Philips B1X42A radio (1964)

The B1X42A is a small radio, a “kitchen radio” from 1964. It is using the last generation of valves along with semiconductors on places where low power operation is possible or low temperature drift is a requirement. This specimen was rather easy to fix.

This type of radio used to be called a “kitchen radio”. It comes in a plastic case and it was quite cheap at the time. It has a real early-sixties look.

The inside shows Philips did their best to save cost. Most parts are mounted on a single circuit board. The circuit board is a bit awkward to extract from the case: first you'll have to take out the mains transformer and the antenna receptacles, then take off the knobs at the front, take off the tuning scale, detach the ground wire connected to the metal shield behind the tuning scale, and then you can unscrew and take out the board.

Circuit board and mains transformer out of the case.

It uses the last generation of Noval valves, and a few transistors and germanium diodes. The semiconductors are used in the FM tuner and ratio detector. The valves used are: ECH 81 for AM frequency changer or FM first IF, EBF89 for AM IF and AM detector or FM second IF, ECL86 for AF pre-amplifier and output amplifier. A silicon rectifier is used for the anode supply.

A neighbour of my parents-in-law donated this radio after he heard that I had interest in old radios. It had belonged to his mother, who bought it after the "radio distribution" system in Rotterdam was shut down. He said it should still work, which it did. Only on FM the sound was rather distorted.

The distortion disappeared after I replaced the electrolytic in the ratio detector. After this, the radio has been playing fine.

As seen from the back.