Gorgeous Early Short-Wave Console Radio, 6M1331 "Queen Mary" made by Rogers Majestic in 1936, with 1:720 Tuning Dial and 15" Field Coil Speaker
In a Nutshell
Dial Split in 720 parts, 2x6F6 Push-Pull 20W Audio, 13 Tubes, Huge 15" Magnavox Field Coil Speaker, you want more?
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Introduction:
With these two radios (see also the 7M931 on sale) I continue the restoration of impressive 1930's Canadian console radios made by DeForest Crosley (8D991, 9D791, 9D991) and Rogers Majestic (12-126). This time DeForest Crosley seems to not have come out with their own model, but instead Rogers Majestic produced two radios with the same chassis, but different cabinets (pict.34), Rogers "11-13" "Custom-Built" and Majestic "Queen Mary", with chassis 6R1331 and 6M1331, respectively. The first digit of the chassis number stands for the production year (1936), the second for the number of tubes (13). In contrast to many of these 1930's radios that have very beautiful multi-colored glass dials, the dial of this radio is made from plastic and rather plain. Even the lens was from plastic. Since it was broken I replaced it with a glass lens. The brand mark in pict.31, found on the bottom of the cabinet resembles the ones found on DeForest Crosley radios (e.g. the EARL, also on sale), and may be interpreted as K for Knechtel plus date Aug.6, 1936, but this is pure speculation. This radio definitely excels in its technical specifications:
• powerful 20W push-pull amplifier with two 6F6 tubes
• large 15" Magnavox (model 5412) field coil speaker
• variable bandwidth IF amplifier (noise suppressor)
• powerful power supply with two 80 rectifiers
• extremely spread-apart vernier dial
• beam-of-light short-wave loupe with 1 mark equalling 1/720th part of full scale
• 24V bulb tuning help, dimming on station
The (field coil) speaker is from before 1936, and looks like new. It features an early exponential cone cross section, enhancing treble in such a big 15" cone.
The radio features a phono input allowing also to connect other devices like CD- and mp3 players.
For the techies only:
Some historical remarks and technical details for tubes and bias cells, are under techies for the other Rogers console (7M931). A word about the beam-of light short-wave loupe of this radio (pict.33): A short-wave loupe is used to find stations on the densily populated short-wave band. 60 transparent film marks are distributed on a half circle fixed on the shaft of the main tuning capacitor. A bulb projects and magnifies part of this film onto a matt screen with 20 scale divisions, such that the light spot advances by one division, when the tuning capacitor is rotated by 1/4 degree. 12 revolutions of the coarse tuning knob, or 72 revolutions of the fine tuning knob are necessary to rotate the tuning capacitor over its full range of 180 degrees, so effectively splitting this range into 720 divisions. This is comparable with the red "split second" dial pointer of Zenith's famous black dial radios, where one second corresponds to 1/6 degree rotation of the tuning capacitor (see my Zenith 6S330).
Additional information:
ref. 1. http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/rogerstube_majestic_queen_mary_ch_6m.html
ref. 2 http://www.radioatticarchives.com/radio.htm?radio=7260
ref. 2 http://www.antiquewireless.org/otb/biascell.htm
About my radio:
The radio has not been refinished, only having minor repair work on its upper right corner (pict.6). The radio retains all four of its original wooden knobs. The dial plastic cover was broken and milky and has been replaced by regular glass. The radio exhibits 5 of the original sprayshield tubes, including two rare 6F7M tubes. The three 86M are substituted by equivalent 6P5GT, one 6F7M by a 6B8 (swapping pins 4 and 6), and the two push-pull 6F6M have been replaced by a high gain and matched pair of RCA 6F6G.
I treated all moving parts with contact spray, replaced the bias cell after an unsucessful try to rejuvenate it, by equipping the corresponding tube with a cathode resistor (pict.20). The radio plays loud and clear on AM/BC and receives SW stations (see 14MB! video by clicking on pict.36). Please understand that here in Chilliwack (in the "valley") we have next to no AM stations left. Please
e-mail
me (Kris) for any questions, ich spreche Deutsch, je parle Français.
Here are the specifications:
| Technical Description of Item |
| Manufacturer |
Rogers Majestic Corp. Ltd., Toronto, Canada |
| Model |
Queen Mary, chassis 6M1331 |
| Type |
13-tube MW, Police, SW Superheterodyne console radio receiver |
| Production Year |
1936 |
| Serial Number |
chassis 33829 |
| Cabinet |
multi-tone wood |
| Dial |
Reverse painted colored plastic with light channels in back |
| Knobs |
5 original wooden knobs |
| Speaker |
15" field coil speaker and push-pull audio transformer |
| Frequency Range |
MW/BC 540-1750 kHz, Police 1700-5600 kHz, SW 5.5-18.5 MHz |
| Controls |
Volume-band select, coarse and fine tuning, on/off - tone - noise filter |
| Tube line-up |
6K7M, 6A7M, 2x6F7M, 6B8, 75M, 3x6P5, 2x6F6, 2x80, 24V tuning bulb |
| Size (WxDxH) |
26" x 14" x 42" |
| Weight |
108 lbs = 49.3 kg |
| Comment |
A heavy Rogers Majestic radio with remarkable technical specifications |
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