The Era for Pocket Radio Build Quality

[compucat]

In working on and collecting pocket radios from various periods, I have found that the best build quality seems to be from the early 1960s, particularly in Japanese pocket radios. Many have actual metal fronts instead of the later painted plastic, the cases seem to be a little less fragile, performance is good and the chassis screws go into little brass bushings instead of stripping out the plastic with self-tapping screws. There is generally more attention to detail. The early Sixties pocket sets are my favorite niche in transistor radio collecting because quality seemed to peak and style was still evident too.

The earlier sets from the Fifties do have a lot more flair but are far more fragile in terms of the plastic cases and the clear plastic reverse painted parts seem prone to stress cracks. They are great to look at but I would not try to put one into daily portable service. By the mid to late Seventies, pocket radios got very plain and the cheapness was evident as the profit margins were probably long gone.

I would be interested to know what other transistor radio collectors think regarding these matters.

[Celt]

I think the manufacturers learned early on that cheap cases weren't going to work. Even American made brands like Zenith had problems with case reliability early on. But they improved...at least for awhile. As you noted, by the seventies profit was king and quality was on the way out.

[KeninDC]

I have a Panasonic transistor pocket radio that my father purchased on the way back from Vietnam back in 1970. It is encased in hard, durable plastic and still works today courtesy of Deoxit. I must have dropped that radio over 100 times growing up and it is still working.

[compucat]

I have a 1961 Silvertone Medalist seven transistor that has good thick plastic on the case. When I got it, it had been neglected for a while but was obviously a quality radio as it restored beautifully and the cabinet is still in great shape. Thick plastic seems to be the key. I have a new Eton E10 shortwave portable that is very solid partly because of the thickness of the plastic.

The weak point on the early pocket sets seems to be the corners and the little tabs that hold the back on. But I have only seen this kind of damage on sets that look like they were dropped or pried open with a crowbar. Incidentally, I never open a radio with a coin or anything else for that matter. I hate chewed up "coin slots".

[compucat]

Originally Posted by KeninDC

I have a Panasonic transistor pocket radio that my father purchased on the way back from Vietnam back in 1970. It is encased in hard, durable plastic and still works today courtesy of Deoxit. I must have dropped that radio over 100 times growing up and it is still working.

I found a mint-in-box Panasonic AM pocket radio from the early Seventies at an antique shop. It is a simple six transistor set powered by two AA batteries. The plastic is super thick and durable. It has great Seventies styling and good performance, typical of Panasonic. It is definitely a radio you could use every day.

[2DualsNotEnough]

I have a few transistor radios,all with the hard platic case.The earlier ones made it so you had to unscrew the case in half to get to the battery.
Ok,so you have these small,portable devices,made of plastic,mainly,with low fidelity,but very popular,espescially with young people.And most of us have fond memories of carrying the radio around,tunes playing on the way to school,or listening to the ballgame.And I bet audiophiles thought they were the end of Hi-Fi as we know it.Sound kinda familiar,guys?
Jimmy

[Celt]

I mentioned in another thread Golden Shield radios, most which were made by Sanyo. In the sixties we had one that looked like a table radio with a handle, but ran on 4 D cells. Had a large open air vari-cap, 4" alnico speaker and provisions for an external antenna. Back was perforated beaverboard that was held in place by three slots. Was used daily for nearly a decade. Have no idea what became of it, but I know it never failed once as long as we owned it.

[Charlie]

One of my radios... I think the Zenith Royal 500... has a good durable case on it. The stamp on the back of the case says it's made of "unbreakable" Nylon.

[compucat]

Originally Posted by Charlie

One of my radios... I think the Zenith Royal 500... has a good durable case on it. The stamp on the back of the case says it's made of "unbreakable" Nylon.

I have a Zenith Royal 500D. The nylon case is quite durable. It is a flexible plastic which accounts for its impact resistance. I have seen a few broken examples but most have survived intact. I don't think I've ever seen one of those sets without at least some battery corrosion on the terminals. Batteries from the 1950s must have leaked like a sieve.

[Celt]

Originally Posted by compucat

I have a Zenith Royal 500D. The nylon case is quite durable. Batteries from the 1950s must have leaked like a sieve.

I always wondered why more things weren't made from Nylon. It's a great material. And yes, those damn carbon-zinc batteries were notorious for leaking nasty gunk, regardless of brand.

[Kamakiri]

My favorite for durability and style was always the Emerson 888 series. I had a teal green Vanguard 888 for many years that disappeared to parts unknown around the early 90s. Wish I still had that set.

The one that got me through the recent snowstorm is a Westinghouse H902P6 from I believe 1964. Ran for over a week almost nonstop on one cheapy store brand 9V battery.

[Celt]

I have a Sony TFM-1000 from 1966 and a GE Superadio III that get played for several hours every day of the week. The GE only needs a battery change once a year! Haven't had the Sony long enough to determine it's consumption rate, but so far, its played on the same set of batteries for months.

