Tag Archives: Vintage Radios

Astrad “Mikado” F8-TR17-B205: Mark discovers this USSR radio at his local charity shop

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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

Adi spots two rare receivers on eBay. What are they?

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FURUNO RH1-1 Radio Receiver

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Adi, who writes:

Hi Thomas, I was just browsing eBay when I decided to see what was “new” in the receivers section.

These popped up:

https://ebay.us/iRSC87 [eBay partner link]

RH1-1? [See photo above] Google doesn’t know much about it.

Pfitzner – Teletron type TE712B

https://ebay.us/RNQEy3 [eBay partner link]

The seller from Poland writes, “The receiver was produced specifically for reconnaissance purposes.” I wonder what was heard through its circuits…? ?

I guess a few readers can tell us more about them.

Regards,

Adi

Thanks for sharing, Adi. I’m not familiar with either of these receivers, but I’m sure some of the experts in our community can shed some light on them!

Mark spots radios in the original “Hawaii Five Oh”

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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! 

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!

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!

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.