This particular set seems to have had several owners and I've been told it originally started it's life at Radio Australia. The person I got it from had kept it wrapped in plastic whilst in storage and had not turned it on since 1997. 

I'm not sure about the origins of this radio. There is a label inside the radio that states it was calibrated for Radio Australia back in 1986. However there is also a identification plate attached to the front of the set.

 This would indicate that it was used in a military capacity for at least some part of it's life. The date code indicates that it was made some time in February 1962.

Along the way it has suffered it's share of distress and modifications that required a little work to resolve.

• Missing rear identification plate. A cross check of the NATO stock number on the front of the set reveals that it's a RA17L.

• Missing glass from tuning dial. I didn't notice for a while that the glass was missing until I touched the dial scale by accident. A new piece of Perspex glued in place soon fixed that.

• I felt the MHz dial was a little off and found the best position for the mc dial was 'about' 500 KHz above the desired mc band. A tune through the MHz ranges showed the amount error was consistent. I adjusted the scale of the mc dial so the mc points on the scale coincided with the centre of the pass band. In hindsight, it may be that the alignment was OK and the mc dial was calibrated to indicate the two points between which the radio would tune.

• The Burndept aerial socket was replaced with a BNC socket. For some reason the person that changed the socket saw fit to cut a piece out of the back panel. This piece unfortunately included the brass binding post normally situated below the aerial socket..

• One of the headphone jacks on the front panel had been replaced. While it worked ok, a large heavy duty shake proof washer holding it in place looked a bit tacky so I replaced both jacks with some new high quality shielded types.

• The HT fuse holder had been bypassed. Some time in the past the fuse had blown or was broken and the end of a fuse was still jammed in the body of the fuse holder. A similar size fuse holder was obtained to fit in place. Take care if you need to do something similar as space is tight and too much movement of the solid core wires could result in breaks.

• Mains cable hard wired and tie-wrapped into place. This is probably the worst thing that has happened to the set. The original Plessey socket has long gone and although the wiring was well insulated, using tie-wraps to anchor a mains cable is dangerous and just plain poor workmanship.

• Missing alignment tool and Allen keys. Not a big deal but if you come across one and wonder what those bits of metal are on the top cover, they are meant to hold Allen keys. There is a clip on one of the filter cans inside the set that should also hold an alignment tool.

• General damage to the top cover. Someone dropped something sharp and heavy on the top of the case. It took a bit of work with a mallet to sort out the damage. A little work on the Allen key holder got them back in working order too.

• Very heavy staining from cigarette smoke. At first I thought the outer panels were gold anodized aluminium. A closer inspection revealed the truth. All covers were removed from the set and lots of work with a scrubbing brush and household cleaner and the garden hose brought them back to their original color. Whilst the inside of the set was similarly affected it was not possible to use the same treatment to clean in there. Instead I used alcohol swabs to carefully clean all surfaces that I could reach. The underside of the set was also affected by the smoke but I thought it best to leave it be.

• The knobs and switches were removed from the front panel and the panel was unbolted from the chassis. Be careful not to lose the nuts holding the panel to the chassis. A gentle wash with a soft cloth and soapy water brought the panel back to almost new condition. Take care when cleaning the front panel as the lettering can easily be removed by solvent style cleaners. All the knobs were scrubbed with a toothbrush in warm soapy water then rinsed in clean water and left to dry. A little Liquid-Paper® in the dots and pointers on the knobs brought them up like new.

Power-up.

Power-up was uneventful with all tubes lighting and supplies settling to the prescribed values. About 25 seconds after power-up noise rushed from the speaker. After 8 years of silence the RA17 lives again. Note that with the exception of the mains cable and fuse holder and phone socket replacement there was no other electrical or alignment work involved in the restoration of this set.

Receiver Alignment.

The following note in the service manual makes it quite clear that alignment is generally not required.

WARNING! The receiver will, under normal conditions, remain in alignment
over an extremely long period time, consequently ALL POSSIBILITY
OF OTHER CAUSES OF LOW SENSITIVITY SHOULD BE ELIMINATED
BEFORE RE-ALIGNMENT IS CONSIDERED, and should then
only be undertaken by order of the Engineer responsible for the maintenance
of the equipment.

Elsewhere in the manual I found this,

With the exception of V5, replacement of valves will not affect receiver alignment.

Clearly, these sets are built to last and remain reliable well after they are taken out of service.

If you must fiddle or tweak do it with the utmost of care and make sure you are doing it for the right reason.

Last modified Thursday April 05, 2007