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On these pages, Davey's designs are listed as fully as possible, under the
publications in which they appeared. The lists for his post-war work have
been much expanded to show brief details of the key components of every design seen
so far. They are chiefly intended to help those who remember building the
designs when first published and who wish to identify them again. They should
also help those who have come upon Davey's work more recently, and perhaps
want to look out for his books and articles. The Pre-War page will undergo
progressive development as time allows.
Please note:
If you decide to construct any of the sets described or referred to on these pages,
it is your own responsibility to ensure that you work safely and that equipment
(especially mains-operated sets or power supplies for battery sets) is soundly built
and adequately housed. Whilst considered safe by the standards of their day,
some designs may not be considered safe by modern standards. If you are in any
doubt about your understanding of the information given or referred to on this page
or about your ability to work safely, you should seek the help of a qualified person.
For the Boy's Own Paper, Practical Wireless and other journals, page
numbers are given. For all the other books listed, including those in which
Davey was one of several contributors, I have listed chapter or article titles only.
Some books and journal editions are listed as missing from the British
Library's collection. Each of these is additionally annotated in one of
three ways:
Not checked - any information will be welcomed;
Checked (by me after purchase, or by others) - no relevant content;
Relevant content is noted (after purchase).
Cross-references are given where it has been found that a design has been re-published
elsewhere. For Davey's own books, where chapters or designs are carried over from
edition to edition, the details are repeated for completeness, and to assist those who are
sure or fairly sure as to where a design can be found. Changes between editions
are noted where known. However, this cross-referencing is not yet complete.
Although I am gradually collecting a complete set of Davey's books and articles, I am
partly reliant on the British Library's collection (itself incomplete).
For each design, the chassis construction or other support is briefly noted, then
key components are listed. These include inductors, valves or semiconductors,
phones or speaker, but generally not capacitors, resistors or switches. It
will usually be clear whether the design is battery- or mains-powered.
Your attention is drawn to the cautionary note above.
When searching for a half-remembered design, it might help to bear the following
points in mind:
* Was the design from an edition of Boy's Own Paper, or was it from a book?
* If you remember when you built the set, were you working from a new publication, or
might you have been working from something published some time before?
* Sometimes the only way to identify a likely design may be by trawling through the
lists for the best match to what you remember, in terms of construction and
components used.
Inevitably, there were some errors in published designs, and these are noted where
known. For his BOP articles and his books, Davey relied upon Jack Cox
(who did not pretend to be a technical editor) to oversee preparation of his designs
for printing, and remarkably few errors crept through. In most cases,
corrections were published in the next edition of the magazine or book. Before
digital techniques for preparing illustrations became available, it was costly to
amend drawings, and written corrections were often relied upon.
It goes without saying that the details of manufacturers and suppliers, and sources
of information mentioned in the publications listed here are now completely out-of-date.
Some publishers have gone out of business or have been taken over; those that
remain are no longer geared to answering technical queries. In almost all cases
when seeking a supplier or information for a component, the Internet must be searched
and the findings carefully weighed. One indispensible pool of expertise is the
UK Vintage Radio Repair and
Restoration Discussion Forum, where an answer to almost any technical query on
radio and electronics can be found.
Loose ends
Not covered in the main source pages (links below), these "loose ends" are worth mentioning:
BBC television broadcasts:
The leaflets published with these two series, together with correspondence, press
reports and other documents connected with them, are covered fully in
THE BBC SETS section.
Junior Pears Encyclopaedia:
Gilbert Davey's friend and colleague Tom Dougall states in his obituary of Davey (*)
that he contributed to Junior Pears Encyclopedia. Edited by Edward
Blishen and published annually between 1961 and 1991, it contained a Dictionary of
Radio and Television. From 1961 to 1978, the "Radio Receiver" entry carried a
simple one-valver-with-reaction design, but this differs somewhat from Davey's usual
configuration. In the 1979 edition, a simple radio featuring the ZN414 chip was
introduced, which is very similar to the Ferranti design featured in Fun with Silicon
Chips in Modern Radio (1981). A 2-transistor amplifier for this radio was also
shown, replaced in later editions with an amplifier using the TBA820M chip.
Unfortunately, none of the articles or sections in the Encyclopedia is attributed, and the
writing style of the Dictionary is dry and concise. It is thus impossible to confirm
- or rule out - Davey's participation as a contributor of designs, writer, or editorial expert.
* See:
www.pearlstaffpensionscheme.co.uk/Members/Documents. Under
"Pensions News", click the link "Pension News June 11.pdf", then scroll to pages 14-15.
Practical Wireless, post-war:
Davey had contributed regularly to PW before World War 2 (although often uncredited),
but was later seen on its pages on a handful of occasions.
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Edition:
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Article or editorial:
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Notes
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No 496, Vol 23
1947 November
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Page 471:
Foreign Valve Data
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Having recently returned from service in Germany whwre he had the use of
many foreign valves, Davey describes the characteristics of some German valves.
His German amateur callsign (D2AH) is included in his by-line.
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No 573, Vol 30
1954 July
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Page 400:
A Simple Signal Generator
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Valve-based unit intended to assist in aligning AM superhet receivers.
Coils:
110kHz: old I.F. transformer with one trimmer capacitor removed
465kHz: old I.F. transformer with one trimmer capacitor removed, or homebrew and trimmer
Medium/long wave: old dual-range coil with variable capacitor
Short wave: old triple-range coil or homebrew (details given) with variable capacitor
LF choke.
Valves: 2 triodes, or any valves strapped as triodes.
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No 641, Vol 36
1960 July
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Page 215:
An AM Feeder Unit (by-line G Davey)
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Intended to complement VHF tuner in hi-fi system, to receive
popular stations not transmitted on VHF.
Powered from main amplifier with sufficient power reaerve.
Metal chassis
3 x Repanco DRR2 coils
3 x 500pF ganged variable capacitor
Valves: 6K7, 6Q7
Volume control 10kΩ potentiometer
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No 12, Vol 50
1975 April
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Page 1129:
"Going Back" column
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Columnist Colin Riches reported an enquiry by Davey about his "Hezzanith" horn loudspeaker
dating from c.1926, made by Heath & Co, New Eltham, London. Davey wondered if there was any
connection with the firm of scientific instrument makers of that name in the same area.
I have not traced any reply to the query in subsequent editions of PW.
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No 7, Vol 66
(1,000th edition)
1990 July
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Un-numbered multiple centre pages:
1,000th edition Special Supplement
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Davey's response to the Editor's invitation to veteran readers to write in with memories
of the magazine's early days. Davey comments upon F J Camm's lack of generosity
with by-lines (attributions), and recalls discussions with Camm about Scott-Taggart's
designs in the rival magazine Popular Wireless. Davey recounts how his interest
in radio began, and remarks that he still has some early sets in working order.
See GILBERT DAVEY page, where this letter is reproduced in full.
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