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Widget Of The Week
Fonadek 5M4 Telephone Amplifier, 1968
 We all know – hopefully -- that the vast
majority of so-called celebrity endorsements are little more than crude
marketing ploys. In most cases sub A-list celebs and ‘influencers’ with large
social media followings are plied with freebies and paid to feature or
recommend products, preferably with photos of themselves, gurning benevolently
upon it.
Some celebrity endorsements aren’t so easily
bought, though. Arguably the most exclusive one is the ‘By Royal Appointment
Warrant awarded to products favoured by the British Royal Households. It’s no
good sending their Highnesses fancy widgets or back-handers on the off chance
of a mention on HRH’s Twitter feed or the Buck House Facebook page. To apply
for a Royal Warrant one of the senior royals must have been using the goods or
services concerned for at least 5 years.
 The Duke Of Edinburgh or more likely his staff,
clearly took a shine to Fonadek’s Telephone Amplifiers, and this version, the
5M4, dating from the mid 1960s, definitely wouldn’t have looked out of place on
a regal office desk. It has that almost indefinable, solidly British feel about
it. It looks like it was styled (and painted) by Land Rover; it’s as timeless
as a fine fowling piece, and built like a brick throne room… The Royals like
their stuff to last…
 It’s designed to be used with the classic Type
300 Bakelite telephone (type 164 handset), and it’s very easy to use. Placing
the handset in the cradle depresses a small button switching it on, turning
what moments ago was an ordinary desktop telephone, into a trendy, modern
space-age, hands-free phone. A magnetic coil in the top of the unit picks up
sounds coming from the earpiece or ‘receiver’. This is connected to a
battery-powered 5-transistor amplifier, which drives the matching external
speaker.
 The transmitter part of the handset sits facing a parabolically shaped
chamber that reflects the user’s voice into the microphone. There’s a volume
control on the side and a recessed sensitivity control on the back panel. The
cases are made of steel and it is vastly over-engineered, but on the plus side
this one wouldn’t have survived so long, in such good condition, if it had been
made of lesser materials.
Apart from the remains of the Duke of
Edinburgh’s warrant crest on the edge of the case I think it unlikely that this
one has any other Royal connections. Stranger things have happened but it’s a
long way from Buckingham Palace to the cardboard box full of junk at a Midlands
antique fair where I found this one. I almost didn’t see it; the dirty dark
green finish was an effective camouflage colour, but the odd shape caught my
eye and the pyramid-shaped speaker attached to it confirmed my suspicions.
Displaying goods in damp cardboard boxes is often a fair indicator of what a
stallholder thinks their wares are worth, and I wasn’t disappointed, or
inclined to haggle over the ‘couple of quid’ asking price.
 It wasn’t a pretty sight but it scrubbed up
well using ordinary household cleaners. There was some very light surface rust
in a few small spots, where the paint had been worn away or scratched, but this
was easily removed and touched up. After an hour it two it was looking quite
presentable. Inside it was a similar story, mostly dirt and some light rust
patches but there were no signs of battery corrosion and again it was a simple
matter to muck it out and clean it up. A quick check of the circuit board
suggested all was well and connecting up a PP9 battery produced a welcome pop
from the speaker and a crackle from the volume control. Keen to try it out I
held my cordless phone close to the magnetic pickup. To be honest I wasn’t
expecting much but it produced a really loud dial tone from the speaker when
the line was opened. It was clear that it was still in good working order and
when I get a moment I’ll hook up one of my Type 300’s Bakelite phones and give
it a proper road test.
What Happened To It?
Fonadek International Ltd, later Fonadek
(Branson) Ltd, are a bit of a mystery. There are only a few odds and ends about
the company’s history on the web so as usual I would be grateful to anyone who can
fill in the many blanks. The (so far) known facts can be boiled down to them
being founded around June 1950, according to records at Company’s House and
they were located in Vivian Road in Birmingham. They appear to have stayed
there until August 1982, or thereabouts, which was when they last filed
accounts, and the trail goes cold.
During that time I estimate they produced
around half a dozen telephone amplifiers models and a quirky desktop message
system, called Permapad. The earliest telephone amps were valve-based with built-in
speakers; the one featured here is most likely a first or second-generation
transistor version. I’ve dated it to around 1965, based on the types of transistors
used (introduced a year or so earlier). Later models, probably made during the
70s and 80s, appear to be made largely of plastic, with horizontal, rather than
upright cradles. I suspect Fonadek struggled for several years; I can find no
record of what this telephone amplifier originally sold for but I would be surprised
if it was less than £30 to £40, which would have been a fair sum back then. Competition
from cheap far-eastern products, like this Homer KIT-505, which sold for £3, 2s
(£2.10) first appeared in the mid 1960s and would have grabbed a large chunk of
what would have been a comparatively small market especially amongst consumers
and office users. By the late 70s phones with built-in speakers were starting
to appear and Royal Warrant or not, there were just not enough well equipped
offices, captains of Industry and wealthy toffs to make expensive high-end
models like the Fonadek viable.
By rights such an unusual and apparently highly
regarded instrument should be worth a few bob but the few I’ve seen on ebay are
typically priced at between £10 and £20, with very few takers. Phone collectors
and retro tech like this sort of thing, though, and I can imagine upcyclers
eyeing it up as the base of a table lamp. I fully expect to see a butchered
example selling for a three-figure sum in a trendy furniture shop, but rest
assured this one will be preserved for in its natural state for future generations
to enjoy (unless I get a really good offer…)
First Seen: 1968
Original Price: £30 - £40?
Value Today: £10.00 (0918)
Features: 5-transistor amplifier,
magnetic pickup, 8-cm 8-ohm Richard Allen speaker, parabolic reflector, volume
& sensitivity controls
Power req. 9v PP9 battery
Dimensions: 250 x 140 x 130mm (main
unit), 170 x 98 x 106mm (ext speaker)
Weight: 1.4kg (main unit), 700g (ext
speaker)
Made (assembled) in: UK
Hen's Teeth (10 rarest) 7
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