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Vintage Radio
By RODNEY CHAMPNESS, VK3UG
AWA B33: the ultimate Australianmade transistor portable
Designed for the well-heeled, AWA’s Radiola
B33 was a very impressive transistor portable
that tuned the broadcast band and three
shortwave bands from 1.6-30MHz. Restoring
and aligning it is not the easiest of tasks,
however.
A
WA produced some superb receivers over the years and the 4-band
AWA B33 9-transistor portable was one
of them. In addition, a broadcast-band
only model of this receiver – designated the B32 – was manufactured
and this was described in the August
2005 issue.
I lamented at the time that I didn’t
have a B33 and a few readers responded by offering me sets that were
just gathering dust or had been pulled
to pieces. In the end, I obtained two
of these receivers and this article
describes the restoration of one of
those sets.
Although sets like the B33 were
produced, Australian-made multiband transistor receivers were not all
that common. Australian manufacturers did produce transistor receivers
in quantity during the 1960s and
early 1970s but these were mainly
broadcast-band sets. However, Japanese manufacturers were starting
to flood the Australian market and
many of their sets featured one or two
shortwave bands in addition to the
broadcast band.
Despite this, Australian-made transistor radio receivers performed far
better than the Japanese offerings but
that didn’t stop the flood of imported
sets. Japanese sets were cheaper and
people wanted the cheaper item – even
if it was inferior.
During that era, it is arguable that
Australian-made transistor receivers
were the best performing AM sets in
the world. Most other countries had
FM as well as AM and their radio stations were not spaced as far apart as in
Australia, even in rural environments.
As a result, Australian-made radios
had to be better performers in order
to adequately receive stations over
longer distances.
Of course, AM in many cases was
the poor relation in regards to performance on AM/FM receivers and still
is today (except on high-quality communications receiving equipment).
Shortwave reception
This is the fully restored B33 receiver. Scrounging parts from a second set
allowed it to be restored to almost new condition.
siliconchip.com.au
As well as listening to AM stations,
many people also wanted to listen to
the many shortwave services available
both within Australia and overseas.
However, they didn’t want the inconvenience of having a home-installed
receiver tethered to an outside antenna. Instead, they wanted a portable
receiver that didn’t normally require
an outside antenna for “run of the
mill” listening.
The AWA B33 filled that role but
like many receivers of the era, also had
provision for an external antenna and
July 2006 97
to northern Australia in times of
disaster – such as during the recent
cyclone Larry.
The B33 receiver
This view shows the rear of the chassis plate, after its removal from the
cabinet. The PC board is mounted upside down on this plate.
The front of the chassis plate carries the dial scale and various trimmer
capacitors which are used for alignment. The faults in the receiver were
all mechanical.
earth, which noticeably improved the
already good performance. Provision
was also made for the connection of
an external 9V power source.
Used with an outside antenna
system, the B33 would have easily
received the ABC inland radio services
situated near several capital cities. All
these stations have since closed down
and the Lyndhurst site near Melbourne
is now a housing estate!
However, the ABC still provides
98 Silicon Chip
a service to remote areas of inland
Australia from Alice Springs, Tennant
Creek and Katherine, on 2310kHz,
2325kHz and 2485kHz at night and
4835kHz, 4910kHz and 5025kHz during the day. Unfortunately, the daytime
services from these three 50kW stations
can not heard in southern Australia
but the night-time frequencies can be
received without problems.
In addition, Radio Australia at
Shepparton, Victoria carries services
The AWA B33 was produced
around 1965 and is essentially
a “high-end” receiver. It has a
large 195 x 12mm loopstick antenna with two sets of windings
– one for the broadcast band and
the second for “shortwave 1”
which tunes from 1.6-4.25MHz.
The other two shortwave bands
tune 4-30MHz and rely on the use
of the telescopic whip antenna for
signal pick-up when the set is used
as a portable.
Fig.1 shows the set’s circuit details.
The first thing to note is that the bandswitched input circuits are connected
to an RF stage based on a 2N2083
transistor (VT9). Its collector signal is
then fed via another bank of four tuning
coils to a transistor mixer stage based
on another 2N2083 (VT10).
Most transistor receivers use an autodyne converter stage but not so the
B33 which uses a separate oscillator
(VT11). This provides better performance and more stable operation.
The output from the mixer (VT10) is
then fed to a 2-stage 455kHz IF (intermediate frequency) amplifier based
on transistors VT3 and VT4. The IF
output in turn feeds diode detector
MR3 which is then followed by
three stages of audio amplification
(VT5-VT8).
