SABA HANN Radio from 1927 (PWJ227)

I was on a flea market and in the very last moment I spotted a wooden box with some fancy dials. It turned out to be a very old radio from the German manufacturer SABA. Model HANN27 from 1927 (also called HANN 1800). In this video we take a closer look into an almost 100 year old piece of technology.
The sticker on the frontpanel was the first version of a radio "reception fee" and it was introduced in 1933. Radios already in service before that date got a white sticker for free. Later radios got a colored label before they were sold. The seller had to pay a small fee and the purpose was to make sure the radio complied to safety rules and radio receiver standards. And also to prevent "hobbyists" from making and selling (crappy) radios.
The use of these labels stopped in the late 1960's. All radios older than that are easily to date because of the label.
*Schematic Error*: The input connectors "-G" and "-H, -A" are NOT connected. The connection dot turned out to be dirt. "-H" is ground and "-G" is negative grid voltage for both LF tubes (-4 to -8V)

[@Petertronic]

Wow. That is the best constructed vintage radio I have ever seen. Best $5 you could ever spend!

[@simontay4851]

Wow, that is beautiful. Those coils are amazing.

[@gvii]

That entire thing is gorgeous, even with the broken knobs and missing transformer. All that old handmade RF equipment is just fascinating to me. Especially when it's something of that vintage that still looks like it was put together yesterday. It was never intended to be anything other than a radio, but it's now as much a piece of art as it is anything else. Also a lot nicer to look at than a lot of the crap that gets passed off as "art" these days, but I digress. Truly is an amazing find for a whole 5 bucks, for sure. Very, very cool.

[@Potsie]

What a beautiful piece of art. 5 bucks well spent I'd say.

[@PlaywithJunk]

Yeah! Especially when you think the "new" tube costs 35$ (Ebay). The knobs alone are worth more... 🙂

[@TheEmbeddedHobbyist]

what a thing of beauty, looks like you got a bargain.

[@beamer.electronics]

What a contrast to your day work technology - how things have developed in the span of 100 years. Other than the 1/4" jack, it's profound (and reassuring) how the physical properties of electromagnetism have not changed - the numbers remain the same.

[@PlaywithJunk]

Physical constants will never change... but the parts to play with them will get cheaper 🙂 But this is another example how we sometimes underestimate the folks 100 or more years ago. I mean just look at the knobs for example. They couldn't be made any better today. Maybe we use PVC instead of Bakelite but the result will be the same.

[@TimHollingworth]

Looking forward to seeing / hearing this "junk" fully working. I would like to see how the screw in capacitors are constructed, also

[@Vladimir-hq1ne]

Wow. What a nice hammer enamel! Upvoted from the start. I have a sweet spot for pre-1935 radios... Aesthetics of WWI veterans somewhat. I keep forgetting that 1908, my granddad's birthyear and grandmom's 1913 seem Jurassic now :(

[@PlaywithJunk]

My father was born in 1911... he was quite old when I was born. If you refer to the frontpanel, that's not enamel. The frontpanel is made from hard-rubber and the pattern is from the casting. It must have been engraved in the mold like that.

[@Vladimir-hq1ne]

@@PlaywithJunk Oh, my bad. I used to see front panels and cases made in hardened metallized enamel... Well, we all do remember those surfaces? Sorry, as you could guessm English is... Quite NOT my native ;) And - THANK you very much, sir, for your videos!

[@PlaywithJunk]

@@Vladimir-hq1ne No problem, man! It's hard to see on video anyway. It's the first time I saw such a finish. Normally it's steel or wood with paint, enamel or a glued-on surface.

[@IvanStepaniuk]

I was a bit surprised by the "Made in" in English. I thought it was not that common back then.

[@PlaywithJunk]

In fact I have never seen a german version of "Made in". No matter how old a thing was. It sounds better than "Hergestellt in" 🙂

[@sheep1ewe]

Awesome! i do collect old radios my self.

[@PlaywithJunk]

I do not collect them but from time to time I have to salvage one from being thrown away... and then I keep it 🙂 My second oldest is from 1937 and I paid $50 on a flea maket. It had some damage on the wooden case (water) but it worked without any issue.

