Vintage Transistor Radios Show And Tell

[@SoddingaboutSi]

I have on of those generic Hong Kong radios that came in various colours. My Grandad bought me one when i was very young and i loved it then. Crappy radio that means a lot to me today.

[@LeeLocke]

Nice one Simon.😊

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

Similar thing with the hmp-139 songmax teaching. Cheap nasty toy keyboard. But it is nostalgic to me.

[@craignehring]

Thanks shango066, interesting to see all of these old radios

[@bratwurst2923]

These are some of my favorite things to find. The companies tried to cramp every aesthetic of the era possible into these things. Their also cheap and small. Good video 👍👍

[@tarstarkusz]

I want to find a discrete component am/fm radio that has a stereo jack for headphones. Even dual mono would better than single sided jack.

[@bratwurst2923]

@@tarstarkusz that would be pretty cool to find! I used to have a big set of headphones that had a stereo/mono switch on them. Whenever listening to a transistor radio I'd put in on mono so both speakers would work. Caliphone 3068. Still make them!

[@albinklein7680]

@@tarstarkuszjust solder one in!

[@westelaudio943]

@@tarstarkusz They are always mono but you can easily fit a stereo jack in and rewire it for dual mono (sleeve terminal is GND and the two other just in parallel) just make sure to not put a mono jack in there again because that would short it out.

[@chuckermatinger3794]

@@tarstarkusz On eBay you can get adapters that will produce audio on both sides of a stereo earphone when plugged into a mono wired jack.

[@macgvrs]

Rush started his national radio show in 1988. I was a teen when the switch over to transistors was taking place. I remember those small transistor radios. I had those and I also had a somewhat larger one that I modified to improve the tone of. It really takes me back.

[@chrisa2735-h3z]

I love old transistor radios I think they are so beautiful and have so much character! 😍

[@watershed44]

@chris andrus Back in the until the late 1970s or early 80s it seemed like the product designers gave electronics a distinct personality if that is possible. I'd say from the 1990s on it was all about cost cutting and aesthetics went out the window mostly.

[@ShyMagpie]

Watching another great Shango066 video and then being pleasantly surprised by him answering my question on camera... now, that made my day 😊thank you

[@AudioMobil]

When I was a kid I got on of these small Hong Kong transistor radio from my grandma. Looked a lot like that RCA and had a fake leather case and came in the original box. Somehow I lost it during the years which is a shame, but there are no AM stations in Germany left anyway. I really would love to have a station like LA Oldies on AM. Great music all day long...and on these old AM radios, you really get a nice "back in the day" feeling.

[@darrellhagan6124]

Wow, you aren't kidding about no AM radio stations left in Germany :(. I've never been there but I just looked up broadcasting in Germany and found no AM stations.

[@Dazzwidd]

this sounds like the perfect situation for really long distance AM reception with a nice big magnetic loop antenna

[@gerardcarriera7052]

Of that lot, don't sell the Westinghouse short. It is well made and one of the hottest DXers with a low transistor count. It is from 1961.

[@LeeLocke]

Nice set of of radios for the collection. I collect radios. Thanks for sharing. Have a great week.

[@3oldtechdudes]

Love watching you take a look at each of these. Now I'm going to go see what transistor radios I have in my stash of treasure...

[@ZERONEVERSEVEN]

"Hot-ass radio" -shango066 2020

[@JerryEricsson]

I was listening to Rush back in 1983, he was on late night, and I was a cop at the time. Our town pretty much rolled up the streets at 2:00 AM, you arrested a drunk or two on their way home, then watched for buglers and late night vandals the rest of the night, occasionally (more regularly then most know) some adrenaline pumping domestics with knives rolling pins and meat cleavers. But Rush man, even back then he could keep you awake and alert. God bless him and help him with his current health problems, I hope he has a replacement in training, maybe we can get Newt to take over when Rush dies. Sad, we are the same age, Rush and I.

[@matthew794]

I agree with radio not going away especially FM. I’m in the south Chicago area and one of the first things I do when I get into my car is turn on the radio. I always like tuning into the morning shows.

