Neat little Japanese Radio
 

The recent thread on the Bel-Air clock/radio/tv made me get out this little radio, and listen to it the past few days. I thought I'd share it in case anyone is interested. It actually still works great with all original parts, except one tube. I've had it going on 20 years, although it's probably been used only a few hours a year.

Wow, extra clean! Only used by little old lady on Sundays! Looks like made some time in the sixties; I had one similar long ago. Too bad it lost a "tooth." Might be able to replicate one and glue it in. Surprising to see the tube hold-downs. Maybe that was for the ride over the Pacific.

That bit was missing long before it came into my hands - the white LED my cell phone uses as a flash really washed out the colour of the cabinet, it's a nice early 60s pink colour, not so pale as it came out.

Notice how they built it so cheaply, that they eliminated the can on the first IF transformer! The filter capacitor is tiny, but so is the output transformer and the speaker, so it ends up not mattering. The back cover (not shown) is masonite, but the inside of it looks like it's been painted with some kind of asbestos laced paint, to keep it from burning, and there's a metal heat shield attached it which sits over top of the two larger tubes when the back cover is installed.

The only problem is the volume pot is worn out, in the first 1/4 of its range, and some day will need to be replaced.

I had several of those. They were a little more sensitive than the four tube autodynes. Very minimal AVC action and very narrow IF bandwidth. I think they could've designed it with one less tube.