The audio amplifier includes a
push-pull output stage and this is
coupled directly to a speaker with
an 80W centre-tapped voice coil.
Hopefully, the speaker will never
need changing, as obtaining a suitable replacement would be impossible
unless salvaged from another similar
receiver.
Case details
The B33’s case is dark blue/black
leatherette, while the front is plastic
with vapour-deposited chrome to give
it a metal appearance. This is attached
to a plastic inner frame.
The case is quite substantial for
a transistor receiver and measures
320mm long x 200mm high (not including the handle) x 110mm deep
(including the knobs). It’s quality is
quite good and is noticeably better
than the cases fitted to down-market
AWA transistor receivers.
siliconchip.com.au
Fig.1: the circuit for the B33 4-band receiver used nine PNP transistors. Note the transformer-coupled push-pull audio
output stage and the centre-tapped 80W loudspeaker.
Due to its size, the set is quite heavy,
weighing in at 3.6kg, or 4.6kg with
its heavy-duty batteries. The set was
designed to use the now unobtainable
2761 battery. However, two D-cell battery holders – one for four cells and the
other for two cells – will fit into the
space that the 2761 occupied, provided
the speaker’s terminals are orientated
towards the top of the cabinet.
In practice, the two holders were
wired in series to give 9V. The “output”
leads were soldered to the ends of the
battery plug to keep things as authentic
as possible, with heatshrink tubing
fitted over the exposed plug prongs
to prevent shorts.
Provision has also been made for the
attachment of an external 9V power
supply. However, there is one important thing to note here: like most transiliconchip.com.au
sistor receivers using PNP transistors,
this set has a positive chassis. This
means that the sleeve of the DC plug
must be positive (centre negative).
Finally, the B33 is fitted with a
bayonet socket on the lefthand end of
the receiver. This allows an external
antenna and earth to be connected for
a worthwhile performance boost.
Cabinet restoration
The first job in the restoration process was to remove the control knobs
and this proved to be a very difficult
task – it was if they had been glued in
place. Fortunately, I was able to squirt
some Inox cleaner/lubricant into the
backs of the knobs and also on the
control shafts to help free them.
The wave change switch had also
completely “frozen” and it took some
time to work the Inox down the shaft
and into the switch sleeve. Eventually,
I was able to get it to move but I had
to use a small spanner on the shaft to
achieve this. Initially, I was concerned
that the switch might break but the
lubricant eventually did its job, after
which the switch operated freely.
With the knobs removed, it was
now time to remove the chassis from
the cabinet. This is achieved by first
undoing six screws and removing the
escutcheon around the power and
antenna sockets. That done, the chassis is lifted up slightly and the screw
holding the telescopic antenna in
place removed. The chassis is then slid
out far enough to allow the centre-tap
wire to the speaker to be desoldered,
after which it is fully removed from
the case (the leads to the voice coil
July 2006 99
The leatherette covering was re-attached to the receiver’s plastic inner case
using contact adhesive, with a G-clamp and some small pieces of wood used to
hold everything together while the adhesive dried.
are long enough to be left connected
to the speaker).
Having removed the chassis, I install
ed a longer centre-tap lead to make
future work easier. I then undid the four
screws holding the speaker in place and
removed it, while undoing four more
screws allowed the front panel to be
removed as well. Finally, I refitted the
antenna to the chassis, as this would
be needed later for testing.
By the way, it’s important not to lose
any screws with this sort of job – it can
be very time consuming if you have to
replace them. My approach is to store
all screws in a small container as they
are removed. Leaving them laying
around the workbench is just asking
for trouble, as they are easily lost.
Cleaning up
Having dismantled the set, it was
The B33 receiver came complete with its original instruction manual, as well as
an external DC power supply.
100 Silicon Chip
time to clean all the parts and repair
any damage to the cabinet. A small
paintbrush was used to clean the
dust from the chassis and PC board,
while the cabinet was scrubbed
in soapy water using a nailbrush
and, for in the awkward spots, a
toothbrush. The knobs were also
scrubbed clean in soapy water and
they look almost like new.
Unfortunately, the leatherette
covering had come away from the
plastic inner case on one side and really looked tatty. This was repaired using contact adhesive, with a G-clamp
and two small pieces of wood used
to hold everything together while the
adhesive dried.
This repair was quite satisfactory
but in the end, I decided to use the
cabinet from the second set, as it was
in better condition overall. The dial
scale also had to be re-glued to its
frame and this was done using clear
nail polish.
