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TOT: Rigonda Bolshoi
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Steve Thackery
Apr 7, 2012, 8:50:56 AM4/7/12
to
Hey, do any of you guys have - or know of - a working Rigonda Bolshoi?
For those of you who haven't heard of it, it's a remarkably
sophisticated Russian-made radiogram.
It was a hybrid device, with valve amplification and a solid-state FM
tuner that employed a motor drive to the tuning knob for AFC (as well
as allowing the user to tune through the frequency band by pressing
'up' and 'down' scan buttons).
It employed a 'magic eye' valve as a signal strength indicator. The
mechanics were quite sophisticated: backlash was removed from the
motor's gear train by having sprung, split wheels; and it had all the
usual cordage to move a traditional pointer along the glass tuning
scale.
It was so weird: if you gently turned the tuning knob to detune it, you
could feel it "fight" back as it tried to home in on the signal again.
You could force it, and as you manually turned the tuning knob you'd
feel it "notch" as it went through each station.
I don't know what brought it to mind, except that I once had a
non-working one that I eventually gave away. I regret it now - it
really was a fascinating piece of kit.
Of course, auto-tuning is everywhere these days, but never is it
implemented as a traditional vane variable capacitor with a motor drive
to the tuning mechanism. That's what made the Rigonda so sexy. :-)
--
SteveT
For those of you who haven't heard of it, it's a remarkably
sophisticated Russian-made radiogram.
It was a hybrid device, with valve amplification and a solid-state FM
tuner that employed a motor drive to the tuning knob for AFC (as well
as allowing the user to tune through the frequency band by pressing
'up' and 'down' scan buttons).
It employed a 'magic eye' valve as a signal strength indicator. The
mechanics were quite sophisticated: backlash was removed from the
motor's gear train by having sprung, split wheels; and it had all the
usual cordage to move a traditional pointer along the glass tuning
scale.
It was so weird: if you gently turned the tuning knob to detune it, you
could feel it "fight" back as it tried to home in on the signal again.
You could force it, and as you manually turned the tuning knob you'd
feel it "notch" as it went through each station.
I don't know what brought it to mind, except that I once had a
non-working one that I eventually gave away. I regret it now - it
really was a fascinating piece of kit.
Of course, auto-tuning is everywhere these days, but never is it
implemented as a traditional vane variable capacitor with a motor drive
to the tuning mechanism. That's what made the Rigonda so sexy. :-)
--
SteveT
Martin Crossley
Apr 7, 2012, 9:42:09 AM4/7/12
to
Steve Thackery wrote:
> Hey, do any of you guys have - or know of - a working Rigonda Bolshoi?
>
An ad. on http://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/ might find you one.
> Hey, do any of you guys have - or know of - a working Rigonda Bolshoi?
>
Dave Plowman (News)
Apr 7, 2012, 11:36:28 AM4/7/12
to
In article <veSdnaIKUfumpR3S...@bt.com>,
called a Symphona - or similar? As you altered the volume it also switched
in a variety of R/C networks to provide a sort of loudness control. Very
strange, as it chopped between them.
--
*Windows will never cease *
Dave Plowman da...@davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.
Steve Thackery <nob...@nowhere.com> wrote:
> Hey, do any of you guys have - or know of - a working Rigonda Bolshoi?
> For those of you who haven't heard of it, it's a remarkably
> sophisticated Russian-made radiogram.
> It was a hybrid device, with valve amplification and a solid-state FM
> tuner that employed a motor drive to the tuning knob for AFC (as well
> as allowing the user to tune through the frequency band by pressing
> 'up' and 'down' scan buttons).
I remember a similar one but with a valve FM tuner too. Think it was
> Hey, do any of you guys have - or know of - a working Rigonda Bolshoi?
> For those of you who haven't heard of it, it's a remarkably
> sophisticated Russian-made radiogram.
> It was a hybrid device, with valve amplification and a solid-state FM
> tuner that employed a motor drive to the tuning knob for AFC (as well
> as allowing the user to tune through the frequency band by pressing
> 'up' and 'down' scan buttons).
called a Symphona - or similar? As you altered the volume it also switched
in a variety of R/C networks to provide a sort of loudness control. Very
strange, as it chopped between them.
--
*Windows will never cease *
Dave Plowman da...@davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.
Graham.
Apr 7, 2012, 1:05:30 PM4/7/12
to
servo tuning, but most of the other features. I definitely played with
its big brother because I remember the feel of the tuning servo, it's
not something you forget.
Don't forget the knob that rotated the ferrite rod on the front panel.
My enduring memory of the Regonda we had was the lifts due to the
sunspot maximum in about 1968. The highest SW band covered 27MHz and
it was full of fowl mouthed American teenagers talking to their own
school friends apparently oblivious the fact that their signals were
being heard in Europe. Some of those signals were able to completely
close the magic eye, and this was just with a few feet of wire for an
aerial and the set had no RF amplification, the aerial circuit fed
straight into the mixer valve.