[@sheep1ewe]

@@PlaywithJunk Awesome! I wonder how many modern apparates will survuive in working condition after that long time!

[@PlaywithJunk]

@@sheep1ewe Hmmm... things start to fall apart after 5 years, 10 years until the software gets too old to use. 15 years to complete obsolescence 🙂 And that's an optimistic guess...

[@sheep1ewe]

@@PlaywithJunk Yes, i remember wehn i tried to fix an old paperprinter my father had in the home office, it was realy hard just to find software that worked with it, and i also had to re build the interface to the computer in order to make the ports work, etc. I had problems related to capacitors and even resistors made after the 80s, but almost none with those made before the 80s... etc

[@PlaywithJunk]

@@sheep1ewe When the Chinese started to make capacitors

[@JosBergervoet]

The tubes were not so expensive as you assume at 21:30 because the book lists them for only a few Reichsmark at 21:01 (bottom left).

[@renowden2010]

I am wondering about those jacks. In the UK the telephone system used B type plugs which had a ball end and not quite the same as modern guitar plugs with the pointed end.

[@PlaywithJunk]

I have seen such ball end plugs. I'm not sure, but I think they are compatible... They do basically the same thing 🙂

[@chrisridesbicycles]

Very interesting. I thought these variable capacitors were only a theoretical construct to punish electrical engineering students. Also love the Fricker coils. I read Frickler coils (with an L) first which would be funny since it means tinkerer in German.

[@PlaywithJunk]

Maybe that's where the word comes from...? Must have been pretty "frickly" to make them. 🙂

[@ThomasJakober]

This is probably the best invested five bucks of your live.

[@SeanBZA]

Those connectors in filament supply are old home wiring connections, when they were done with bare copper, and knob and tube wiring, to join the assorted wiring in off the bus bar, running in the roof crawl space. No need to solder in the roof, because your soldering iron was either heated in a fireplace, or was heated with a fuel powered blow torch. The connectors were also used in other places, because the common terminal block was still a long way in the future, unless you used ceramic ones that had screws riveted into the ceramic.

[@PlaywithJunk]

I guess the home-wiring connectors are not that tiny.

[@thiesenf]

I bet Paul Carlson (Mr Carlson's Lab www.youtube.com/@MrCarlsonsLab) would love to nose around inside that radio... :-) Btw... that is NOT junk... well... in todays day and age it kind of is... but if you're an old school nerd it's not...

[@PlaywithJunk]

I know Mr. Carlson's channel... 🙂 And I bet he has a power supply to make this thing work.

[@SeanBZA]

Never apply full power because the heaters are actually 2V heaters, so the resistor is there to drop voltage, and also to run the heaters hotter as the tubes age and lose emission. Runs on DC as these are directly heated, and the cathode curerent also provides some heating. Not good to leave HT on, as the tubes warm up the heaters get badly stripped, so best to apply heater voltage, wait 30 seconds then apply B+. As well those heater rheostats also generate grid bias, running at full heater current means the tube saturates, and you will red plate the anodes as there is no longer negative grid bias. Done so you did not need to put in a C battery as well, which would be a regular zinc carbon battery, arranged to provide grid bias, via another set of potentiometer and grid bias resistors. Instead you use the drop across the heater cathode resistor to generate that low voltage for these tubes, running the grid somewhat negative to the cathode, though gain and cut off voltage would vary along the filament wire according to voltage.

[@TheEmbeddedHobbyist]

It's a Regenerative radio much more simple than a superheterodyne circuit.

[@Sven_Dongle]

Stone knives, and bearskins..

[@PlaywithJunk]

Almost... 🙂

[@Sven_Dongle]

@@PlaywithJunk BTW, Thats actually a Star Trek reference.

[@PlaywithJunk]

@@Sven_Dongle Really? Where does that come from?

[@Sven_Dongle]

@@PlaywithJunk City on the Edge of Forever: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fGOVZ6KNd62prKs

[@leopiipponen7693]

I have never seen such an old radio inside before. A very interesting and beautiful structure.

[@PlaywithJunk]

Me neither.... normally you see that in a museum, behind a glass... no touchy!! 🙂