I found a couple transistor radios.....

[electra225]

I found a couple transistor radios in a box of junk I saved for whatever reason. I am going thru all the "I know I'll need this someday" stuff and tossing much of it. One little radio is a Sony AM-FM and appears to be never used, circa 2008. It resides in its original packaging, with owner's manual. It has its four original batteries, dated 2008 and the radio works! No corrosion in the battery box, surprisingly. The other is an older Airline AM-FM ten transistor set, made in Japan. It's main claim to fame is that it still has its original leather carrying case. This one is not in a good of condition as the Sony, but may be somewhat older. I've got pictures I'll share if there is interest.

[TC Chris]

Always interested in photos. Sony was good at little radios. I have a little Sony SRF-59 headphone radio that I use every day after work on my daily hike. One AA cell lasts forever. When the radio starts misbehaving, the cell will read zero on my Radio Shack battery tester. It's fairly sensitive and the audio is good (depending on the headphones, of course).

Chris Campbell

[hermitcrab]

Cool, you ever watch collectornet on YT?... he has a awesome collection

[electra225]

I'm not a transistor radio "guy" in any stretch of the imagination. I just "have" these for whatever reason. I don't remember where I got them. They might be fun to play with. I haven't seen the videos you mentioned, but I'll check them out. Thanks, Elton.

[electra225]

Pictures of the Sony radio. The expiration date on the batteries is 2008, so it was built earlier than 2008. The batteries were installed in the radio when I got it, and they still work. That would make them at least 15 years old and they are not corroded. The rest of the radio is fairly common. It works well. I tried to get a picture of a little red light on the front panel, but my bench lamp and the camera didn't like each other. I couldn't get the camera to focus right.

[electra225]

Now the Airline set. The case has a couple of cracks. And I don't know if it works. I don't know the exact year it was built, I'm guessing late 1960's....

[TC Chris]

My guess is that the Sony will be the superior performer. They took radio production seriously. Some of the other Japanese factories boosted the transistor count by using bad transistors hooked up as diodes. The M-W radio says "10 transistors," and since this is an AM-FM radio, that's probably an honest number. But let us know how they perform.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I got a chance to get some bench time in on the little Airline set this afternoon. After I put four AA batteries in it, I found it stone dead. Not knowing a lot about transistor radios, I started tinkering like I knew what I was doing. I first measured voltage at the battery case. I had less than .5 volts. With four batteries, assuming they were in series, I should have six volts nominal to the radio. There was some corrosion, but I judged it insufficient to cause my loss of battery voltage. I cleaned and tinkered with no real progress getting battery voltage to the radio. I finally dug out my AES battery supply that I built and have had probably 35 years and never used it. The "A" battery terminals on the power supply supplied the necessary 6.15 volts to power the radio. I connected the power supply to the wiring going from the battery holder to the radio. I heard noise in the speaker! Subsequent tinkering found a dirty volume control and a dirty band switch, but the radio basically plays on AM and on FM. It sounds pretty good. I found a "Sharp" stamp on the speaker, so maybe Sharp made this radio for Monkey Wards? I'm going to clean up controls and epoxy some of the cracks in the case. I believe this may be a dandy little radio. I tried Chris's trick of using vinegar to clean things up well. I couldn't see any reason for no voltage thru the battery holder. I placed the battery holder in a dish of white vinegar for an hour or so. I put the batteries back in and found the radio worked. I have no idea where the offending corrosion was, but the vinegar bath, followed by a spritz of WD-40 seems to have taken care of that issue.

[electra225]

I have been playing these transistor sets and have found the sensitivity better on the Sony, the audio better on the Airline. I do believe the Airline was built by Sharp. I found some other transistor sets I saved, probably because the wife thought they were cute. I may dig them out and see what they will do.

[Hi-Fi-Mogul]

Greg,
It's fun to dig out some things just sitting around,
and have creative interest aroused.
I look forward to more of your transistor discussion.

I need to get my RCA 7-HF-45 player restored, then I can
play through several hundred 45 RPM records for fun !
This RCA is in a full size suitcase cabinet
with a PP amp, and two speakers.

Just looking at stuff is not as exciting as interacting
with it.

[electra225]

I saved way too much stuff that should have gone into the auction. I thought I had saved the best dozen radios I had. That turned out to be 50. I am trying to downsize after it's too late. I still have thousands of tubes I'll never use. I need to start an ebay store......