Valve radio aerials in India

In India, in the 1960's almost every valve radio set purchase would get supplied with this kind of copper net aerial or antenna for the radio set(high impedance input). My Dad got this too in 1968. Those early days they strung this on terrace top; after damage from crows and pigeons the same was moved inside the living room but compromising radio reception to some extent.

[image]

All Philips dealers in India and electronics shops carried this aerial and spares were even available upto 2001-2002.

Currently not available anywhere in India. I have my 2002 version with me. The photo with aerial connected to the Bush or Murphy radio is not mine.

My question to Holland folks is; did this kind of aerial for valve radios exist in Holland? I remember, Philips India closely followed Philips Holland for its radio manufacturing in Calcutta and later Pune. It is very highly possible that the Indian folks got inputs from Holland?

Thank you. Appreciate responses in English.

Regards,

Jitendra Bhavsar
Mumbai

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I have never seen this type of aerial before. Over here, we had spring-type aerials indoors. Think of it as a metal spring/slinky, with a lenght of about 2m (fully pulled out) and a diameter of 1,5cm.
Using a curtain rod as antenna was also usual.

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Hello Jitendra

I guess this is what Laurens meant.
Until the 70ties I have seen them in the Dutch living rooms. You had to buy this additional antenna seperatly.

[image]

regards: Leo.

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[image]

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Never seen that type of copper net aerial or antenna ever in the Netherlands.
So think typical use in India.

Such a spring antenne mentioned here is mounted on my Philips BX360A.

Got the radio from a attic found family back in 1978.
There for must be original from purchasing this radio back 1947.

[image]

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Is the spring antenna specific to some band (FM, LW) on the back panel of radio?
On the rear panel I can see a separate socket on the left bottom for the long wire aerial input. So question arises why these springs?

If aerial socket is there, what was the duty of this spring? Did it act as counterpoise for the long wire?

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Did it act as counterpoise for the long wire?

YEB

And these old radio's did not have FM.

Your antenne is also just Medium or Shortwave.

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How was the spring connected to the radio in Holland?
Was the long spiral spring tapped in the centre to carry signal to the aerial socket?
Or was it end-fed?

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Was the long spiral spring tapped in the centre to carry signal to the aerial socket? Or was it end-fed?

The connection wire to the radio set was connected to one of the ends of the spring antenna (end-fed, as the ham says). This antenna was meant for use with any broadcast band, especially for the AM-bands (LW, MW or SW).

It was typically horizontally mounted on an indoor wall. People used two iron nails for this. Very handy, as there was no need to measure the distance between the two nails, it would always fit nicely because of the spring. Most important, this antenna is cheap and does not require professional help.

Listeners in Belgium used more sophisticated indoor antenna systems, e.g. small tuned loop antennas with or without a built-in electronic amplifier. It seems that cultural differences are playing an important role here.

[image] [image]

The performance of the Belgium solution is far better compared to the Dutch solution. This has nothing to do with the area size of both countries, as this size is comparable.

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http://www.hupse.eu/radio

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Very nice tuned loop. I feel Belgium were more polished listeners and preferred tuned loops than slinkys and springs?

Tuned AM loop is unheard in India, atleast when I started my investigation and interest in valve radios. In India, mostly the copper net aerial was prominent, many shops sold it on a regular basis.

Some radio listeners simply kept their radio aerial as "end-fed" leaving the other end high up on terrace.

And one my relatives in interior India village, their valve radio aerial was a end-fed, but the other end was not on terrace but a storage water tank near a well. (Most Indian villages still have a small well for water needs and a cement storage tank adjoining to the well. I found the aerial wire other end inside the water).

My Dad's Philips 15RB487 radio had something called a silver foild "internal SW antenna" inside the bakelite radio.
There were two silver foils; one A4 size foil pasted at the bottom of the radio inside which was called as "heat sink" and the other square silver foil was pasted in cabinet on top inside as "internal SW antenna". It was not helpful.

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This may be an Indian invention or something especially for export, as I have never seen one in the Netherlands.

Does it have a type number (or more likely several different type numbers throug the years)?

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No, this aerial in India never had a product number or anything when I purchased it couple of times(once in childhood and once in 2002). I do not know details about 1968 as I was not born that time. However the Philips dealer had handed over such a thing on purchase of a new band radio in 1968.

It used to come in a small plastic bag with this product along with a paper inside which had a photo of Eagle printed on it.

The copper net aerial is a very fine single copper wire several hundreds of meters long(maybe thousands?), woven into a fine mesh and the whole thing is almost 2 or 3 meters long. It is then suspended between two plastic clamps. Both the plastic clamps have springs on both sides. A lead-in flexible electrical wire is clamped anywhere in the mesh that takes the signal to the aerial socket of the radio.

From the UK radio forums what I understand, this design is of long wire aerial of the inverted L type. The copper mesh or the net acted as a "capacity hat" or "capacitance" required for the high impedance input for the aerial sockets those days.

The older copper net aerials in India were pretty long (3 meters long). I remember in childhood we had difficulty stretching that. The recent one which I purchased in 2002 or so is not that long enough (maybe cost cutting).
It is hard to get these anywhere in India now.

Thanks everyone for sharing the Holland version of the spring aerial. Never seen those kind in India.

In India, what I have seen for small transistor sets in 1980s, a fine flexible wire was wound inside the frame of the transistor radio. I do not know if that was the frame aerial or just a long wire aerial for the tiny transistor set. It was stuck in the inside of the small radio cabinet.

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