHz will be excellent and will be the (variable) selectivity. But that model is none too common, and that fact is reflected in the price it fetches. Basically, its a G.C. version of the highly-prized Amateur Bands only receiver, the 888 and the later 888A

As I'm sure you're well aware, all these suggested Eddys. will have been been 'round the block a few times, so be prepared for the usual 'newly-acquired maintenance routine' for checking and replacing various C and R. (The need for valve replacement is uncommon). And that is easier said than done, since many Eddys. are not the easiest sets to do that sort of maintenance on, since they tend to be very crowded beneath the chassis - with the exception (amongst those that I've listed) - of the 840A.

Outside of Eddystones, the Yaesu FRG-7 is a strong contender, but they are very popular, and can, therefore, get expensive.

HTH

Al.
 

[Yorkie]

I guess my estimates of price hadn't taken account of how e-bay has driven up prices since I acquired and sold my Eddystones. I bought a pristine 940 for £125, and when I went to collect it, the guy said would you be interested in this one - an EA12. If you are, you can have the pair of them for £200! That was about 1998. About 2006 I sold the 940 for £175 and the EA12 for £250. (I'd earlier had a 940 which I'd sold, then regretted selling it, and had advertised for the 940 that I collected from Liverpool along with the EA12). I'd steer clear on AC/DC ones.

In 1985 I bought a set of 16 R&TV books for £15.00 and when I went to collect them, the guy said 'is this any good to you - you can have it if you want it'. It was an Eddystone bug key! They'd been a spectacular flop and hadn't sold well so were not produced in great numbers, making them uncommon if not rare. I sold that for years ago to someone who offered me £175.00 for it and pleaded with me to let him have it. He didn't have to twist my arm!

Having gone through almost the whole gamut of Eddystones, I'd only buy one nmow as either a restoration project or for the joy of ownership. Unless brought back onto spec with considerable restoration, I wouldn't use one as a serious DX receiver. There have been so many advances over the years that they can't compete with modern sold state receivers. That said, Eddystone did produce some very complex and reliable sold state receivers, and there is, or was, a guy who specialsed in them, but that's not relevant to this thread.

Chris Pettit - former MD of Eddystone, wrote a fascinating history of the company, which originally made hairgrips, but when bobbed hairstyles came into fashion in the 1920s their market collapsed, so they turned to making components for the newfangled phenomenon known as 'radio'. Chris is a member of the Eddystone User Group. The other guru is Graeme Wormald - a super guy, who I hope is still around!

I'd agree with the comments about the S640 - a simpler receiver that was the first post-war one, so is quite long in the tooth, compared to say the 940 which was the last valved model, and actually cobbled together from parts from other models, but with a good end result. The 640 has a 'half-moon' dial with two pointers - one for bandspread, and tends not to be as sought after as the 'slide-rule' models.

The only Eddystone items that I still have are a couple of round die-cast speakers, which also go for ridiculous prices.