Many thanks to my buddy, Skip, who shared the following video on his Facebook page:
The SWLing Post
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The mechanism for the slide switches allows two things. Less precision is required for the slide switches to align with the case. Also, this allows the same case to be used in other models that may have a continuous control instead of switches. Case in point – Panasonics RF-2400D’s case is used by another maker that makes an inexpensive am/fm/sw radio that is being marketed thru the Radio Shack website.
There is always a reason why some things are done a certain way.
Hey TheZ – I opened the comments here to say exactly the same thing!
Fran assumes that this design is unique, for this particular radio. I’m sure the manufacturer uses exactly the same PCB on a whole range of radios – I’m sure the manufacturer is not stupid! – this is obversely a cheap radio – as most AM/FM radios ( I chose the word “stupid” because that was the word she used to describe the design choice).
All that said Fran is cool – I hadn’t seen her videos before – I’ve just subscribed to her channel!
Fran hit the nail on the head. gutless wonder, wonder why it even works. lots of stupid mechanical work around. for bad design. It is OK to put ornamentation on construction but not OK to construct ornaments.
My Retekess TR604W works great and is one of my many favorite radios. It’s a steal for the price.
I don’t consider it “cheap” at all except for the great price!
I have pretty much the same radio but the later inclusion of the Weather Channels and I love it! It sounds great, good fidelity and clearity, and my example in calibrated dial to frequency very close.
All radio’s today are made on a single circuit board, “a radio on a chip” as Fran says. It is cost prohibitive to make an individual component radio and assemble it today. It would never sell because of cost and little improvement for most users, I bet the average consumer would never be able to tell a difference.
Sorry Edward but you are uninformed! My radio of the same basic design but with the Weather Channels included is a great radio! With great fidelity and on my example good calibration of the dial to frequency.
I liked it so much I have ordered another two years later.
Love the vintage calculator. Looks like a TI-30, mediocre in its day and it’s been all downhill since then! ?
Love the vintage calculator. Looks like a TI-30, mediocre in its day and it’s been all downhill since then! ?
Huh… I did that to the Yorek #YK-901 AM / FM / SW portable. I didn’t do a VID, but did PIC’s. Hmmmmmm… I should send those to Fran.
Nice intro to the radio, but would have liked a more complete review.
At least Fran (unlike another well-known youtube radio reviewer) knows that the name “Retekess” isn’t pronounced like it has the letter ‘v’ somewhere in it…