Angelo's Review of the Panasonic RF-100MA

Building upon his first look of the Panasonic RF-100 MA, Angelo develops a more detailed review:

It's always difficult to review an old, used product.  After all, if it's defficient in some way, how do you know if it's actually a product shortcoming?  Maybe it's the fact that it's 30 or 40 years old, not well cared for, was dropped once or twice, etc.  

Well, I recently won an old Panasonic (1960's vintage?) RF100MA on E-Bay.  It's a somewhat large and heavy portable, with 4 bands (including shortwave).  It was advertised as being "exceptionally clean" but arrived quite dirty.  

I plugged it in at work and on FM, it immediately came to life with broad, clear sound and excellent reception (even in a large office building).   When I moved the big, side mounted band selector to AM and the other bands, I heard nothing.  By continuing to move the band selector around, suddenly I started to receive AM. 

I brought the radio home and in the evening, I was able to enjoy excellent reception on all bands.  The shortwave in particular seems very sensitive and the fine tuner is helpful in selectivity.  After using practically half a bottle of cleaner and countless paper towels, I was successful in removing decades of soot, tar, food residue, etc., from the cabinet.  The chrome shined up beautifully too.  I finished it off with Armor All and it now looks great from all angles. 

I will say, the band selector is still not behaving perfectly---but seems to improve each time I use the radio.  It almost seems as though the radio needs to "warm up" for the function to work well, though I know it's probably coninsidental since there aren't tubes in this set.  

Over time, I had never seen this model Panasonic on E-Bay.  I had a 10% discount coupon and ended up paying about $57.00 plus freight for this radio.  Since my purchase, I've seen a couple others recently (One was the RF100 MB, but it looks almost identical to mine.). 

A recent E-Bay offering (missing a battery cover) sold for about $17.00 plus freight, which was an unusal steal for a good Panasonic product.  I can't find any reviews or information about this specific model which makes me wonder if it had a short production time and/or was not popular.  In any event, my summary of the Panasonic RF100 is that it's a solid performer.  If you like Panasonics, you won't be disappointed, as it does everything well----great sound, effective tuning, durable cabinet, etc.  It doesn't have too many bells and whistles---doesn't have the staggering array of knobs and buttons that many Sonys and Panasonics of the 60's and 70's do.  But there's something very comforting about the style.  It's nostalgic without looking outdated---lots of shine but still understated.  The radio is very nicely executed.  I might not recommend it as a primary shortwave set, but as part of a collection, it's hard to beat.     

Comments

[C.A. Guy]

I have just like it bought in Japan many years ago.
It works pretty good, has static when changing bands.
I need to replace the antenna because it only works when I put my hand around the antenna. Any idea where to get the antenna and band changer?