[Jeffhs]

I have several vintage transistor portables, 1970s vintage for the most part. Every one of them works as well as can be expected. My Zenith R-70 AM/FM from 1980 is built to last, like all Zeniths, despite the fact that most of it is on a PC board. The radio itself runs on three C-size batteries that seem to go on and on and on . . . I put a set of batteries in it a couple days after I won the radio in an ebay auction six months ago, and they are still good. The radio sounds great as well, even with its 4" speaker, but again that is (or was) Zenith for you.

I also have a Zenith TransOceanic Royal 1000, another ebay score, that works, and well, but the dial cord snapped several months ago, so I have a repair job to do on it this winter. The set doesn't use much power; the only time I ever had to replace the batteries in a year or so of owning the radio was when the AC adapter plug on the side of the cabinet developed a short, putting a direct short across the battery pack and draining the cells in a matter of hours. I replaced the batteries and repaired the shorted wall-wart socket; that did it. In a year my TO is only on its second set of batteries, although I don't use it much these days.

Also in my collection of vintage portables are two Sonys, a TFM-7720 AM/FM and an MR-9700W AM/FM stereo set, both 1973 vintage. Both radios work well for their age (over 30 years now). One thing that struck me as odd about the TFM-7720 was the fact that it uses two D-size batteries for DC power, whereas most portables I've seen use at least four such cells in series for six volts. The TFM-7720 is the first three-volt full-size portable radio I've seen to date, although I have seen a few smaller transistor pocket radios that run on two AA or even AAA batteries; I have a small FM stereo scan radio that runs on two AAA cells and have also seen other models of these scan radios that run on the small round watch batteries, or even hard-wired lithium cells (many of these portables now sell for very low prices in discount and dollar stores, so in many cases the battery could cost more than the radio itself; this is probably why the batteries are hard-wired into the sets--when the battery goes, just throw the whole thing in the trash and get a new one).

The last portable (full size) in my collection is an Aiwa AR-115 from 1967. The last time I tried it, it worked, but I don't know about now, as I haven't had it running in several years. This radio sounds good with its 4" speaker, but it doesn't have a tone control as does my Zenith R-70. If I were to do an A/B comparison test between the R-70 and the AR-115, the R-70 might be the better-sounding radio, as it has a push-pull audio stage. The R-70 is also, IMHO, much more sensitive and selective than the AR-115 or any other transistor portable I own, since the R-70 has two ceramic filters, one for AM and one for FM, as well as four FM IF stages and two IFs on AM. I honestly believe this was one of the last really good transistor portables Zenith made before it went out of the radio business in the early 1980s.

As to the comment regarding 1950s batteries leaking "like a sieve" that another poster made here: Today's batteries are better than cells made even 30 years ago, but they still aren't leakproof--they will still leak and make the devil of a mess if they are allowed to run down and are left in a device for months or years (!) after they go dead. I have a Panasonic boom box I rescued from a trash pile last summer that had six alkaline batteries (Eveready Energizers, IIRC) in it, all of which had leaked and made a mess inside the battery compartment when I found the unit. I guess the former owner just left the old, exhausted batteries in it and forgot about it, which is almost always a one-way ticket to disaster when the cells eventually leak all over the inside of the battery case--many times this will ruin the device in no time flat. Fortunately, the battery compartment cleaned up nicely (the terminals were not damaged), although I haven't yet tried the boombox on batteries as the battery compartment cover was and still is missing; the unit works well, however, on AC power.

BTW, I also had a Zenith Royal 500 in the '70s, a thrift-shop find, that worked well for most of the time I had it. I don't remember anymore what happened to it to cause me to get rid of it, though. Also had a Zenith Royal 820 (another thrift-store find) in the '80s. It too worked well (and sounded great) for most of the time I owned it, but eventually the dial cord broke and something else went wrong, so I got rid of that one as well. I wish I hadn't, though. Oh well. One of these days I'm bound to find another Royal 500; they show up on ebay these days quite a bit, in various colors.

I have only seen one Royal 500 on ebay with a broken cabinet; that speaks volumes for the unbreakable nature of the cabinets used to house these radios. The sets often have the usual signs of wear, such as scuff marks and scratches, but other than the one I just mentioned, I haven't yet seen another Royal 500 with a broken cabinet.

Those were the days.

[Randy Bassham]

My vote for tough was the Channel Master 6509 six transistor sets. I bought one new in 1961 when I was 11 years old. The little set cost me $21.95 in 1961 dollars, it took quite a bit of lawn mowing to pay for it. Those nylon cases were pretty much indestructible Other than the kind of delicate speaker grills. I always kept mine in the leather case. I had it until sometime in the late 70's when it must have gotten lost in a move. Since then I've managed to pick up 2 more red and one black 6509, they all needed new caps to get them playing again. I used one of the red ones to listen to WWL and the United Radio Broadcasters in New Orleans during the Katrina disaster. When these sets are in good shape the sensitivity is amazing.

[KB9KXH]

Today i bought a Grundig mini 300 world band receiver at radio shack for 29.95 and im very impressed with its performance at such a cheap price. Turned it on and tuned in radio Thailand in the 49 meter band crystal clear for my first station.Although i do have both old and new radios i think the newer radios outperform the older ones in the same price range with exceptions as all rules have. I do however like the old tube type audio amplifiers sound better but think the newer radios have better front ends and detectors if you get the right models.