[@teacfan1080]

As far as AM goes...in my area where I live, the station that consistantly wins the ratings each quarter is 790 KFGO, an AM station. The sound quality from them is pretty good. Beats out all the FM stations, modern country, classic rock, and all the other genres. So I would agree that AM won't go anywhere although it's mostly talk format. KFGO is news/talk and broadcasts sporting events as well. Close on the dial is KNFL 740 "the fan" sports talk. During the day, they crank out 50,000 watts, I can pick them up easily up to 300 miles away. But at night they tank their power down so far that nothing can be picked up at that distance.

[@chetpomeroy1399]

I see that the old U.S.A.-made Westinghouse transistor radio has the Conelrad markings on its dial. It probably came off the assembly line some time in the early-60's, definitely before 1963.

[@tarstarkusz]

Do you know of any pre-integrated circuit that has a stereo jack on it, or at least a dual mono jack?

[@chetpomeroy1399]

@@tarstarkusz I don't personally recall seeing anything quite like that. I remember seeing couplates, also known as "K" networks, that were used in tube equipment, such as TVs from the 50s and 60s, as well as some 5-tube radios from that era, but I've never seen any audio jacks attached to those early integrated circuits.

[@tarstarkusz]

@@chetpomeroy1399 By pre-integrated circuit I meant discrete component, not tube equipment. Sorry about that. I have a larger one (not like these) that sounds great and the only IC in the whole thing is an IF amp. I think it's from 1973. But it's just too big and heavy. It's a good 12x12x2.5

[@wkjvr2450]

Wow! Transistor radios made in Hong Kong! I even cannot found one in Hong Kong Flea markets. Oh yes I am a Hongkonger.

[@migsvensurfing6310]

KMPC radio has a bad cap in the AGC circuit. Nice bounch to add to the collection. Thanks for showing us.

[@HappyDiscoDeath]

I've been listening to KNX lately in the evenings; I'm in Twin Falls, Idaho! Nothing like some evening AM propagation...

[@ModMokkaMatti]

I've lived in the greater Seattle-Tacoma area practically my entire life, and for years I've been able to pick up KBOI out of Boise pretty well. I used to be able to get KGO out of San Francisco with a good signal, from early evening to early morning, back when they still had all the different live call-in shows. Conversely, I can remember being down in San Francisco and picking up KOMO from Seattle, quite clearly down there, even before nightfall. What's even cooler is that I can pick up one of the stations out of Calgary, Alberta - which is coming in from an even further distance, and across even more various land formations. That will always be a big appeal of terrestrial radio to me - it still seems like a bit of magic.

[@Dazzwidd]

@@ModMokkaMatti What about this one, there's a 500 watt transmitter on 567khz for 2BH Broken Hill that I can get here quite clearly which is 450 miles away. Now, that's not a lot of power. They call broken hill the silver city, maybe ground conductivity is helping it out

[@scottbrady7499]

the philco am/fm is really neato. looks real disco. remember the panasonic ball radios that were hanging by their chains? wires inside that look a little thick. the GE looks like every portable.

[@dstoll7958]

Panasonic R-70 - also Marked the Panapet 70. I have a blue one hanging in the garage.

[@nathankim7664]

@@dstoll7958 Me too. If you're gonna get a good quality transistor radio, get a Panasonic! Keep yours man, that thing goes for 50 bucks on eBay.

[@angryshoebox]

Ah yes, I remember those types of radios where you had to pry off the back the set to get to the battery. As cheap as some of those radios were, they were cheap enough that ‘70s kids like myself could have tunes with us, listening to Elton John, Grand Funk, etc., on the local top-40 station.

[@christopherkise]

Here In Norway we are sort of in the wrong time zone for the LA-Oldies, so I am so used to hearing the "dad-Joke" comercials by now..

[@BillyLapTop]

I think the problem with the RCA is before you put the battery in it, I noticed it was spec'd at kilocycles. You probably need a converter to convert them to kilohertzs and it will work much better, Hi Hi.

[@audubon5425]

I used that exact Juliette to listen to WWL every night in Atlanta after the storm. Wasn't bad for a $5 new radio.

[@cambo1200]

I love the color hole on the Kmart.

[@rittenhouseunit7604]

Wish you would live stream LA Oldies on DLIVE. Would be a fun hangout

[@Thievius333]

Hey Shango. Happened to scour the interwebs for the original price of that Kmart radio. Finally found one, the exact same model without the price covered up or scribbled out. It was originally $5.44. Odd price, but it was the MSRP because it wasn't stuck on with a pricing label, it was part of the cover art of the box. So there. You can finally rest at night now that you know the answer to this long-forgotten question.

