THE GREAT MULLARD MAGIC BLOG

   I just love this advert from 1926 for Ebonite from Trelleborgs which is only sold by high class dealers.  That quaint phrase puts me in mind when a military radio collecting friend and I were branded high end dealers but I digress.   Some of you - those with or even without a Brownie crystal set may wonder precisely what ebonite is........well....   Ebonite is a brand name for very hard rubber invented by Charles Goodyear in 1842 that is resistant to solvents, acids, alkalis and halogens whilst stable between ambient temperatures of -10º to +90ºC with an expansion coefficient 7...

Don't forget to buy your loved ones a present from Mullard Magic's extensive stock of unique gifts.  After all, who would want a pair of luminous reindeer socks from Marks & Sparks when you could have a bolometer,  valve or klystron from MM!! Joking aside, to all our customers, thank you for making our first year a success and seasonal greetings to you all, we hope you enjoy this copy of a Mullard Christmas card sent to management team members in 1952: -

Today, we like the chic and quirky and who in the radio amateur world has not heard of the Tuna Tin 2 transmitter.  Designed in the 1970s, the late Doug DeMaw, W1CER/W1FB, ARRL Technical Editor, was one of several Headquarters staff who published homebrew projects, many with a QRP twist. One of the most popular projects was a simple, two-transistor 40-meter transmitter that used a tuna can as the chassis.   A series of events, some quite amazing, have come together to keep the magic alive—the original Tuna Tin 2, built in the ARRL Lab, is still on the air and...

These were selling like hot cakes in 1951 and details of their build and performance featured in much of the Mullard official literature of the time. Here we see Arnold Polkinhorne doing something with a Philips valve voltmeter.  Just look at that fat bottle EL37 lurking on the chassis as well as a stash of more MHSVT in the background. The fun cotinues as here is Dorothy Prinkle nimbly constructing and lacing a wiring loom for a MHSVT - looks like she's using the silicon covered wire display from Phil Marrison's BVWS stall - haha!

I just love this advertisement from 1926 by Ediswan: - We tend to think of "oldies" not embracing technology as a relatively new phenomenon but here we have the proof that nearly 100 years ago, the situation was just the same.    It really puts me in mind of the time when myself and Mrs Mullard bought a new Samsung 3D telly - not because we wanted the 3D function but because we loved its aesthetics.    The problem was, we didn't know how to switch the 3D function off.  Our (at the time) 10 year old nephew Mikey huffed,...