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A portable radio thread

In part to emphasise that whilst headphones are clearly the ‘big ticket’ item this room’s scope encompasses all portable audio, so here’s a thread about radios! Everyone likes a nice radio:

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Here’s mine, a mid-80s Roberts R25. Just a classic simple MW/LW/FM radio. Nothing fancy, but very nicely made and pretty easy to service. I’ve also got a rather tatty later-era Roberts Revival in the bathroom which actually gets a lot more use (I want to keep the R25 in this lovely pretty much as-new condition and the bathroom gets too much sun and humidity). Thankfully you can still buy the big square batteries and they last for ages. They are both decent sounding radios.

I never got ‘fancy’ with radios as I’ve always had a proper hi-fi and that sucked all my money. A portable radio was just something for the bedroom, kitchen, bathroom or whatever, so I never ended up with a ghetto-blaster, multi-band world-receiver or anything despite always liking them as their own genre.

Very happy to host anything that can be categorised as portable audio in this room, so everything from my humble R25 mono radio through to beautiful high-end Nagra open reel recorders belong here along with all the headphones as far as I’m concerned. My HMV 102 portable wind-up 78 gramophone does too.

Anyway, anyone got any interesting radios?

I have a Roberts R707, which I understand was Roberts’ top portable in the late 1970s/early 1980s.
Lovely ‘tone’ with its Elac elliptical speaker.
You can get a reasonable ‘BBC balance’ by judicious use of the bass and treble controls.
I sold my Tivoli radio and kept this one.
 
My Grundig Yacht Boy, the YB300-PE AM/FM-stereo/SW (a pale reflection of the glorious original I'm afraid):
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I have never used it with headphones, and really only keep it around to help me track the resistance effort when the zombie apocalypse comes.
 
I have never used it with headphones, and really only keep it around to help me track the resistance effort when the zombie apocalypse comes.

A windup analogue radio would be best. Not sure a digital one will survive an EMP attack.

I would have loved a Satellit 700 when shortwave (and Grundig) was still a thing. Had to make do with the YB400.

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Have just found this addition to the can thread; well done, Tony, as I think most of us in a certain age bracket not only grew up with portable FM radios but still choose to have them dotted around in loos (as mine) or other crooks and nannies. Unfortunately, my loo one is an old small Sony stereo ghetto-blaster in very poor shape after being used for E.F.L. lessons over a decade; still (just about) works, though.

In the early seventies I had a number of B&O portables in different colours come my way (they were v. popular if a bit pricey). I took one with me whilst viewing my first house in spring '75 simply to ascertain the reception potential. I think the agent must've been perplexed to see me climb the stairs with radio, aerial at full stretch, testing reception. Thos B&Os were great sonically and visually. I have a photo of one in my rented room in about 1964 so they must've been around some time.

Whilst working in Bucks for AEI in around '61/2, I lusted after the new Japanese trannie radios coming in; crammed full, sensitive and small + expensive. Saved up and bought one but can't remember how long it lasted !!!!

I've been looking out for a decent (older?) portable on Gumtree but not sure what is good or not, though Roberts do come up on occasion. I have an old Yatchboy (I think) in my loft but although it works, it soon goes off; not sure what to do with it as it's a nice piece. Are there any quality old stereo portables out there?
 
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Are there an quality old stereo portables out there?

There is a strong argument for mono with portables as the reception/signal to noise is just so much better. For typical R4 use the various little Roberts serve their function perfectly IMO. That said if your Yachtboy is in good cosmetic condition I’d get it fixed as that was a very good radio and brings short wave etc.
 
I'm a fan of internet radio and currently have this https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08NJGZ5M8/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

Excellent, but sadly not available after Amazon sold out. Had a Roberts internet radio before that. And sadly internet radios seem less popular in recent years. No doubt another casualty of the bluetooth/smart speaker/mobile phone takeover.

I also still have a mint Sony SW100. Was too nice to use and risk damage! For me, the coolest radio ever made. The size of a cassette.

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Still have mine, it must have been affected by the ribbon problem and I managed to get it fixed. Still in working order.

Used to take it on holiday to keep in touch with the news through the BBC World Service.

Changed days with the internet and TVs in hotel rooms with English language channels.
 
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I also have the SW07. In some ways a better radio, but not a classic product like the SW100.

The best modern day equivalent I have found is this https://swling.com/blog/2021/03/a-r...wifi-fm-dab-dab-and-bluetooth-portable-radio/

Not quite as tiny as the SW100 but very, very small for an internet radio. Rechargeable battery and really impressive sound quality for it size.

Of course, you get loads more choice with the digital way of listening to radio (including DAB), but I do miss the ability of tune through a dial to find something unexcepted. That's the drawback of digital.
 
Have a few portables dotted around the house but rarely used. Do use a modern Revo (with trad looks) in the garage, picked up cheap.

