235
Item nr.
| Production | Czechoslovakia, 1958. |
|---|---|
| Bands | LW (160-280 kHz), MW (540-1600kHz), SW (5.5-16 MHz). |
| Tubes | ECH81, EBF89, PCL82, PY82. |
| Cabinet | Bakelite. Size 27x17x15 cm. Weight 3.6 kg. |
| Power | AC, 110/220V. |
Surprising is the choice of tubes: the HF part is standard for the time with ECH81 and EBF89, but the other two tubes are television tubes, PCL82 and PY82. The radio is reasonably well made and, like many other radios of that time, used an autotransformer. This makes it unsuitable for DC power, yet gives the radio all unsafe features connected to an ACDC design.
| Obtained | 1/2004 from Yveta Stachova, Prague. |
|---|---|
| Condition | 8. |
| Disposed | Sold 12/2006. |
| Sound sample | PLAY SOUND Song in Slavic language. |
Whenever I have a Tesla on my workbench, I immediately dive for the box of spare capacitors, as the rectangular Tesla types are always cracked and I turn pale when I have a look at them. When I opened this one, I decided to go for the vacuum cleaner, too, and dig out my box of television tubes. As you can see, the PCL82 in the right upper corner has turned a milky white, which is a sign of a loss of vacuum. In this case due to the top of the tube being simply broken off. I wasn't lucky with the fuse either, so had to go to the box of fuses as well in the course of repairing the radio. 
The fuse in the radio had been bridged with a wire soldered over it outside the glass! Replacement of broken capacitors brought the radio pretty well back to life, though the bandswitch remained a bit hard to operate. The short wave reception of the radio is a lot better than usual.
Because of persistent 50Hz hum, I replaced the filter capacitors by a larger type, which I had to fit higher on the chassis. Cleaning the band switch made the radio easier to operate on all bands. On Long wave, it isn't very sensitive. The sound is surprisingly clear, and the tone control allows to vary treble over a pleasant range.
In 2006 it was time to part. On the left the box in which Tesla flies to its new owner.