Home

Main Front Page

History

Some Background

Batteries, Begone!

Providing Power

Restoration Hints

Making It Work

Links & Stuff

Other Folks in Other Places

The Other Collection

The battery portables collection

Anchors Aweigh!

The Boatanchors Collection

Testing! Testing!

Vintage Test Gear

What's New and Different at http://www.portabletubes.co.uk

Site Update History

This site first began life in April 2001. I had already begun the process of radio set acquisition that January and needed a resource for identification, restoration, power supplies etc. Finding information across several internet sites was frustrating so I had the idea of bringing it all together in one place - but rewritten and presented through my own perception and experience.

The initial attempts at this exercise were uploaded to my ISP's freespace in May 2001 but were less than satisfactory. I transferred everything to a freesite at Yahoo-Geocities and, on 10th July 2001, an announcement was made on Usenet at rec.antiques.radio+phono as I felt there was enough to 'go public'.

Since then, things have grown, boatanchors and test gear have appeared and the Geocities bandwidth limits, pop-up advertising and space limits have all constrained growth. In March 2003 I acquired the domain names portabletubes.co.uk and portabletubes.com and began a migration to a paid webhost for future expansion. People ask 'Why use the American 'tubes' if this is a site about British radios? Why not call them 'valves'?' Well, in the spirit of the internet, I would like to appeal to the widest audience and more english-speaking folk know what a 'tube' is when found in a radio.

We migrated to Mexico in the fall of 2003 and this has meant, unfortunately, that the emphasis of my collection has shifted slightly away from British valve portables - so expect to see more American sets cropping up in the future.

Please enjoy your wanderings through this site and I hope it is an enjoyable learning experience. The table below list revisions to this site and is in reverse chronological order - most recent first.