--
Graham.
%Profound_observation%
Graham.
Apr 7, 2012, 1:16:36 PM4/7/12
to
On Sat, 07 Apr 2012 16:36:28 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
<da...@davenoise.co.uk> wrote:
>In article <veSdnaIKUfumpR3S...@bt.com>,
> Steve Thackery <nob...@nowhere.com> wrote:
>> Hey, do any of you guys have - or know of - a working Rigonda Bolshoi?
>
>> For those of you who haven't heard of it, it's a remarkably
>> sophisticated Russian-made radiogram.
>
>> It was a hybrid device, with valve amplification and a solid-state FM
>> tuner that employed a motor drive to the tuning knob for AFC (as well
>> as allowing the user to tune through the frequency band by pressing
>> 'up' and 'down' scan buttons).
>
>I remember a similar one but with a valve FM tuner too. Think it was
>called a Symphona - or similar? As you altered the volume it also switched
>in a variety of R/C networks to provide a sort of loudness control. Very
>strange, as it chopped between them.
It was done with a ganged pot the second pot giving bass boost as you
<da...@davenoise.co.uk> wrote:
>In article <veSdnaIKUfumpR3S...@bt.com>,
> Steve Thackery <nob...@nowhere.com> wrote:
>> Hey, do any of you guys have - or know of - a working Rigonda Bolshoi?
>
>> For those of you who haven't heard of it, it's a remarkably
>> sophisticated Russian-made radiogram.
>
>> It was a hybrid device, with valve amplification and a solid-state FM
>> tuner that employed a motor drive to the tuning knob for AFC (as well
>> as allowing the user to tune through the frequency band by pressing
>> 'up' and 'down' scan buttons).
>
>I remember a similar one but with a valve FM tuner too. Think it was
>called a Symphona - or similar? As you altered the volume it also switched
>in a variety of R/C networks to provide a sort of loudness control. Very
>strange, as it chopped between them.
reduced the volume. That much I do remember, and was impressed by it.
Thinking about it now, there must have been two gangs on the volume
control notwithstanding the loudness compensation, so perhaps the
volume control had 4 gangs in total? At this point my memory is a bit
fuzzy.
The record deck was the biggest load of crap I have ever seen.
--
Graham.
%Profound_observation%
J G Miller
Apr 7, 2012, 1:34:34 PM4/7/12
to
On Saturday, April 7th, 2012, at 18:05:30h +0100, Graham. wrote:
> it was full of fowl mouthed American teenagers talking to their own
^^^^
> it was full of fowl mouthed American teenagers talking to their own
> school friends apparently oblivious the fact that their signals were
> being heard in Europe.
Obviously playing the game of "chicken" ;)
> being heard in Europe.
Steve Thackery
Apr 7, 2012, 3:14:08 PM4/7/12
to
Graham. wrote:
> The record deck was the biggest load of crap I have ever seen.
Yes, the one in the Bolshoi was awful, too.
> The record deck was the biggest load of crap I have ever seen.
Strange, really: very sophisticated in some areas, dreadful in others.
--
SteveT
Rick
Apr 7, 2012, 5:29:10 PM4/7/12
to
"Steve Thackery" <nob...@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:m9ednU62_5uWDx3S...@bt.com...
if size was anything to go by would have been written off as unserviceable,
however it was anything but, with four panels which opened up like a banana
skin allowing easy access to both size of the printed circuit boards,
however the primitive top hat 'plug in' transistors and prone to failure LOP
transformer didn't do it any justice, but I wish more western manufacturers
would have followed suit when designing for ease of serviceability.
Graham.
Apr 7, 2012, 7:12:31 PM4/7/12
to
time or two.
Did you ever see one of these:
http://www.vintage-radio.com/recent-repairs/microsonic.html
I bought two from Electronics (Croydon) Ltd and got both workingafter
a small amount of TLC.
--
Graham.
%Profound_observation%
gri...@gmail.com
Apr 7, 2012, 8:02:43 PM4/7/12
to
>It was so weird: if you gently turned the tuning knob to detune it, you
>could feel it "fight" back as it tried to home in on the signal again.
>You could force it, and as you manually turned the tuning knob you'd
>feel it "notch" as it went through each station.
>
>I don't know what brought it to mind, except that I once had a
>non-working one that I eventually gave away. I regret it now - it
>really was a fascinating piece of kit.
A friend had one of them - it didn't sound too bad, either.
>could feel it "fight" back as it tried to home in on the signal again.
>You could force it, and as you manually turned the tuning knob you'd
>feel it "notch" as it went through each station.
>
>I don't know what brought it to mind, except that I once had a
>non-working one that I eventually gave away. I regret it now - it
>really was a fascinating piece of kit.
Bill Wright
Apr 7, 2012, 10:33:28 PM4/7/12
to
Graham. wrote:
> The highest SW band covered 27MHz and
> it was full of fowl mouthed American teenagers talking to their own
> school friends
Clucking hell!
