What is by far the cheapest, smallest or worst radio you've ever owned?

[a727469]

$3 is about $30 now! 💰😉

maybe not the most accurate, but interesting..

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[LesWurk]

I’m not so sure. Most of the 60’s transistor radios were 5 or six transistor, costing around $20. I built a two transistor radio back in ‘62. I think the parts were around $2-3.

B.S.

the 6 transistor ones my friends had worked much better, I was in a rural location not close to a transmitter, also had to buy my own batteries out of my allowance which seemed to be a hardship to afford them

 

[Omega-TI]

worst radio I ever owned was a 2 transistor am radio, got it for Xmas in the 60's

Two transistor? One for amplification of the signal and the other for audio amplification?

 

[LesWurk]

Two transistor? One for amplification of the signal and the other for audio amplification?

View attachment 165463

not familiar with the circuit but one transistor could be the detector (diode) and one for the amp
just searched some info on Boy's Radio (how would that description the fly in today's world) and came up with it may have been a tariff reason for only 2 transistors

Windsor 2-Transistor Boy's Radio (1960s)

 

[dlwtrunked]

I’m not so sure. Most of the 60’s transistor radios were 5 or six transistor, costing around $20. I built a two transistor radio back in ‘62. I think the parts were around $2-3.

B.S.

When much younger, I had a transistor radio that advertised that it used 7 transistors (even said that on the case). I took it apart to find that all pins of three of the transistors were soldered to the radio ground.

 

[Omega-TI]

not familiar with the circuit but one transistor could be the detector (diode) and one for the amp
just searched some info on Boy's Radio (how would that description the fly in today's world) and came up with it may have been a tariff reason for only 2 transistors

Windsor 2-Transistor Boy's Radio (1960s)

Good post!

 

[Omega-TI]

@KevinC This thread is targeted towards cheap and small radios, more of a generic thing. The thread you closed (I'm assuming you thought was due to overlap or something) was specifically targeted to higher end "Communications Receivers", which are more expensive. My thinking on opening the last thread was so people looking for an old radio on Ebay or some other place might be able to go into it with their eyes open, or maybe decide to look for something else. Input from previous owners would have accomplished that quite well. Just something to consider if you ever thought of unlocking it.

 

[KevinC]

@KevinC This thread is targeted towards cheap and small radios, more of a generic thing. The thread you closed (I'm assuming you thought was due to overlap or something) was specifically targeted to higher end "Communications Receivers", which are more expensive. My thinking on opening the last thread was so people looking for an old radio on Ebay or some other place might be able to go into it with their eyes open, or maybe decide to look for something else. Input from previous owners would have accomplished that quite well. Just something to consider if you ever thought of unlocking it.

The title includes “worst” or am I misreading it? Feel free to escalate this to @mikewazowski, the forums manager if you don’t like my decision.

 

[TAC4]

With out a doubt the Halicrafters S-120 cheap build and poor
performance. This is when North American manufacturing started to make huge cut backs and it showed. Think cars
like the Pinto, K-Car etc. in the mid to late 70s. Thank God the
import radio companies like Sony and Panasonic put the Q back
in quality.

 

[Omega-TI]

With out a doubt the Halicrafters S-120 cheap build and poor
performance. This is when North American manufacturing started to make huge cut backs and it showed. Think cars
like the Pinto, K-Car etc. in the mid to late 70s. Thank God the
import radio companies like Sony and Panasonic put the Q back
in quality.

Yeah! From the picture alone it looks like they cut a few corners, no visible bandspread, small main tuning dial looks like it would have been a pain to zero in on a weak signal and separate it from an adjacent signal. Did you even know exactly what frequency you were on unless they identified? I've never had a problem with any Sony product until I bought a cube clock radio around 2015... I just assumed it was made in Japan... bad idea. It was made in China and a few months ago the clock went full time crazy by counting up super fast like a time machine in a movie.. It's now in the landfill.

 

[Boombox]

Worst comm rig I've had? Hard to say. I've had 3 -- the Radio Shack DX-394, DX-160, and Yaesu FRG-7, along with a bunch of SW portables (DX-398, DX-390, etc.). The DX-160 was OK for a beginner back in the day, but its strength is a MW DX receiver. FRG-7 was tricky to tune on SSB on the higher end of the dial, making the 'Fine tuner' more usable, but its selectivity wasn't terrific for ham monitoring, although I did a lot of ham monitoring with it back in the day. It's pretty good for SWBC, and really great for MW DXing. Great sound. It will tune up to around 31 MHz, which is a plus if you've got the antenna and there's Low Band skip on 30-31 MHz.