Servicing
The B33 is far more complex than
its single-band brother and requires
disassembly to do any real work. It’s
a pity AWA didn’t make it easier for
the serviceman. On the other hand,
it’s likely that very few of these sets
ever required servicing during their
lifetime!
With the set out of the cabinet, I
applied 9V to the PC board and was
immediately able to receive some
stations. However, as I tuned across
the broadcast band, there were more
scraping noises than stations.
I lubricated all the moving surfaces
on the dial tuning mechanism but the
problem remained. A subsequent close
examination revealed that a number of
plates in the antenna and RF sections
of the tuning gang were intermittently
shorting together. This problem can
usually be fixed by gently bending the
offending plates but not in this case. In
fact, it was quite likely that this tuning
gang had been faulty from new, as the
oscillator section was perfect.
One way around this problem was
to use the gang from the other radio.
It looked to be in good order and so it
was worth a try. However, swapping
in the new gang without having the
dial cord end up in a mess would be
a challenge.
First, I released the cord from the
pulley at the lefthand end of the drive,
which meant that I could then ease
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The 2761 9V battery originally used the B33 in
no longer available. This problem was solved
by fitting six 1.5V cells to two D-cell battery
holders, which fit the available space.
the dial drum along the gang’s shaft. I
then removed the three screws holding
the gang to the chassis although this
wasn’t exactly straightforward – the
middle screw couldn’t be accessed
until I removed the screws from the
dial drive assembly and gently swung
it aside.
That done, I replaced the drive assembly and gently eased the drum off
while I slid the gang out to the right. It
came out without the dial cord coming
off the main pulleys which was just
what I wanted.
Finally, the replacement gang was
mounted in position, the drum refitted and the dial cord refitted to the
lefthand pulley.
It all worked and this time there were
no crackles as I tuned across the band,
with stations coming in as expected.
However, with a new gang fitted, a
complete realignment of all the frontend sections was necessary.
This was done by placing a signal
generator on the other side of the
workshop, to give a weak signal into
the receiver. One problem I struck was
that some of the tuned circuits either
had too much or too little parallel
capacitance across their trimmer capacitors to allow proper peaking at the
high-frequency end of the dial. Apart
from that, the procedure was straightsiliconchip.com.au
forward, if a little complicated.
Overall, this set performs quite well,
although the second and third harmonics of the IF amplifier, which occur on
910kHz and 1365kHz, do cause some
instability in the form of a whistle.
In practice, it is normal for diode
detectors to generate harmonics of the
fundamental frequency (in this case,
455kHz). However, there is a design
deficiency in this set in that the detector output goes to the volume control,
which is located right alongside the
broadcast-band RF amplifier. As a
result, the harmonics from the detector are induced into the broadcast
band coils.
To prevent this, I tried inserting a
miniature 1.5mH RF choke between
C37 and C49 and this noticeably
reduced the problem. In fact, with a
strong signal, the instability was no
longer evident. By contrast, in the
B32 broadcast-band only version, only
C37 is needed. The front-end layout
is somewhat different in that model
and the IF harmonic problem is not
evident.
Summary
Like the B32 broadcast-band set,
the B33 was an expensive receiver. As
such, these sets would not have been
produced in large numbers.
ELECTRONIC
VALVE & TUBE
COMPANY
PO Box 487 Drysdale, Vic 3222
76 Bluff Rd, St Leonards, 3223
Tel: (03) 5257 2297; Fax: (03) 5257 1043
Email: evatco<at>pacific.net.au
www.evatco.com.au
All receivers that tune from 1030MHz in one sweep, such as this
set, are quite critical to tune. AWA
overcame this problem by fitting a
small bandspread control, concentric
with the main tuning control, and this
does make tuning much easier.
On the other had, these sets are difficult to dismantle and align because
of their layout. Care also needs to be
taken to avoid damaging the tuning
gang when the unit is being aligned at
the high frequency-ends of the tuning
ranges.
In addition, access to the PC board
involves desoldering the board from
its supports. Perhaps a bit more
thought could have been put into making the set easier to service. The much
more complicated Barlow Wadley
XCR30 (see September, 2002) is simpler to get at, for example, although
not easy to align without high-quality
equipment.
In summary, this is a set that’s
well-worth having – especially as it is
complete with its instruction manual
and a DC power supply (PS9). It now
sits alongside its single-band brother
SC
in my collection.
July 2006 101
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