Strange Sort Of Portable Radio
 

My g.f. just gave me an old portable radio with a soldered-in crystal earphone- no speaker.
Now for the strange part. It is designed around three teenie-weenie tubes, and requires a 1.5 volt [silver]battery and a 45 volt battery.
I recall that my parents had a tube portable that also required some hard-to-get batteries [even back when I was a kid]. Never heard it play because of those darn batteries.
Anyway, at least that one had a speaker.
Neat Japanese design. Is it worth finding the batteries? Does it have any [Edited by moderator] value?

[Edited by moderator]

Seth
Forever Analog and Covered In Parrot Poop

I have one of thsoe somewhere.....I have toyed with the idea of soldering a bunch of 9 volt batteries together in series so I could get 45V.....never did it, tho.

Mine also has 3 tunes and is some Japanese company that I have never heard of. No idea where the radio is now. I last saw it a year and a apartment move ago.

All of those radios that used subminiature tubes are rare. Some of them were actually of hybrid design, meaning they used tubes and transistors. Since yours has 3 tubes, it's possible that it uses transistors for the audio output stage. I think some of those old batteries are still available; but, they are expensive. I always get around that problem by substituting a combination of modern batteries. To get the 45 volts, just wire 5 nine volt transistor batteries in series. The 1.5 volt battery may still be available at a reasonable price.

The tubes in them are not teenie-weenie, but Neutrodyne receivers are early tube-based radios that used batteries, and were tuned with three large knobs in front. Completely different tuning concept from modern receivers, based directly on how the tubes themselves function.

The 1923 Stromberg-Carlson Neutrodyne I have used 1.5V, 45V and 90V batteries. Ever see a 90V 'voltaic cell' array? Neither have I, except in a pic. They used acid-bath wet cells for batteries back then. Nothing like a minor hazardous chemical plant in your living room, just so you can hear a radio station! :sigh: Definitely not portable! :no:

There is a company out there that makes specialized transformers specifically for powering these early tube-based receivers off of mains voltage, but they are rather expensive.

The so-called "portable" ones I've seen were like toting a set of luggage around. Portable meant you could put them in your car and haul them to a picnic site, not that you could carry them around with you on a stroll. I've never seen a really small portable based on that early technology, but it sounds to me as if that may be what you found.

Any chance of pics?

By "soldered-in" crystal earphone are you referring to an earphone permanently-attached rather than plugged in? If this is the case, (and I'm pretty sure it is) it's a rather rare radio. The design eliminated the audio output stage, thus eliminating a tube and the speaker...with the side benefit of smaller size and a bit less battery drain. Google the m31galaxy of transistor radios and you'll find a picture of a Copit PC-200...could well be the radio you have. Though it won't fund a college education, it should still fetch a tidy sum.

I know that the one that I had (have?) is all tube.....there are no transistors in the radio, whatsoever.

If I ever DO find it, I think that I will wire some 9 wolts together and see what I come up with.

I have forgotten exactly how to wire batteries in series. Don't you wire the - of one battery to the + of another, and repeat for each batery, leaving the first and last terminals open to connect the radio, right?

Analog me has nothing but film cameras.
But I will let you know more about the thing as the info trickles in.

Edit: Yup, it is that radio.

Seth
Forever Analog and Covered In Parrot Poop

You don't have to solder 9-volt batteries together. To make up a B battery out of 9-volt ones: get a 9-volt snap-on connector with leads and cut it in two, so you have two separate snaps, and put them aside. Then take your batteries and snap the + of one onto the - of the next one and so on until they add up to the voltage you want (e.g. 7 batteries x 9 volts = 63 volts, etc.) You will find that the batteries line up and you can rubber band or tape them together into a bundle. You will end up with an unused terminal on the first battery in your series and another on the last one. Snap on the connectors and wire in.

Your radio sounds like a sort of novelty set using something like hearing aid tubes, could be from very late 40's or early 50's, before transistors came in during the late 50's.

Reece