> The highest SW band covered 27MHz and
> it was full of fowl mouthed American teenagers talking to their own
> school friends
Bill
Bill Wright
Apr 7, 2012, 10:36:59 PM4/7/12
to
Rick wrote:
>
> Their small black and white portable was amazingly compact for its time
> and if size was anything to go by would have been written off as
> unserviceable, however it was anything but, with four panels which
> opened up like a banana skin
The panels had lengths of string so that when you opened them up they
>
> Their small black and white portable was amazingly compact for its time
> and if size was anything to go by would have been written off as
> unserviceable, however it was anything but, with four panels which
> opened up like a banana skin
hung at the correct angle. And wasn't there a lamp as a voltage regulator?
Who remembers the table model with the aerial socket centrally above the
tube neck? Water in the coax, oh dear me!
Bill
Tim
Apr 8, 2012, 2:19:51 AM4/8/12
to
http://cgi.ebay.fr/RADIO-RIGONDA-BOLSHOI-STEREO-MULTIPLEX-/270914486100?pt=FR_JG_Collections_Radios&hash=item3f13c2ff54
Tim
Brian Gaff
Apr 8, 2012, 4:40:51 AM4/8/12
to
Yes, I remember some of those. It was not unique though. Someone showed me a
Phillips that did the same, it was a table radio. the tuning dial also
changed colour when it locked onto a station.
You just don't get this stuff any more.
I have a Denon receiver that has a motorised volume control.
Brian
--
Brian Gaff - bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
Note:- In order to reduce spam, any email without 'Brian Gaff'
in the display name may be lost.
Blind user, so no pictures please!
Phillips that did the same, it was a table radio. the tuning dial also
changed colour when it locked onto a station.
You just don't get this stuff any more.
I have a Denon receiver that has a motorised volume control.
Brian
--
Brian Gaff - bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
Note:- In order to reduce spam, any email without 'Brian Gaff'
in the display name may be lost.
Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Steve Thackery" <nob...@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:veSdnaIKUfumpR3S...@bt.com...
Roderick Stewart
Apr 8, 2012, 5:22:09 AM4/8/12
to
In article <p1t0o7p46tujrhtbf...@4ax.com>, Graham. wrote:
> Thinking about it now, there must have been two gangs on the volume
> control notwithstanding the loudness compensation, so perhaps the
> volume control had 4 gangs in total? At this point my memory is a bit
> fuzzy.
Such elaborate things did exist. I once encountered a TRF radiogram (I
> Thinking about it now, there must have been two gangs on the volume
> control notwithstanding the loudness compensation, so perhaps the
> volume control had 4 gangs in total? At this point my memory is a bit
> fuzzy.
think it was Philips) which had a four gang tuning capacitor. The four
capacitors had to be kept separate of course, and were in individual
metal compartments all linked by one rotating shaft that must have been
about a foot long. Luckily it was so thoroughly broken I wasn't
expected to fix it.
Rod.
--
Virtual Access V6.3 free usenet/email software from
http://sourceforge.net/projects/virtual-access/
Dave Plowman (News)
Apr 8, 2012, 5:57:29 AM4/8/12
to
In article <p1t0o7p46tujrhtbf...@4ax.com>,
acted as switches. As you altered the level you could hear the frequency
response switching as it passed these.
> The record deck was the biggest load of crap I have ever seen.
Oh indeed. Rumbled like a good un. The cartridge didn't sound too bad,
though, although record wear might have been a problem. ;-)
--
*Whatever kind of look you were going for, you missed.
Graham. <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
> >I remember a similar one but with a valve FM tuner too. Think it was
> >called a Symphona - or similar? As you altered the volume it also switched
> >in a variety of R/C networks to provide a sort of loudness control. Very
> >strange, as it chopped between them.
> It was done with a ganged pot the second pot giving bass boost as you
> reduced the volume. That much I do remember, and was impressed by it.
> Thinking about it now, there must have been two gangs on the volume
> control notwithstanding the loudness compensation, so perhaps the
> volume control had 4 gangs in total? At this point my memory is a bit
> fuzzy.
The one I'm talking about had 'tags' spread round the volume control which
> >I remember a similar one but with a valve FM tuner too. Think it was
> >called a Symphona - or similar? As you altered the volume it also switched
> >in a variety of R/C networks to provide a sort of loudness control. Very
> >strange, as it chopped between them.
> It was done with a ganged pot the second pot giving bass boost as you
> reduced the volume. That much I do remember, and was impressed by it.
> Thinking about it now, there must have been two gangs on the volume
> control notwithstanding the loudness compensation, so perhaps the
> volume control had 4 gangs in total? At this point my memory is a bit
> fuzzy.
acted as switches. As you altered the level you could hear the frequency
response switching as it passed these.
> The record deck was the biggest load of crap I have ever seen.
though, although record wear might have been a problem. ;-)
--
*Whatever kind of look you were going for, you missed.
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