Tag Archives: Vintage Radios

Mark spots radios in the original “Hawaii Five Oh”

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Hirst, who writes:

Thomas,

I recently picked up a couple of DVD boxsets of Hawaii Five Oh from my local charity shop.

These old shows are always an interesting watch, giving insights into fashions, cars, cultural norms and story lines from the time.

I spotted these radios, sometimes used for exposition or just props in various episodes.

Mark

Thank you for sharing, Mark! I bet readers can recognize all of these fine vintage radios! The top photo might be the trickiest in terms of narrowing down the exact model.

I haven’t watched Hawaii Five Oh in decades. It would be fun to rewatch a few episodes–I loved that show in my youth!

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Mark’s collection of vintage micro radios

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark Pascoe, who writes:

Hi, Thomas.

I rarely see photos of micro radio collections, so I thought some of your subscribers may be interested in seeing my little collection.

These are all late 50s to 60s radios made in Japan and hand soldered. Just over 50% of them are still working ( Deoxit is my best friend) l live in Adelaide Australia and recently retired doing the customary downsizing thing. Now I live in a small townhouse and have what must be one of the smallest radio shacks, 1m x 1/2 metre!

With a 50 ft long wire running front to back above my roof. I’m not an overly experienced SWL, and I have a question. I have 3 SW radio’s with 5 antenna attachment points. Is there a recommended antenna splitter that goes 1 into 5 without any interference ? I currently manually connect/disconnect my antenna’s.

Thanks Mark Pascoe.

These are simply amazing, Mark! I don’t believe anyone has ever shared photos of their micro radio collection before, so we’re most appreciative. There are some amazing designs in this collection!

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Balazs spots vintage radios in film and in a Budapest pub!

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Balázs Kovács, who writes:

Hi Thomas,

Happy New Year! Some pictures in two topics:

1.) First, a nice Zenith H511 Consoltone (MW) got a few seconds of screen time recently in the fourth episode of the third (final) season of “His Dark Materials” series:

2.) At the end of December in an old pub in Budapest (Helvecia) I ran into some more or less old radios as a part of the eclectic decoration. Since these are partly Eastern European, they may be less well known elsewhere (deep in the basement, so even if they were still functioning, not many radio signals would reach them anymore):

With best regards,
Balazs

Wow! I love those pub radios! I especially love the dial markings on the R 926 A!

Thank you for sharing these images, Balazs!

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Rare AEG Telefunken E1800 receiver fetches over $5,000 US

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who writes:

A rare AEG 1800 receiver fetched over $5,000 in an auction on the Japan Buyee site, complete with its original metal cabinet.

As collectors/users of premium receivers know, the 1800 was once described as the best HF radio ever made. And this particular unit contained most of the rare main modules that themselves often sell for high prices in Europe.

There were 54 bids for this AEG 1800, demonstrating that rare premium sets such as this, and especially Japan Radio Company (JRC) receivers, still attract major interest from collectors.

Click here to view the completed listing on Buyee.

Most impressive, Dan. It truly amazes me to see the prices rare commercial-grade receivers fetch these days. I’ll be the first to admit that an AEG E1800 would look great in my shack!

Thank you for sharing, Dan.

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Bob Colegrove on “The Joys and Challenges of Tuning Analog Radios”

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bob Colegrove, who recently shared this excellent article and has kindly allowed me to share it here in the the Post. Bob prefaced it by saying, “Being a retired technical writer, I started the attached article some time ago for my own amusement, but it quickly got out of hand.”

“Got out of hand” in a very good way, Bob!

An excerpt from Bob’s article.

I love how this piece takes us through receiver history and explains, in detail, the mechanics and innovations. It’s also a very accessible piece that both the beginner and seasoned radio enthusiast can appreciate.

But don’t take my word for it, download it and enjoy!

Click here to download The Joys and Challenges of Tuning Analog Radios as a PDF.

Thank you again, Bob. This is a most enjoyable and informative read! This was obviously a labor of love. Thanks for sharing it with our radio community!

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New Zealand auction includes collection of 400 vintage radios

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jason Walker, who writes:

Dear Thomas,

I noticed a New Zealand news article that may be of interest to SWLing Post readers.

Approximately 400 vintage radios are to be auctioned in Nelson, New Zealand. Whilst I use more modern Tecsun radios, the article will be of interest for vintage collectors. Many of the Radios are New Zealand made and rare.

Links below include a video and news article.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/124587912/collectors-go-gaga-over-vintage-radio-auction

Radio and Collectables Auction
17 Hereford Street (off Songer St)
Stoke, Nelson
Saturday 10 April, 2021

AUCTION STARTS AT 11am
Viewing from 9am day of auction
and, Friday 11am – 3pm

More information: https://jwauctions.co.nz/upcomingauctions.html

Thank you, Jason. Even though this auction has been widely publicized in New Zealand, the collection is so massive, I imagine bidders will be walking away with some excellent bargains. If I lived in NZ, I would certainly be a part of the bidding. I’d love to have an NZ-made receiver.

I really like the following quote from the Stuff.co.nz article:

The widower of the man who stockpiled the radios told Walker her husband had collected the stash from all over the country.

“His wife was a wee bit disappointed she didn’t know he had half the radios because he used to keep hiding them.[“]

How many of us can relate to that last statement? Let’s face it: par for course, right!? 🙂

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Flea Market Find: David restores a Hammarlund HR-10 solid-state portable

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Korchin, who writes:

Stumbled on this rig at an estate sale and laid out a cool $5.00 for her. She was mostly in pieces in a big plastic bag covered in a LOT of dust, and the battery compartment had seen better days. But I thought I could get it going.

Once I got to the chassis I noticed someone with a Golden Screwdriver had been rooting around in there (the PS module was missing screws to the frame and there was some solder bits dancing around inside).

Threw in 4 C cells: pots were noisy, but there was sound, and after liberal application of De-Oxit and some scrubbing the thing snapped to life! Quite good MW reception: I snagged KMOX 1130 St. Louis at 06:30 GMT this morning, a good hop of 960 miles.

Hammarlund only made this Weather/Marine band receiver in 1969-70, so it’s a rare bird, though probably not collectable, per se. Still, it was fun to get the thing operational.

Oh wow! Thanks so much for sharing your flea market find with us, David! I’m so glad you were able to not only give this HR-10 a proper clean-up, but also bring her back to life–and even snag some DX!

And your photos, as always, are simply gorgeous.

I’m curious if anyone else in the SWLing Post community owns or has owned the Hammarlund HR-10. Please comment!

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