A vintage radio from Kim Andre Elliott’s collection.
I was just chatting with my buddy Dave Cripe (NM0S) who recently snagged a cool Soviet-era vintage portable radio at ShopGoodwill.com. It’s a beauty:
I’ve always been fascinated with Soviet and Eastern European designs from the 60s, 70s and 80s, but I’ll be the first to admit that I know little-to-nothing about them.
I’m curious if any readers could shed light on some of their favorites makes and models? Are there any exceptional performers? Any that are highly valued? If you have photos, consider sharing them as well. Please comment!
purchased at car boot 7 months ago latvian made vef vega 206 radio, great reception on mw band’s, hearing north americans at 01:00 utc, cfrx, wins 1010, etc etc ( good condition only cost 65 pounds sterling!!!
still have my first radio, vef 206,in my opinion superior sound and reception etc on all bands, does not need mw loop to listen to north American am stations, sure is a great radio! Jon from the uk
At least on long and medium waves, Soviet receivers are even now very good. A little finalized and works better than any modern “calculator”: https://youtu.be/xhsmEWDFmog
The Vega 206.
5 Shortwave Bands, AM/Longwave, as heavy as lead, but very sensitive and could pick up carphone conversations and spy/numbers stations.
SELENA <3
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Poste-radio-multibandes-vintage-Selena-B-212-fonctionnel-/222675110720
Many of the VEF/Radiotehnika & Minsk Radio Works (Vega, Okean, etc) transistor sets are pretty good performers, particularly on MW & SW. Some are even fairly common in the west – in the 70’s and into the 80’s there was a big Soviet push to earn export dollars, and there were importers in the UK, Netherlands, France, & Australia distributing them (along with other Soviet gear e.g. Zenith & LOMO cameras).
The ones I’ve owned are all a bit lacking in LW though (not that there’s anything here to listen to beyond beacons & DGPS!), and positively agricultural on FM. And that “spring loaded” bandswitch is a clunking great turret switch like something out of a vintage TV, rotating separate biscuits for each band into place! Lots of contacts to clean, and alignment is a pain in the rear to say the least!
The VEF was a classic but did not have 22m. You needed a strong hand to change bands with a spring loaded rotating knob! I loved the Selena which was in a wooden box as opposed to the VEF’s plastic. You can’t beat the sound coming from a radio housed in a wooden box. Most amazing thing I saw was a homemade digital frequency readout for VEF radio.
VEF?
List with specs, photos & manuals of Soviet Portable Radios on rw6ase Portal:
http://www.rw6ase.narod.ru/00/rp_p.html
1) Radiotehnika from Soviet Latvia the most quality Soviet radio company.
2) VEF also from Latvia. Iconic Sp?dola and Vega series radios.
3)Minsk Radio Works – Selena or Ocean radio series.
4) Voronezh Radio Works.