My favourite from back in the day though is this tiny Sony which I bought cos of it's cool styling, used it with Senn 'yellow foam' headphones on the daily trip to work.
Still works (although sounds crap):


Sony ICF-S11W
by mik tec, on Flickr
 
I was rumbling through a box o' bits n' bobs and came across my old Sony radio that was a fav for cycling duties, could clip it to my cycling jersey and being so light you didn't notice it. It could always pull in a station no matter how far out into the galloway hills I ventured and the battery lasted forever. The standard headphones were a bit meh so If I remember correctly I used sennheiser CX300 in ear iems. Found an AAA battery so got it working and plugged in the Sundara's which can get plenty loud but not really practical :D so I'll use it with Moondrop Chu's.

Blurb below,

The SRF-M10 was an FM-only radio of attractive design and very small proportions. The design emphasis was clearly on compactness and quality, though achieving these made the set quite expensive.

The styling brought to mind some of the portable telephones sold under the Sony/Ericsson banner around this time, though of course the radio was much smaller. Having no AM band removed the need for a bulky ferrite bar antenna, and this along with the power requirement of only one “AAA” sized cell (which could last up to 40 hours) meant that the case could be made really small. Tuning was performed digitally and 15 stations could be stored in the memory. Control of the tuning functions was by a jog lever, similar to that found on some Discman models (e.g. the D-EJ885). Tuning information appeared on a miniature LCD screen, which unusually showed transparent characters on a black background. The display also showed the volume level (also controlled digitally) and when the set was switched off, a clock.

The SRF-M10 was supplied with small in-ear headphones, but despite the set’s small size there was still enough room for a full-sized headphone socket, so other types could be used too. To make up for the shortcomings of some types of headphone, “Mega Bass” loudness could be switched in. The sensitivity of the receiver could also be varied, with “local” and “DX” modes being selectable by a small slide switch.

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I also have a Freeplay Ranger FM/AM wind-up/solar powered radio. Had it for many years.
We still take it away, and use the solar power to get FM. I attached a bit of thin speaker wire to the aerial to get better reception.

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My first portable radio was a Hacker Mini Herald:-

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/hacker_mini_herald_rp17arp_17.html

It was given to me non working circa 1966, I replaced a transistor (with an available alternative, start of an ongoing habit) and it was great. I used it for some years and the PP7 batteries were becoming hard to find then in 1980 it was stolen by Algerians.

Now we have a variety of Pure DAB radios spread round the house for R4 and the cricket.
 
When looking at ‘modern retro’ portables, I spotted a Steepletone ‘Baby Brighton’ model for £15.00 on
Gumtree.
They retail for approx. £45.00 and are recommended by the Radio Times.
( I think most retro radios are purchased by RT subscribers...)

Most reviews talk about the various colours rather than audio quality.
I was tempted by the Gumtree price, but decided not to buy in the end.
 
I have one of these in my collection ... does this count???..

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Although my main portable today would be this from Jaycar/digitech...

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It does all bands from Long Wave up to VHF air and has really great FM with stereo as well. It is also sensitive enough to pull in good FM signal in this FM reception desert that I am currently stuck in...

It also does SSB with selectable IF filtering for better noise handling on weak signals.

LPSPinner.
 
The Tandberg TP41 is fantastic. I helped a friend fix one a while ago and I was really taken aback by how good it sounded.

Like this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/17559280...d=link&campid=5338728743&toolid=20001&mkevt=1

Agreed. I have had a TP41 from the time I knew their UK Agent. Good sound, and useful input/output socket if you're happy with DIN plugs. I power mind with a set of NiCads to give it close to the voltage it will take from a Car accumulator. In all the years I've had it the only repair was changing the old 'works like a diode' device that helps stabilise one of the internal tuning voltages. These are unobtainioum, but can be replaced with a LED. :)

I wish a modern maker would do something as good and add DAB/DAB+ along with a socket to allow it to play from something like a DAP for sheer versatility. Tandberg's use of a large elliptical speaker with an 'open resistive baffled front and back' was a neat way to get wider bandwidth for the audio without box 'boom' clogging up the sound. Again, I've continued to be puzzled why no-one else seems to have done this so well. Truly excellent design all-round. Not surprised to see people asking a high proce for one!
 
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I also have this old Emerson - the Model 747. Advertised as the world's smallest at the time, and if Radiomuseum is to be believed, cost a whopping $40(!) in 1953:
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It has teeny tiny toobz inside:
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Alas, it used a long-obsolete 45v battery to run the tubes, so now it's just an ornament.
 
My new portable source: the AM-only Panasonic "Panapet", developed for Expo '70 in Osaka. Missing its chain "leash" but otherwise looks and plays like new. About the size of a small grapefruit; uses a 9V battery and has a mono earplug jack as well as the built-in speaker. I listened to a baseball game on it on Saturday afternoon, and all was right with the world for awhile.
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Edit: Found an original ad for it.
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I also have this old Emerson - the Model 747. Advertised as the world's smallest at the time, and if Radiomuseum is to be believed, cost a whopping $40(!) in 1953:
HXeGW4R.md.jpg


It has teeny tiny toobz inside:
HXeEZ1R.md.jpg

Alas, it used a long-obsolete 45v battery to run the tubes, so now it's just an ornament.
How about using 5x 9v batteries just so you can use it occasionally? It looks like there's be just about enough room.
 


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