Radio chassis size--oldtimer

hans2

New member
Tadpole
Joined
Jun 26, 2015
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What's the radio tray / sleeve size for older models such as 604s and 504s? It's smaller than 1980s+ DIN and presumably can fit some of the smaller Philips and Grundigs from the 70s. Does anyone sell these new anymore?
 
Nice touch in a restoration to have a period radio. Original equipment on the 504 was the Astor Diamond Dot.
 
Yeah maybe, but only if it's been updated internally to receive FM which is fake . Better to conceal a decent unit under the dash so you can run a 32g or even 64g thumbdrive with lots of music, so a USB port is required and even , a hands free microphone. I'm planning to do this in the 203. Gordon Miller hid his in the glovebox.
Radio stations are rarely worth listening to these days in my opinion.
But yes a nice old valve radio sounds pretty cool so if you modernize that it would be a nice touch.
 
No idea what radio is like in the USA but the ABC maintains an AM transmitter in Horsham that will send signal reliably over a large area of Western Victoria and well into SA and Southern NSW. I prefer to use the old radios still in the older equipment where you just turn it on and twist the dial. Does exactly what a radio should do.
 
No idea what radio is like in the USA but the ABC maintains an AM transmitter in Horsham that will send signal reliably over a large area of Western Victoria and well into SA and Southern NSW. I prefer to use the old radios still in the older equipment where you just turn it on and twist the dial. Does exactly what a radio should do.

The Horsham transmitter has a power of 50 Kw. It's hardly surprising that you receive it strongly and has a large service area.
 
I have an old late 1910s early 1920s valve car radio that was given to me by a work colleague 30+ years ago. It is just 2 white bakelite knobs (one volume and one station selection) and a round, central 1 1/4 inch dial with 2 rings of station numbers. It is approx 6 inches wide and is something like 16 inches deep. it is 2 inches high at the front and 4 inches high at the back. It is 12 volt with a speaker mounted inside at the back and works but is unusual in that it is positive earth. I was going to mount it in my 1923 Type 175 Peugeot but sold the car before I got around to it and it is too deep to put into our 203 or one of our 407s.
FLASH
 
I always thought radio started in Australia in 1927 with 3LO being first in Melbourne but I may be wrong. If so such an early radio was designed for overseas fitting. Car radios were rare and not often advertised in 1920's Australia. They were an expensive luxury in the 1930's. Even after the war a car radio was more than a weeks wage. When war broke out in 1939 Bob Menzies was on the Western Highway and had to be flagged down by the Ararat policeman because the Prime Ministerial limo didn't have a radio of any sort. My 203 had a radio fitted in 1950 but it was taken out when the car was resold in 1956.
A really nice 1956 203 was bought by a trader in 2002. It had an attractive original radio in good working order but he destroyed it modernising it. Each to their own but I like to retain original features.
 
I always thought radio started in Australia in 1927 with 3LO being first in Melbourne but I may be wrong. If so such an early radio was designed for overseas fitting. Car radios were rare and not often advertised in 1920's Australia. They were an expensive luxury in the 1930's. Even after the war a car radio was more than a weeks wage. When war broke out in 1939 Bob Menzies was on the Western Highway and had to be flagged down by the Ararat policeman because the Prime Ministerial limo didn't have a radio of any sort. My 203 had a radio fitted in 1950 but it was taken out when the car was resold in 1956.
A really nice 1956 203 was bought by a trader in 2002. It had an attractive original radio in good working order but he destroyed it modernising it. Each to their own but I like to retain original features.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Australian_radio#1900-1909
 
Did Australian ever have a system of licensing for suburban TV and radio receivers like they did in the UK ?

I remember it was enforced in the UK...
 
My parents used to have a little license booklet they put postage stamps in to pay. Only ever saw a license inspector once, I was moving a mate with the 403 wagon and we were unloading the TV in Thomastown. A bloke came up and asked to see its license. Fortunately the mates parents had paid for one and it was taped to the back of the TV. Around 1970.
 
I well remember those licenses when I was growing up. I seem to recall that the radio inspectors would drive around checking (for RF?).
 
In Brisbane, the inspectors rode around on bush bikes. They would knock on doors and ask to see an up to date licence book. I remember going to the Post Office and buying stamps or having it stamped. Was sure it was a monthly event.
 
A period radio in a 203 is a nice touch but the car already has an inbuilt sound system for highway travel. The transmission and the road sing along nicely and when the wipers join in any radio would be quite superfluous. The central instrument cluster on the first model resembles an early radio dial.
 
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