Restoration project? Vintage Lorenz radio receiver - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: Alex
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 25, 2017, 09:09:47 pm
content: How about this for a restoration project?

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 25, 2017, 10:08:59 pm
content: Game over man, game over.

author: Electro Detective
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 25, 2017, 10:27:02 pm
content: Meh...dust off, a couple of shots of WD40, and you're in business

author: Alex
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 25, 2017, 10:52:16 pm
content: Quote from: Electro Detective on August 25, 2017, 10:27:02 pmI suspect this will need some contact cleaner, tooAll I know is that it was granted to a little village in northmost Greece by the US gov. around 1952 as part of a post-war rebuilt effort using community radios. Strangely, Lorenz was a German brand. No known ID, no schematic.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 25, 2017, 10:54:54 pm
content: Err... yeah? Nothing jumps out to me as terribly unrestorable, and even a basic clean-up would see it presentable. People have certainly tackled much worse & won.Can't place/find the model, but from the Lorenz brand & general build style I'm guessing 50's-era military amenities, or maybe ham/consumer, shortwave receiver? If it's not particularly uncommon it's probably a parts set, but if it's not common then it's definitely worth doing. Finding/making a replacement dial glass would be a pain, and you'd be in for some parts-searching (or re-stuffing/faking) if you were a stickler for originality - but I'd bet the leaking caps in the power supply section make things look much worse than they really are, and the rest seems to simply be the usual rust, dust, & spiders...edit: just saw your last post. Hmmm... if you don't feel like tackling it yourself, it'd definitely be worth putting feelers out to the vintage/military radio collectors out there.

author: Alex
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 25, 2017, 11:27:33 pm
content: Quote from: Tac Eht Xilef on August 25, 2017, 10:54:54 pmI like this attitude, albeit risky. A few more pics attached.Crawling the Interweb, forums and books for several years all I have is a rough resemblance to the Lorenz model L45W. There are significant differences though; it almost feels like it was based off the L45W parts/chassis and modified to be a more capable community radio.The only other identifier is a hand-painted marking on the outside "ECA/4230/DA"which points to the agreementbetween USA-Greece in 1954. I know from word of mouth stories that there used to be an external speaker although I am not sure it has survived.It is frustrating that I don't have more info on origins and purpose. Maybe that is key to finding some schematic.Quote from: Tac Eht Xilef on August 25, 2017, 10:54:54 pmI am all up for that, maybe someone knows something. Any place in particular?

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 26, 2017, 01:21:26 am
content: Quote from: Alex on August 25, 2017, 11:27:33 pmGood catch; at least above the chassis it looks very similar to the L45W (or related models e.g. Tefag T90W) - that is, apart from the PSU & extra knobs. Schematic-wise the L45W looks like a nice little performer for an early post-war European set - pre-selector, RF amp, etc, etc. All that makes it more interesting to collectors.Quote from: Alex on August 25, 2017, 11:27:33 pmIt really does look like an amenities set (i.e. meant for a military mess, club, or factory), both externally & in terms of circuit. Typically they were simplified versions of military sets without the ruggedising & extra shielding, usually with a phono in & PA transformer output, sometimes with an AC/DC or multi-voltage power supply, and in a fairly simple box. Since those are the same things that'd make it a good community radio, if you throw in some Marshall Plan pump-priming it could easily be the case that the L45W & this share a common ancestor...Quote from: Alex on August 25, 2017, 11:27:33 pmNothing specific comes to mind - military sets aren't really my thing, and the sort of thing this seems to represent isn't well covered anywhere (see below) - but the UK vintage radio forum athttps://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/would probably a fair place to start. They might at least be able to point you to a German or other regional site or individual collector who knows Lorenz history or models. You could also try digging into the collection or forums athttp://radiomuseum.org/to find someone & contact them directly.One of the little issues with the vintage radio collecting world is how very parochial the groups - and especially the on-line forums - are. By and large, individual collectors are curious about anything from anywhere, groups tend to stick to what was sold locally, & forums are totally uninterested in anything that wasn't. Which is a problem if, like me, you end up collecting a bunch of unusual sets that fall into the cracks between e.g. export or 'tropical' models made in the US or Europe for sale in places that don't really have a vintage radio scene (e.g. Asia...)

author: Electro Detective
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2017, 02:59:23 am
content: Perhaps update the post title to something like"Restoration project? Vintage Lorenz radio receiver"that might attract someone clued up from a search engine or at EEVblogotherwise fishing without bait