Show us your vintage pocket transistor radios!

[superdeez]

This little radio was the very first purchase my Dad ever made using money he had earned doing an egg delivery route in about 1965 or so. Originally, it was an AM-FM unit, and it ran on 6V (4 AAs in a plastic battery holder), however my Dad shelved it sometime in the early 80s, and it sat in his closet, rotting, until about 1996, when it caught my eye.

I don't remember what I said or what happened, but soon thereafter he was excitedly telling me the story of his old radio and leading me out to the workbench all while I prayed he had removed the batteries. He hadn't. I'm sure any experienced audiophile can imagine what 15 year old Duracells looked like. My dad used a knife to free the batteries, and the electrodes in the battery holder were so rotted, they came right out with them! However, I couldn't help but notice the contacts for the battery holder are identical to a 9V socket. So I hooked one up...and it worked! But AM only. The radio is on when you switch it to FM, but you can't get any reception. Once or twice, I've put headphones on and turned the volume all the way up and I've BARELY heard the strongest local signals. Either the antenna's lost its ground or a transistor is blown. After all the board did spend a decade in battery acid.

The radio has served me well, and it used to compliment my old beat up Walkman with broken AM tuning circutry rather well. I used it to go to sleep when I was in Europe and could actually pull in an AM station. (Heh, the first broadcast I ever heard in Europe was on this radio, about a "common event" where a street gang had got hold of some nuculear waste and was trying to sell it on the black market. Made me wonder about what I was getting into! EDIT: Going to Europe, that is.)

I fired the radio for the first time in several years tonight, and I'm pleased to say it still works! It seems tired though, maybe it's the introduction of 9V into a 6V party, or maybe it's just age, or maybe it's that about half of the contacts are swimming in corrosion; I had to turn the volume almost to max to hear it pick up a strong local station weakly. Yeah, I could fix it up, but I really don't have the time, and I'd rather leave well enough alone, because it has a lot more sententimental value than usefulness.

Plus, I never have heard of anyone else with a Koyo.