Here’s a lovely old radio manufactured in 1950 by GEC. Covering long wave, medium wave and short wave bands (49 to 13 metres) this is a real gem.
The GEC BC5639 is a 1950 three-band table radio made by the General Electric Co. Ltd.
Specifications
- It’s a 5-valve superhet with a 470 kHz IF, covering long, medium and short wave. The short-wave band runs from 49 to 13 metres.
- Valves: X61M, W61, DH63, KT61 and U50. This is an all-Osram line-up, so replacements can be harder to source than Mullard equivalents.
- It runs on AC mains, has a 6.5-inch permanent-magnet speaker, and sits in a large, low-profile wooden table cabinet measuring 451 × 384 × 241 mm and weighing about 10 kg.
- It has sockets for a gramophone pickup and an external speaker.
The BC5639L
The BC5639L variant is the same set with different mains-voltage options: 115, 125 or 220 V AC. It was released in August 1950.
Dating GEC sets
There’s a handy rule for post-1950 GEC model numbers: add the first two digits to the last two to get the year. For the BC5639, that’s (5+6)+39 = 50, giving 1950.
RADIO SPECIFICATIONS
Manufactured from 1950
Long Medium and Short Wave
Valves – X61M W61 DH63 KT61 U50
AC Supply
The service manual for this radio is available in the Members’ Area here.
