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.