Vintage technology

[mtbc]

Today I had a pleasant surprise. I have a communications receiver made by the Pye Radio Works; it is of a model associated with the latter days of WWII and, by the measurement units of old British people, weighs around two stone. I connected it to the electrical supply, plugged headphones in, waited for the vacuum tubes to warm up, pushed my finger into the antenna jack, turned the knob a bit and heard BBC Radio Scotland. It still works, which is pleasing indeed.

Despite this success I do not plan to push my luck by also powering and operating the Friden electro-mechanical calculator, entertaining though it is to watch it performing division. It would be nice to find it a good home.