[@litealite]

The Admiral was awesome and brough back memories . What sound !

[@MsKMX5]

Cool, I had one of the gray RCA just like the one there. It was gifted to me in 1970 or 1971 by my grandmother for Christmas. I was only a first grader kid at the time.

[@farmboy2520]

,...always carried an AM transister radio with me years ago (1975)in California,...especially when climbing the Jurupa hills,..and Rubidoux mountains ,...it helped pass the time hiking up the trails,...

[@johnyoung4039]

I'm not sure but on the last radio you looked at, it looked like one of the green wires were shorted across another circuit at the soldered point.

[@dougmcartin3881]

As long as advertisers continue to have faith in analog broadcasting as a viable means to sell their product, over the air broadcasting will continue. We are one of the few countries in the world where large numbers of people spend hours very day commuting to and from work. That of course is the target audience.

[@KameraShy]

Add commuting "in cars." Stuck in traffic. Every expressway in every city is jammed at rush hour. Pity the fools.

[@johnnytacokleinschmidt515]

13:35 LOL I turned my phone volume down and wondered how bad it sounded in person as it hurt my ears on my phone. I'm always interested in analyzing performance such as gain, bandpass, selectivity, and in this case noise and distortion. Cool radios. I always enjoy your videos. God Bless

[@dbrown51967]

here in the uk there was much talk of getting rid of fm broadcast in favour of digital audio band which isn't that good as the signal is often lost when passing a bus with wifi for instance or a fire station, my very recent car has a factory fitted audio system usb/bluetooth for mp3, dab fm and am broadcast is still being built into radio's so i agree with you the good old broadcast bands will probably be around for many years to come. allways enjoy your vids.

[@tgheretford]

Digital radio broadcasting is currently being reviewed by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport alongside the public service broadcasters and free-to-air broadcasting. And it's likely all broadcasting spectrum will be sold off by the next decade to mobile phone networks who can easily outspend the broadcasters.

[@thepatsny]

Before rush went National he did a local show here in New York City on WABC radio of course KABC sister station

[@theannoyedmrfloyd3998]

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me A Japanese Transistor Radio Which comes with a leatherette case with holes in it so you can listen right through the case. And has a wire which you can stick in your ear and listen to it anywhere and a plug on the other end which you can't stick anywhere because it's bent. It's a Nakashuma. It's the Mk4 model. That's the one that's been discontinued.

[@randyvance9048]

Lol I just listened to this yesterday. Made me smile.

[@georgeh9662]

have the RCA but is labeled SOUND DESIGN and if I remember it sold for $2 at the end of the pocket radio era

[@scharkalvin]

The Admiral has an output transformerless audio stage. That's probably where the extra transistors went. Count the cans, RCA has TWO IF's. Second Admiral is a 2 IF stage set, Oscillator coil is NOT shielded in a can. Zenith might be an early AM/FM, MADT type VHF transistors, possibly germanium. Of course the Zenith is HOT, it's a ZENITH! I worked at an electronics slock shop on Canal Street in NYC as a teenager , and Juliette was one of their major brands, POS getto blasters. I agree with the AM and FM bands not going away, but the FM band could become all digital if there was a need to shoehorn more stations into the bandwidth.

[@JasonHalversonjaydog]

i totally agree, they'll never get rid of am/fm radio. like you said, they'd lose too many customers/listeners. especially in rural areas theres many many people who don't have digital radio

[@SpeakerFreak95]

That RCA was my first transistor radio! I miss it! There is definitely an issue with that one because mine was identical, but it was a hot performer!

[@adamwheeldon]

yey - Shango Monday 👍

[@stephenwilliams5201]

Yes a home. An elmer gave me a radio that now is 99 years old this month so as long as I've had it. every fall I listen to the army /navy game . Thrugh a pair of Baldwin phones. And 100' of wire. Yes" the old lady" has a home. Thanks for good show. Kv4li. Ps Pot cleaner is getting hard to get. EPA to blame for that.

[@MrRadioGypsy]

Tube TV sets are getting more rare every day. Gonna have to start doing far more transistor sets next!

