Herculodge

Neil Finds a Weird and Obscure Radio

Thanks, Neil:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Motorola-Concept-90-TP-36-6-Band-All-Transistor-/170717245336?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27bf8a6f98#ht_500wt_1336

I cannot find a reference to this radio anywhere, and I'm usually
pretty good at digging up research.  What is this thing?  ends pretty
soon too.

Auto Buyers' Tastes Make for Less Exotic Car Color Selections

 

 

Excellent Slate article by Julia Felsenthal explaining why fewer color selections and conservative ones at that are the new auto trend. 

Joel's Followup on His Degen DE-1127

A followup on the DE-1127:

Recording from AM or FM is a three keypress operation - one of them being to ask you if you want to record at 129 or 96 BPS.

Well, duh. This should be preselected in a setup menu - not that there's much difference.

It gets worse - once your recording starts, the station volume is increased greatly - and there is no way to turn it down - the (+) and (-) volume buttons don't work.

Joel.

 

John Needs to Unload Some of His Radios

I am not really into portable multi band radios, but I still grab them when the price is right. One of these I got from my Grandmothers estate and the rest I bought for a total of $48.00. I need to sell some off that is for sure. Are any of these much sought after I wonder? 

 

Grundig Transistor 865

Panasonic RF-7400

Grundig TR 807

The stereo boombox is some unknown brand that works on 220v. It has AM/FM/LW. It does not seem to be a quality radio.

The last one will never be for sale. It is the only thing of my Grandfather's that I have.

 

Is This Loudmouth a Panasonic Radio in GE Clothing?

 

This excellent condition GE Loudmouth has a lot of design cues that make me wonder if it's a rebadged Panasonic. 

John's Grundig Transistor 865

 

It is a great radio. I have been listening to it off and on all night. Very strong on all bands. It is the only SW I have receives anything without an external antenna. My only complaint is it has way too much bass when on FM and it sounds distorted. I am not sure if it is the speaker maybe another problem with the radio. It get a cleaning over the weekend.

 

Chris' First Experiences with His Grundig S450 and CCrane EP Radios

 

 

Re-post

Thanks, Chris Compton:

Got my Grundig S450 DLX Dec 24. Out of the box with brand new Duracell batteries the AM/ SW started motor boating after 3 minutes. The FM was deaf. Universal sent a replacement I should have in hand on Monday 1-3-11. A BIG disapointment!

On topic of quality, I went through two defective C Crane "CC radio EP"s before I got a good one.
The first one had a defective volume control. The second one drifted badly on FM when the LED dial light was switched on or off.

Crane tells me the first 2 were Pre-Production units. The third unit however is quite good on a par with my RP2100 on AM with good selectivity and sensitivity, that is,once you get the the hang of adjusting the Twin Coil Ferrite knob. Adjustment is necessary for tuning stations above 1200 khz.
The Music/Voice switch is a bandwidth selector and the two bandwidths are well placed.
I like the audio because the Bass is not harsh ala my RP 2100.

The FM is OK, nothing to brag about. Sensitivity is good but adjacent channel selectivity is not so good. 

What I really like is the led dial light feature. It can be left switched on with very little impact on battery life.
All in all a nice replacement for GE SR3. 

 

Dan's Radio Restoration Tips

Here's a radio restoration tip you may want to share with my fellow Herculodge readers. I've attached a couple of photos, too. 

During cosmetic restoration of several vintage Panasonic radios, I noticed that the anodized-aluminum parts were often tinged with 30+ years of embedded dirt. Scrubbing with traditional household cleaners (e.g., Windex, Cinch, 409, etc.) did next to nothing -- the decades of dirt seemed to be embedded in the "pores" of the metal and refused to be released.

Not willing to give up, I headed out to the garage. Over the years, I've amassed quite a collection of car-care products and decided to try a combination of clay bar and detail spray. Typically, clay bars are used to thoroughly cleanse a car's paint before wax is applied. I reasoned that if a clay bar is able to remove embedded grit from a car's paint, then maybe it can do the same for an old Panasonic RF-1080.

It works! I just misted a little automotive detail spray onto the radio's dirty aluminum and wiped briskly with a clay bar. The dirt sticks to the clay and is magically extracted from the metal leaving a clean, like-new surface. Best of all, there's no risk of scratching the vintage aluminum because there are no abrasives involved.

For a few bucks, you can buy a clay-bar cleaning kit in any auto supply store. And one clay bar will last long enough to clean a hundred radios. Try it! 

Regards,

 Dan Somers

Westford, Mass.

 

Gary's Recommendations for the CCRadio-3

 

I'd like to see some additional features on the CCRadio3:

1. FM stereo/mono switch (like the CCRadio-SW, CCRadio-EP and PR-D5), for better reception of weak stations

2. Longer whip antenna, for better reception of stations on the lower part of the FM band

3. Simultaneous display of frequency and time (like the PR-D7), or at least the ability to select the frequency or the time as the default

4. RDS (like the PR-D5)

5. Switchable 1 kHz/10 kHz steps via the tuning knob on AM (like the CCRadio-SW)

6. Wide/narrow AM filters (like the CCRadio-SW and CCRadio-EP)

 

Eton / Lextronix E1100 G1100 Digital World Receiver AM / FM / Shortwave Clock Radio on Amazon for $24.99

 

 

Thanks, "SWL"

Only $25 for Eton / Lextronix E1100 G1100 Digital World Receiver AM / FM / Shortwave Clock Radio, Black, Retail

http://www.amazon.com/Eton-Lextronix-E1100-Receiver-Shortwave/dp/B000PD182G/ref=dp_return_2?ie=UTF8&n=1077068&s=car