Angelo's Allied 2682 Multi-Band Radio

 

New delivery:  The Allied Model 2682 shortwave and multi-band radio.  This same radio was sold under at least two different brand names----Allied and the more frequently seen Aircastle version.  I believe I might have also seen it branded as a Realistic or Lafayette but I'm not positive about that.  

I first saw one of these (the Aircastle version) on E-Bay a few years ago.  I was in the market for a vertical format, small footprint vintage shortwave, but I didn't win the auction.  Over the years, I've seen at least a dozen more (probably closer to 20), usually Aircastle but sometimes Allied.  The radios were either "Buy It Now" at an inflated price, or non-working/untested---and a few times, I simply lost the auction.  I liked the style of the radio enough to be interested, but refused to pay a lot of money for an unfamiliar brand.  Finally, last weekend, I snagged one at a very good price. 

The radio is larger than it appears in the photo and it's heavy.  The high quality chrome cleaned up beautifully, as did the black vinyl/leatherette case.  I have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised by its performance----as I'm listening to Toronto's AM 740 oldies station as I write this----early evening, loud and clear.  That station is sort of a litmus test for my newly acquired radios.  Sometimes it doesn't come in at all.  Other times, faint and wobbly.  With this Allied radio, it's pretty strong----very listenable.  This is a good quality radio chassis.  It was made in Japan.  It appears that all bands are working and I'm eager to try out the shortwave later tonight.  It has a nice, long power cord, still flexible and in great condition, even though I place this radio at about 35 or more years old.  I've noticed that on some older Panasonics I've owned, the power cord gets very stiff and brittle.  Overall, the Allied materials are very good, bordering on excellent quality. 

I'm sort of happy I ended up with the Allied version.  Aircastle was a great old radio manufacturer, but by the time this model was introduced, I'm sure the name was just licensed for imports----probably had very little relationship to the original Aircastle.  Meantime, I understand Allied was a competitor to Radio Shack and they imported this as a house brand offering.  I'm almost certain I've seen this same style band selector on old Radio Shack models too.  Maybe they offered a clone of this radio??? 

One reason I love collecting vintage radios is that it's an inexpensive way to posess some "active" history.  It's fun to think about how this radio traveled throughout the years----and who the original purchaser was.  I'm wondering if a Dad and his kid walked into an Allied store and got this as a birthday or Christmas gift.  Maybe someone wanted it for their Summer cottage----an area with good shortwave reception, during a time when shortwave listening was hot.  They'd sit on their screened in porch late at night listening to the world.  And where has it been for the last 35 years?   I think it will be with me for a good long while.

 

Angelo           

Comments

[Angelo]

They're built like tanks, aren't they Joe? Mine is now on my screened porch.

[Gregory]

Angelo,

I read your review some time ago, and being a radio nut I decided to watch out for one of these to add to the hoard. Finally snagged a nice one today. An Aircastle version model 162F1H - 19 transistor version. Cosmetic it's a 9.5 plus and everything works good - Alas AM 740 Zoomer Radio is not playing music this evening (sigh)... To be sure, this is no RF 2200 but it hears stuff on all bands. Later I'll hook it up to a long wire antenna and see what it does. A good example of a late 1960's low priced consumer multi-band radio.

Gregory

[Angelo]

Gregory: I love nice finds from the second tier brands. Some of them are "sleepers" and perform very well---maybe not up to Trans-Oceanic, Sony and Panasonic standards, but not too far off and dramatically cheaper. Montgomery Ward Airline has several excellent models that appear on E-Bay from time to time and are quite attainable.

[Patrick]

I know this is an old post, but have to say I absolutely love this radio! My uncle had one in his home for many years, and it was a good day when he would let me tune around on it.

He recently ended up in a nursing home, and I was given the radio, which I am in the process of restoring. I picked up a 2nd one for parts, but was surprised to find it was in too good of a condition to be parted out, so now I have two projects.

Both have some performance issues and need to be aligned, but I have hit a dead end on finding any kind of service manual or schematic. Truthfully one of the coolest, and probably most undocumented radios of it's era.