Many thanks to SWling Post contributor, Mark Hirst, who writes:
Thomas,
My local charity shop received a donation recently in the form of a Grundig Elite Boy 500.
It’s in working order, although the volume control needed some Deoxit D5 to solve some bad scratching. Good cosmetic condition and works across all the bands.
Here’s a YouTube video I made of it in action:
Mark
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Mark Hirst, who recently returned from a trip to South Korea and, at my request, is sharing some sights and sounds with us. Mark writes:
Thomas,
I’ve been catching up on cataloguing pictures and videos from my Korea trip.
I’ve enclosed a picture taken through the Seoul North Tower observation window of an adjacent radio mast.
You can also see a view of Seoul along with its dubious air quality !
I’ve posted these radio-related YouTube videos:
AFN Korea – War in Iran:
MBC FM4U – Reporting on a fire at a ‘capsule’ hotel in Myeong-dong
I embedded English translations generated by the Korean language app, NAVER Papago:
Mark
Thank you, Mark! Wow–I can’t imagine being a guest in a capsule hotel during a fire–that sounds terrifying. And thank you for that photo of the Seoul North Tower–great shot!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Mark Hirst, who writes:
I’m re-watching Person of Interest, which reappeared on Netflix recently, and spotted a Grundig radio (logo obscured) in one of the episodes.
Can anyone ID this model? I owned one of these at some point and gave it to a family member who was interested in shortwave. I recall it had great audio.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Mark Hirst, who shares this Guardian article examining the future of the BBC World Service. In the piece, outgoing BBC Director-General Tim Davie warns that the World Service is approaching a serious funding cliff, with the current government support agreement set to expire and no replacement yet in place. Davie emphasizes the continued importance of the World Service’s global reach and trusted journalism at a time when reliable international news is under increasing pressure worldwide.
You can read the full article here:
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/feb/10/bbc-world-service-funding-tim-davie
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Mark Hirst, who writes:
Thomas,
Episode 4 of Pluribus dropped today (November 21).
It opens with a radio operator methodically tuning across the amateur bands listening for a signal.
Mark
Wow! I’ve been watching Pluribus and wondered how I missed this shot, only to realize that episode 4 just dropped! Thank you for sharing this, Mark. I’m excited to watch it later today.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Mark Hirst, who writes:
This gem arrived in the charity shop where I volunteer yesterday, a radio made in the USSR (Minsk) in around 1975.
It was in fantastic external condition, although after checking it out discovered that the band changing control on the right hand side had been disconnected.
I suspect something went wrong with the very mechanical way it switched frequencies (shown in the video below), which rotated individual circuit boards into play.
Somebody seems to have opened it up, set it permanently on VHF, and then disconnected the control to prevent any further changes.
It was evidently sold in the UK as it has BBC radio stations on the dial and I even found a UK service manual for it.
I was tempted for a while, but I’m learning these days that this sort of thing just ends up as clutter.
Hard to believe that only five years after this electro-mechanical radio was made, Sony would release the ICF-2001 !
Mark
Manual:
https://archive.org/download/Trader_ASTRAD_B205/b205_text.pdf
Radio Museum:
https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/minsk_radi_astrad_f8_tr17_b205f8tr17.html#
YouTube – Astrad “Mikado” F8-TR17-B205:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osDxKNdun98
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Mark Hirst, who shares the following note:
One of my favourite channels just posted a video on the structural engineering challenges of tall radio masts.
Mark
This is a fascinating video. Thank you, Mark!