[@MrBarrytommy]

Thanks I now listen to LA Oldies in the UK 😉

[@chuckermatinger3794]

I can't pick out a favorite. Even the cheapies are useful in your area...that's a bonus.

[@jrs0007]

The computron may have been a "freebie" given away at an A's game (maybe computron night at the ballpark?)! One look at the silver dust cover on the speaker tells a lot. Reminds me of some of the cheap chinese kits I've built - use a good speaker and they sound decent. I'd restore the Westinghouse as they were known as "hot" performers for early 60s portables. That Philco may have some value to collectors as a hip-1970s radio like the Panasonic 8-ball radios of the era.

[@rubusroo68]

Funny how the zenith is cram packed with components 👍

[@tiporari]

Kmart 06-31-09 was sold for $6.97 and $5.44 in at least two original box pictures with price tags I found. Maybe a bad transistor in the RCA. Microphonic, sounded like feedback almost.

[@danvanvoorst7329]

Enjoyed! Another great video!

[@rogertyler3237]

I likr oldies Too. But I'm s Classic Country Fan

[@bobmarker6812]

I still have the GE AM/FM like the one shown. Looks like you got a nice collection.

[@jrocco36]

I have a bunch of 60s and 70s Transistor radios. Solid State on the front and Hong Kong on the back is a Hallmark of a crummy radio. That Kmart one is a prime example of most of those crummy dime store radios. The Kmart on most likely sold for around $3.95. Also here in Florida a well built AM Radio should be able to pickup 650 WSM out of Nashville 950miles away. And do that with a stations on 620am and 680am.

[@TheGmr140]

nice man, i'd love to test those with my moonshine radio signal generator. lol

[@Synthematix]

Cool stuff yet again m8t. i love building the radio kits although i dont have the equipment to align them properly. remember shango today especially on FM stations use massive amounts of compression on the music so everything has the same volume level, subsequently it sounds bloody awful. what was the oldest am/fm radio you have that had a red LED power indicator shango?

[@buddylight2191]

What contact cleaner do you use?

[@janosnagyj.9540]

How beautiful is that nice cute Zenith! I've just seen a pic on Google of a steel blue version of it, with a matching leatherette case! I want one like that :)

[@alphabeets]

I love Mondays now. Thanks to Shango.

[@radiorexandy]

The KMPC radio was a "giveaway" promotional radio part of a promotion. Just enough parts in it to make noise.

[@MattExzy]

Just on the topic of analog radio hanging around. They tried to get digital radio to take off here in Australia a decade ago - complete flop. It's only in the capital cities, and doesn't work at all outside the metro areas. I'd say for European countries that have high populations in smaller areas of space, digital radio makes sense, but in more expansive countries like the US and Australia, digital just doesn't get the audience coverage that AM has, and even the top rating metro stations are still AM.

[@andymouse]

Soon as I saw that Westinghouse thingy I thought of Star Trek, It made me think of the communicators they all carried, which is kinda odd...cheers.

[@MyChannel-rf8ic]

Really enjoyed this video -- watched it from beginning to end. My favorite was the Zenith royal 810. There's quite a lot of discussion about it online (google search). Thanks again.

[@imark7777777]

37:43 what would cause that squeal? It almost sounds like the exact same thing I'm getting from a hand held CB radio that's in perfect condition.

[@nicholas790]

I know what you say about Philco, but clearly from a design/style aspect it’s a far nicer design than any of the others!

[@andershammer9307]

I used to have a lot of trouble with the tuning caps in those cheap radios.

[@Tedybear315]

5 thumbs down from the telemarketers that just heard themselves in all your videos....

[@patheticsheepleeverywhere7114]

I reamember the admiral box frm my uncles TV store when i was young

[@orange70383]

I gotta get my daily dose of shock and awe on the latest virus news.

