Australian Philco radio

[wa2ise]

I actually submitted a bid on the Tasma radio, but as it often happens on ebay, a few other people wanted it worse than I did. Besides, shipping from Australia to the USA would likely be expensive. And would the bakelite case survive? It is a really nice looking radio, and the little Australia map in the middle of the dial looks cool. And all those callsigns, though they leave out the prefix "VL" as Australia isn't near anywhere else.

Looks like my Australian made Calstan radio will just have to get by without a "mate" from its home.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by wa2ise

Looks like my Australian made Calstan radio will just have to get by without a "mate" from its home.

I'd keep looking on eBay. Unless the Tasma radio was extremely rare, another may very well show up eventually.

BTW: Does Australia have a standard AM broadcast band as we do here in the US, or is all VK-land (amateur radio callsign prefix for Australia) broadcasting done on shortwave? I notice that at least one of the Australian radios shown in this thread has three or four bands, but no frequency markings; the firm that made this radio must have gotten the idea for "stationizing" from Packard-Bell. If Australia does have an AM BC band, what frequency range would it be--above or below the US broadcast band?

[peverett]

Out of curiosity, is Austrailia planning to convert all radio to digital as the UK is doing?

As to the US, I know of no plans to do this. Unlike TV, there is not enough spectrum to be gained to be worth the hassle(millions of obsolete car radios, etc.). The US does have so-called HD radio(nicknamed "Huge Disaster" by some), but it does not seem to be killing analog radio.

(I have a HD radio, but other than seeing the song title displayed, my ears cannot hear any improvement over FM, but then again, I do not have an Ipod and have no need for the HD advertised tagging feature.)