July 2024 Acquisitions

HereticHermit

HereticHermit

Forum GOD!
This is not a review here, but a radio in 2024 that looks like from the 80s may pique interest in some of you, drop me a line if you want any additional information.

My tube radio is beyond repair for many years now. Present radio receivers that I see in local market are either absolute cheap rubbish or too upmarket and looks like a digital circus. I had to buy this for simple construction, robust, old school tuning knob, without unnecessary bells ‘n’ whistles yet handy enough to take anywhere. (it is smaller than a table-top set). Sometimes you do not want to exert control over every possible media that you possess, and a radio allows you to be ‘without’ control.

I see it specially useful for people, as backup, during emergency broadcast, but my use case is mostly News bulletin and talk shows. I am not into Dxing, yet I may have gone for a tri-band radio but given that 90% of SW bands as on today, is Chinese propaganda, I scaled down to a dual-band.

This is not a boom box nor does it aspire to become one, but for what it is, it delivers exceptional value. For its dimensions, the 4-inch speaker is ‘big’, so sound is not ‘tinny’, but it has pronounced treble and Mids. You will be hard-pressed to find much Bass on the speaker. What it means in real time listening is that on FM music with Vol turned all the way up, the speaker let you know its limits. However, on talk shows and news, the 100% Vol sounds big enough with very clear audio and zero distortion despite higher treble and high Mids. It surpassed my expectations and a few days of burn-in, the speaker sound is going to improve some more. If it had a treble control knob, that would be goldilocks for a budget radio. It has only two knobs for tuning and Vol control and a functional 4 section telescopic antenna. Works on 4 AA size batteries (Online reviews report around 50 hours of listening on one set of batteries) Works on AC and came ready as default for Indian 220V wall sockets but running on AC the humming on AM is much higher than passable. Works alright on FM though.

Despite its appearance from the 80s, it is a digital tuner (in model No 2400D, the D is for digital) which uses the manual knob for tuning. In that sense it doesn’t auto lock the frequency, but it has all the flows of a digital v/s analogues tuner, you may be aware of. I personally favour analogue but given their price point today, they simply cannot be found in budget radio receivers. This radio sounds good enough that sits it in a corner and fill the room without booming, pleasant noise that doesn’t get your ears buzzing with shrill notes.

I don't have much electronic traffic where I live, but somehow it is a blind spot. I still have to heck up a Yagi antenna for FM and another one for MW.
PXL_20240725_radio.jpg
 
Last edited:
chazt

chazt

shave
HereticHermit said:
This is not a review here, but a radio in 2024 that looks like from the 80s may pique interest in some of you, drop me a line if you want any additional information.

My tube radio is beyond repair for many years now. Present radio receivers that I see in local market are either absolute cheap rubbish or too upmarket and looks like a digital circus. I had to buy this for simple construction, robust, old school tuning knob, without unnecessary bells ‘n’ whistles yet handy enough to take anywhere. (it is smaller than a table-top set). Sometimes you do not want to exert control over every possible media that you possess, and a radio allows you to be ‘without’ control.

I see it specially useful for people, as backup, during emergency broadcast, but my use case is mostly News bulletin and talk shows. I am not into Dxing, yet I may have gone for a tri-band radio but given that 90% of SW bands as on today, is Chinese propaganda, I scaled down to a dual-band.

This is not a boom box nor does it aspire to become one, but for what it is, it delivers exceptional value. For its dimensions, the 4-inch speaker is ‘big’, so sound is not ‘tinny’, but it has pronounced treble and Mids. You will be hard-pressed to find much Bass on the speaker. What it means in real time listening is that on FM music with Vol turned all the way up, the speaker let you know its limits. However, on talk shows and news, the 100% Vol sounds big enough with very clear audio and zero distortion despite higher treble and high Mids. It surpassed my expectations and a few days of burn-in, the speaker sound is going to improve some more. If it had a treble control knob, that would be goldilocks for a budget radio. It has only two knobs for tuning and Vol control and a functional 4 section telescopic antenna. Works on 4 AA size batteries (Online reviews report around 50 hours of listening on one set of batteries) Works on AC and came ready as default for Indian 220V wall sockets but running on AC the humming on AM is much higher than passable. Works alright on FM though.

Despite its appearance from the 80s, it is a digital tuner (in model No 2400D, the D is for digital) which uses the manual knob for tuning. In that sense it doesn’t auto lock the frequency, but it has all the flows of a digital v/s analogues tuner, you may be aware of. I personally favour analogue but given their price point today, they simply cannot be found in budget radio receivers. This radio sounds good enough that sits it in a corner and fill the room without booming, pleasant noise that doesn’t get your ears buzzing with shrill notes.

I don't have much electronic traffic where I live, but somehow it is a blind spot. I still have to heck up a Yagi antenna for FM and another one for MW.View attachment 153350
Click to expand...
Wonderful! These are fun to own. I was given a very early generation version as a birthday gift in 1972. It was great! It had a good quality tuner with stable reception And highly acceptable tone. It went with me on countless camping trips. I wish I’d have taken better care of it. Enjoy :okay:
 
Vacumatic

Vacumatic

Testy
HereticHermit said:
This is not a review here, but a radio in 2024 that looks like from the 80s may pique interest in some of you, drop me a line if you want any additional information.

My tube radio is beyond repair for many years now. Present radio receivers that I see in local market are either absolute cheap rubbish or too upmarket and looks like a digital circus. I had to buy this for simple construction, robust, old school tuning knob, without unnecessary bells ‘n’ whistles yet handy enough to take anywhere. (it is smaller than a table-top set). Sometimes you do not want to exert control over every possible media that you possess, and a radio allows you to be ‘without’ control.

I see it specially useful for people, as backup, during emergency broadcast, but my use case is mostly News bulletin and talk shows. I am not into Dxing, yet I may have gone for a tri-band radio but given that 90% of SW bands as on today, is Chinese propaganda, I scaled down to a dual-band.

This is not a boom box nor does it aspire to become one, but for what it is, it delivers exceptional value. For its dimensions, the 4-inch speaker is ‘big’, so sound is not ‘tinny’, but it has pronounced treble and Mids. You will be hard-pressed to find much Bass on the speaker. What it means in real time listening is that on FM music with Vol turned all the way up, the speaker let you know its limits. However, on talk shows and news, the 100% Vol sounds big enough with very clear audio and zero distortion despite higher treble and high Mids. It surpassed my expectations and a few days of burn-in, the speaker sound is going to improve some more. If it had a treble control knob, that would be goldilocks for a budget radio. It has only two knobs for tuning and Vol control and a functional 4 section telescopic antenna. Works on 4 AA size batteries (Online reviews report around 50 hours of listening on one set of batteries) Works on AC and came ready as default for Indian 220V wall sockets but running on AC the humming on AM is much higher than passable. Works alright on FM though.

Despite its appearance from the 80s, it is a digital tuner (in model No 2400D, the D is for digital) which uses the manual knob for tuning. In that sense it doesn’t auto lock the frequency, but it has all the flows of a digital v/s analogues tuner, you may be aware of. I personally favour analogue but given their price point today, they simply cannot be found in budget radio receivers. This radio sounds good enough that sits it in a corner and fill the room without booming, pleasant noise that doesn’t get your ears buzzing with shrill notes.

I don't have much electronic traffic where I live, but somehow it is a blind spot. I still have to heck up a Yagi antenna for FM and another one for MW.View attachment 153350
Click to expand...

Doesn't that take you back, your first, your very own, portable radio. You knew the frequencies of all the stations and the maximum volume that you could have before your father shouted at you to turn that bloody row off.
 
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