[@kez963]

I have a Nordmende Mambo radio from 50's that needed to be repaired somehow

[@F9FCJ429]

I received that exact Admiral 6 (your second one) for Christmas 1970! Even have a Polaroid of me opening it. I had just turned 7 and went thru a ton of Western Auto 19 cent 9 volts listening to WLS Kris Eric Stevens every night. I remember the K-Mart Hong Kong era radios well; in the early to mid 70s the going rate for a pocket AM radio was $4 to $6, with loss leaders going for around $3. Circa April 1972 8 year old me saved allowance and birthday money for weeks to buy a North American AM/FM for $10 from Katz Drug in Springfield MO. That radio would only get local FM and the only local in my town was KESM, simulcasting the same crap music on FM as they spewed on AM. The only FM programming worth hearing came from KYYS Kansas City and that was 100 miles away. Even the parents tv antenna didn’t help. So: $10 wasted. It’s all good: these radios were my gateway into a career as an electrical engineer, now doing analog chip design at a ‘big famous analog chip house’. Based on the radios in my herd, the silicon transistors had a higher gain, allowing designers to cut one IF stage. I had a circa 1975 GE 5 transistor: all silicon to-92 package front to back and the only sign of the missing IF stage was that the thing had the bandwidth of a barn door; it gave two to three stations at a time for your listening pleasure.

[@butcharmstrong9645]

I have a question. Before all tv stations went digital, our local TV station, WLUC TV, in Marquette, MI broadcast on channel 6 also. and you could listen to the audio on any FM radio. is there something about it broadcasting on channel 6 that makes the audio available to FM radio receivers? I wish someone would answer this for me.

[@erikj.2066]

Yes, they're the same frequency (87.7 MHz).

[@butcharmstrong9645]

@ Yes, that I knew. like I said I could listen to the audio from TV6 on an FM radio.

[@butcharmstrong9645]

@@erikj.2066 so there is some correlation then? I am not the most educated in this type of thing so I wanted to ask.

[@johnnytacokleinschmidt515]

@@butcharmstrong9645 TV audio and video channel is about 6 MHZ wide. FM station about 0.2 MHZ wide. The sound carrier for channel 6 is very near the bottom FM radio band frequency and is frequency modulated. So it's tunable and detectable by the FM radio. Since the switch to digital the stations may have been re-alocated to a different frequency and most likely that channel 6 would have been. They didn't change their monikers. And it's all digital so it can't be decoded by the FM detector in your FM radio. So everything here and written previously above are your answer. I think it's unfortunate that all of the TV sound radios and little handheld TV's can't work anymore. But that's how it is today. God Bless

[@tech45]

The Zenith,The quality went in before the name went on:)

[@THX-kw2jh]

KMPC 710 AM Los Angeles.

[@allenschmitz9644]

That RCA IS TAPPED OUT....LOL'

[@huntercarver1851]

Great video!

[@bob-ny6kn]

Were you checking signal polarization when you tipped the first radio (Admiral) on its side? If not, what do you learn from tipping a radio on its side? Thank you.

[@Robert-Wilson]

bob the antenna coil used in them AM radios is in a way directional. So moving the radio in different positions can either make the signal better or worse.

[@joebrock9784]

😢 It's still the voice of freedom because we can't voice our thoughts and on KZbin very much because people think for them what crazy end you can't get the word out any other way but the hits enter that the only one that concentr that is the FCC and they don't bother very much so that's a good thing for us I dream of how to come Americans speaking your voice just like rush during the Clinton administration as to what's going on in the world today that we don't work but we thank you sir for being a patriotic American And for the work you do and for entertaining all of us here and maybe teaching us a thing or 2 along the way

[@michaelrobertson575]

Very interesting!I think that you were meant to put the edge of a coin in that slot at the bottom of those Pocket Radios to flip the back off and change the Battery.Long Live The Medium Waveband!

[@JerryEricsson]

I am awaiting parts for the transformation from old broken Transistor radio to new digital internet wifi radio with esp32 driving everything.

[@zx8401ztv]

Some need love, computron needs the bin.

[@johnnytacokleinschmidt515]

I thumbs up your post. But actually I'd be interested in understanding if there is a problem what that problem is in fact. Also if it's in the design what could help? And not throw it away. It is what it is. I suspect it was a radio station that carried that ball team and was probably a give-away or sold at stadium for play by play. Was that Houston Astros? I don't know.

[@ronalddaub9740]

What would it take to convert 1 to have a fine tuning capacitor or a bfo?

[@MrHeem94]

"This guy likes to tweak it constantly" Look Mr Fixit, just slap some capacitors in there and lets get moving.

