Every Radiophile Has His Own Rosebud Radio: Russ' Panasonic RF-800DB

 

(Re-post)

As Ed once said, the radiophile is often looking for the same thing Citizen Kane longed for, a childhood memory when one could experience life fully and in the moment. I lived in Kenya in the early 1970s and remember listening to Paul McCartney's "My Love" and Bloodstone's "Natural High" through a Panasonic RF-1080.

Many radiophiles have a "first radio," the one that captured their fascination with the radio world. Here Russ shows us his very first radio, no recaptured on his recent eBay purchase:

This is a recent eBay find. I have a lot of memories of this radio from my childhood. My mom wanted an FM radio and liked this one she saw at a local family owned appliance store. It was the first Panasonic radio I had ever seen. It's probably responsible for my radio fascination because I was always borrowing it to check out the new world of FM stations. It was also the best radio in the house for sensitivity. 

I have been looking for one of these in good shape for many years just for its nostalgic value. This one is almost in mint condition and works perfectly. It is really sensitive on AM and FM is above average, especially for a radio from the early 60s. AM stations come in with very little noise. It has built in AC and a 3-position tone switch which works well. It has a earpiece jack as well as one for an external speaker. I remember it as having a nice warm tone and so does this one. Using the internal speaker, it doesn't have much bass by today's standards, but it is very clear and pleasant to listen to. It has enough oomph to run an external speaker at a good volume and has plenty of bass depending on what speaker is used. It's a very nice looking radio when taken out of the leather carrying case which is in perfect condition. This radio must have been stuck in a drawer or closet since it shows almost no signs of wear. And, as you can see, cats find it irresistible.

 

Comments

[Huesby]

Ebay item 370365159268...
Perhaps some of your readers would like to make an offer ?..

[Neil]

I had a National Panasonic AT-290. It was given to me by a family friend who had done quite a bit of traveling. I was already tuning AM radio to see how many stations I could get, but the shortwave stations caught my curiosity on this little radio. I listened to so many, and had my dad get me some books about shortwave listening. Eventually I went back to our friend with the radio to show her how much I had learned. She was very pleased when I tuned in a station from her home, and gave me a second radio, also a National Panasonic, but one with more SW coverage. An R-357D. I have since had many great radios. RF-2200, ICF6500W, ICF-2010, and many more. I'm still buying and selling and collecting, but I can trace all of this back to those first two National Panasonics that our friend gave me. Such great memories. Thank you for helping me remember those days!

[Jeffrey McMahon]

Neil, send us a jpg photo or two of one of your favorites and a few comments so we can post it. Thanks. jeff