Date (dd/mm/yy) Section What's New
12/12/10PortablesGeneral Electric Model LB-530, Stromberg-Carlson model 1105 added
23/06/08 Portables General Electric Model 614, Gamble-Skogmo 'Coronado' added
02/06/08 Site Begin migration of pages to common CSS format in three columns, with image links for bigger pics - ongoing project
07/02/07 Site Re-write of batteries article & add 'reviews'
22/11/06 Portables Motorola 5A5, General Electric Model 250 added
09/07/06 Boatanchors Hallicrafters SX-110 added
04/07/06 Portables Zenith Trans-Oceanic B600, Airline (Montgomery Ward) Model 94WG-1059A added
31/05/06 Portables New pics for Cossor sets, ER Sky Queen, Ferguson Flair, Ekco BP321 & Roberts
01/05/06 Boatanchors New service materials added for Clarke & Smith 8812 Receiver
10/02/06 Portables LearAvian RM-402B added
26/01/06 Downloads First of NEW FJ Camm titles added plus link to Parry monograph
10/12/05 Downloads Two new 'Bernards' titles added
10/08/05 Portables Zenith Trans-Oceanic H500 added
01/08/05 Portables RCA 3-BX-63 added; Sentinel Model 359 added
31/05/05 Portables RCA Strato-World 3-BX-671 added
29/05/05 Portables Motorola 'Diplomat' 65L2 added
25/05/05 Portables LearAvian PB10-A added
08/05/05 Site Transferred archived 'Geocities' guestbook to this webhost
01/05/05 Downloads Three new 'Bernards' titles added
28/04/05 Portables New materials added for Vidor portables 429, 430, 431, 432 and 434
25/04/05 Portables RCA 2B400 added
18/04/05 Boatanchors National NC-88 added
15/02/05 Portables Hallicrafters TW-1000 added
29/12/04 Boatanchors National SW-54 added
09/03/04 Boatanchors Hallicrafters SX-24 added
26/02/04 Boatanchors Hallicrafters SX-71 added
19/12/03 Site New 'Downloads' page added to site for free distribution of service materials
14/12/03 Boatanchors Clarke & Smith Model 8812 Schools Receiver added (with Service Manual, 12 pp., 144Kb DjVu format)
28/08/03 Boatanchors Murphy B40 Operator's Manual added (24 pp., 430Kb, DjVu format)
10/08/03 Portables Ferguson Model 344B 'Flair' added
10/08/03 Boatanchors RCA AR88 added
03/08/03 Portables Vidor CN432 added.
30/07/03 Site 'Webform' added for e-mail contact to prevent spam
26/07/03 Boatanchors Redifon R551A Ship's Main Receiver added
26/07/03 Boatanchors Marconi M361 TRF Marine set added
02/07/03 Portables Champion Model 822 'Mayflower' added
17/06/03 Portables Ekco BP321 added
17/06/03 Boatanchors Reception Set R209 added
26/05/03 Boatanchors Trio (Kenwood) 9R-59D added.
20/05/03 Boatanchors Pye International Model 3042 added.
07/05/03 Portables Ever Ready 'Type N' added.
04/05/03 Portables Vidor CN431 'Marquisa' added.
01/05/03 Boatanchors Collins R-392/URR added.
11/04/03 Test Gear Additions to 'Testing! Testing!' from existing gear - watch for more details! Also added the 'Single Compactron Receiver' file as a DjVu download.
09/03/03 Site Acquisition of domain names & migration to webhosting service (Yay! No more Geocities pop-ups!)
03/03/03 Portables Marconiphone T37DAB added
23/02/03 Site 'Books' opinion piece added
13/02/03 Portables Regentone B1 added
09/02/03 Site Improvements to front page and 'Design' piece.
05/02/03 Portables Decca 'Deccette' added
21/01/03 Portables Unknown McMichael Portable added
15/01/03 Boatanchors Hallicrafters S-41G added
12/01/03 Portables Ever Ready 'Sky Countess' added
10/12/02 Portables Murphy BA228 added
03/12/02 Portables Unknown PAM Handbag Portable added
01/12/02 Boatanchors Sailor 16T added: Hallicrafters 5R10A added
11/11/02 Boatanchors National HRO-M added; Hammarlund HQ-145X added
06/11/02 Portables Vidor CN441 'Lady Elizabeth' added
04/11/02 Boatanchors Forces PCR 'Comfort Set' added
01/11/02 Boatanchors Collins TCS-5 Receiver (COL-46159) added.
22/10/02 Boatanchors Yaesu FRG-7 added
14/10/02 Boatanchors Heathkit GC-1A 'Mohican' kit receiver added.
22/09/02 Boatanchors Marconi CR100/7 Communications Receiver added.
17/09/02 Portables Cossor 499UB added
15/09/02 Portables Marconiphone T24DAB added
04/09/02 Portables Ferranti 945 added, Pye L75B added
04/09/02 Site revised layout to 'My Collection' page
03/07/02 Test Gear Additions to 'Testing! Testing!'
12/06/02 Boatanchors Hallicrafters SX-99 added; PCA-2 Panadaptor added.
22/05/02 Portables Ever Ready Model C added
20/05/02 Portables Masterradio PB101 added
19/05/02 Site 'right-click' prevention code removed ('hoorah!'); some new pics; 'sub-page' layouts re-arranged
08/05/02 Boatanchors Hallicrafters S-38B added
24/04/02 Boatanchors Hallicrafters S-40 added
24/04/02 Test Gear More test gear added
23/04/02 Boatanchors Hallicrafters 8R40 added
10/04/02 Site 'Testing! Testing!' equipment pages added
26/03/02 Portables Vidor CN414 Attaché added
25/03/02 Site Re-sized all jpegs for faster downloading (hoorah!)
20/03/02 Boatanchors Hallicrafters SW-500 added
10/03/02 Portables Bush BP61 added
07/03/02 Site Separate 'Boatanchors' page added
28/02/02 Boatanchors Hallicrafters S-108 added
25/02/02 Portables Ever Ready Sky King added, Cossor 469 added
17/02/02 Portables Cossor 543 Melody added
03/02/02 Site 'DX-ing' page added with link from front page
20/01/02 Portables Ekco MBP99 Stroller 1 added
20/01/02 Boatanchors Hallicrafters S-38 'family' variants C, D & E added
03/12/01 Portables BEREC Fiesta added, BEREC Pioneer added, Ever Ready Sky Queen 2 added
28/10/01. Site Front Page links re-written with new links; new essay on new tubes added
27/10/01 Site Maher MOSFET driven inverter as HT Battery replacement - details added
22/10/01 Site Extended troubleshooting guides added in 'Restoration'
21/10/01 Boatanchors Hallicrafters S-53A added
18/10/01 Site Links and pages for other 'Immoveables' added
18/10/01 Boatanchors Hallicrafters S-38A added, Codar CR70A added
15/10/01 Portables Pye Q4 added; general site improvements
13/10/01 Portables Pye 114BQ added
09/10/01 Portables Ferranti 815 added
03/09/01 Portables Pye 131MBQ added
02/09/01 Portables Marconiphone T36A added
24/08/01 Portables GEC B4448 added,Ever Ready Model K added
09/08/01 Boatanchors Racal RA17L added, Murphy B40D added
09/08/01 Boatanchors Ekco Mariner added
09/08/01 Site History page re-written
02/08/01 Site final version of design notes uploaded
25/07/01 Site membership badge of British Vintage Wireless Society proudly added
18/07/01 Site permission secured to upload copyright PSU designs
10/07/01 Site Site upload to Geocities address; site pages at Lineone taken down
May 01 Site work begins; initial upload to Lineone.net servers