[@AMStationEngineer]

The Admiral YK211GP is damn impressive, in so-much-as it's not noisy in the least, is very sensitive, and the audio actually has a 'bass' response capability indicative of much larger sets. Are those "CCCP Kruschev vintage" germaniums still working well for you?

[@rotaxtwin]

Admiral - there's a name I haven't seen in a long time.

[@Joetechlincolns]

Admiral with Sanyo chassis looks like one I used to have as a kid.

[@mysticvirgo9318]

I like that green one

[@danmackintosh6325]

Is it wrong that i really like the Philco Ford one? Very, very cool looking radio & doubtless very,very shoddy quality from what I've learned of their products... Not sure it'd beat the RCA for crappy build though, that soldering looks like someone just threw a bit of molten solder at the board and hoped for it to stick! Wouldn't surprise me in the least if reflowing most of the joints largely fixed it's issues.

[@Влад-с7к5й]

At a first sight I thought that KMPC is an old Soviet radio. Design it has is pretty Soviet.

[@rogertyler3237]

Sometimes if you have the antenna up It picks uo stuff you don't want.

[@n8nkqrp595]

In 1970 I turned 11 and learned that Zippo lighter fluid was made for those volume controls and snap action switch. Probably still better than using De-Oxit D5

[@generalpatzer6893]

it's Naptha...used for cleaning yes.

[@bee5kree]

nice collection

[@vcv6560]

That tap on the RCA (~38min), that's the scream of code blue cardiac arrest if such a thing exists in radio!

[@skuula]

Looking forward to the Zenith realignment :)

[@dkd1228]

The first radio with 10 transistors didn't appear to have transformer-coupled audio. Is this the case?

[@patheticsheepleeverywhere7114]

I know they are going to change the TVs again in a year or 2 that brand new 70 inch tv you just spent a $1000 on will again have to have a tuner converter

[@KameraShy]

@Jeff Webb This is why I am here and the TV is dark.

[@danmackintosh6325]

@Jeff Webb You forget the odd folks like me, who spent most of yesterday evening sat in front of my Beovision 8802 watching films on an old Thorn VHS machine... Sure, the definition isn't really there but it's watchable and nostalgic plus it keeps the caps formed up in the TV and VCR lol

[@klafong1]

​@Jeff Webb Prior to 2009, I did not like the idea of eliminating something that "just worked" (NTSC). However, I have to concede that DTV changed the economics of broadcast television, at least in my area, so that it is somewhat watchable again. My observation is that in the years immediately before 2009, the amount of infomercials aired on local stations were reaching an intolerable amount. I even recall major network affiliates running them during primetime. Now, the infomercials are either back on the overnights, where they "belong," or they are running on the niche-programmed digital subchannels, which I can choose to ignore. The other thing that makes me curb my grumbling to some extent is comparing the U.S. to France, which went from 455 line TV to 441, to 819, to 625, and finally to TNT (which in French means digital terrestrial television).

[@Couchflyer-NY]

Oh no. What have they done to the green Philco? 50 years ago, I bought a green one for $15 in Anchorage Alaska. Crumby audio but the FM receiver was okay.

[@stephenwilliams5201]

The kmpc is a promotional set most likey given at ball games. And a Sig gen most likely will let you sharpen up the audio. Oh ps at ball games we often got complemtry two transistor radios for the first hundred in the gate. Don't see give-me to often any more. Tks. Ps promo radios are saught after today. Mine was autolite spark plug models. .cleavland Indians, Detroit tigers, Cincinnati reds, ect.

[@christopherkise]

yes, those are yellow =)

[@5roundsrapid263]

Rush went national in 1988. I found him in 1992, when my dad got an old Ford with an AM-only radio. We had a 1000-watt local daytimer, and he kept it and hundreds more alive. The local one would often just play the unedited satellite feed!

[@tntreviews3602]

good job

[@fanofoldfans9238]

The Juliette and Admiral 6 transistor need a 9 "VOLTS" battery according to the tags. Is a 9 Volts battery still made? I use 9 volt batteries in my smoke alarms. Good old Kitsch radios.

[@gd2329j]

The previous collector liked the fix by substitution & redesign . But he didn't fix all the problems & could've made some ! Just go through and fix / test all the radios . Then repeat this video so we get a before & after . You could get a run of 6 or 7 videos out of this job lot .