I get good performance from my DX-394, especially on the ham bands, although I live in a low signals area, so I don't have to deal with overload the same way a lot of DXers would in other regions of the US (the 394 is famous for overload with longer antennas). Weakest part is some crosstalk here and there on MW, depending on conditions. I like the fact it tunes down to VLF. I use it a lot for ham band monitoring, especially CW. Being in a low signals HF environment, the DX-394 has worked out well for me.

The worst radio in general that I got was an off brand, $10 walkman style cassette/headset radio at a drug store in 2016 or 2017, that had DSP but no performance at all. It was definitely a locals-only type of radio, and even those locals didn't come in well. I was surprised, as most of the DSP pocket radios I've used are pretty good performers on both FM and AM.

 

[TAC4]

Putting the Q back in quality.

 

[K0WWX]

My vote for the worst radio I've had would be, with a few caveats, the Coby CX-CB12. I picked it up in 2012 for $9 at a Fry's store in California. I was curious if a shortwave radio at that price would work at all, and was surprised at how good it look for that price point. It came in a nice box, etc., and I couldn't understand how anyone could even manufacture something like that and sell it for such a low price and expect to make a profit..

Anyway, it was/is basically worthless on shortwave. If you play around it for a long time you might hear something, but the dial is hopelessly inaccurate. The reason I say they are caveats is that is does work OK on FM with decent audio, and also what should anyone expect for $9? But I think radios like the Coby turned a lot of people off on SWL, and they probably did more more harm than good.

 

[K0WWX]

With out a doubt the Halicrafters S-120 cheap build and poor
performance. This is when North American manufacturing started to make huge cut backs and it showed. Think cars
like the Pinto, K-Car etc. in the mid to late 70s. Thank God the
import radio companies like Sony and Panasonic put the Q back
in quality.

Agree that was a bad radio, but I think they sold a lot of them. I briefly had one, don't remember having any luck with it at all.

A lot of Realistic DX-160s were also sold, not a good performer either, but better than the S-120.

 

[Omega-TI]

Agree that was a bad radio, but I think they sold a lot of them. I briefly had one, don't remember having any luck with it at all.

A lot of Realistic DX-160s were also sold, not a good performer either, but better than the S-120.

Oh yeah, I remember the DX-160. I drooled over it for years as a kid, the Radio Shack catalog was opened to that page so often it automatically and magically opened to that page. A few years later when I could afford one I was disappointed in its performance. Oh it did receive and was more sensitive that I thought it would be which was great and better than I was used to, but it seemed to have a lot of drift and I had to constantly play with the tuning knob. It was a beautiful LOOKING rig though.

 

[Boombox]

The DX-160 was a good starter comm receiver. It would drift, yes, and the dial readout -- like most analog dials of the day -- wasn't accurate. It would calm down on the lower SW bands. I could monitor hams on 80 and 40 without having to retune much, and even 20 meters wasn't too drifty once the radio had been on a while.

It was (and is) great on MW, and it was OK on the lower SW bands. Above 19 Meters it was a bit finicky, tuning wise, and on mine the sensitivity seemed to drop off up there compared to the 60-25 Meter band section, or the "band" that had the tropical SW bands ("Band" C?).

It was capable on Longwave if you were able to eliminate the local AM overload images. It had its purpose. I was able to do that with an antenna tuner and loop, and heard a few distant beacons, but didn't stick with the Longwave thing much.

What is bizarre is that a $16 XHDATA with analog dial and DSP is a better receiver for SWL. Same readout issues, but the XHDATA is more stable, more sensitivity and selectivity when using a similar antenna. DSP has definitely been a game changer in the radio hobby.

 

[KD9KSO]

I was fortunate enough to learn from other's bad choices. I have never owned a crappy receiver or scanner.

 

[Omega-TI]

I was fortunate enough to learn from other's bad choices. I have never owned a crappy receiver or scanner.

Excellent! There is an old saying, "An average man learns from his mistakes while a smart man learns from the mistakes of others." That goes hand in hand with the other old, but true saying, "The only dumb question is the one never asked due to pride or stupidity." We all start from ignorance, and there is nothing wrong with asking questions to learn. The only people I have contempt for are the type that think they know everything, or want to show off how smart they think they are by demeaning or ridiculing others for asking.

 

[BinaryMode]

With out a doubt the Halicrafters S-120 cheap build and poor
performance. This is when North American manufacturing started to make huge cut backs and it showed. Think cars
like the Pinto, K-Car etc. in the mid to late 70s. Thank God the
import radio companies like Sony and Panasonic put the Q back
in quality.

Remarkably they still sell on eBay.

 

[BinaryMode]

I have had the pleasure of owning and/or using many HF radios. Some very good, some not so good, and one in particular just plain awful

B.S.

LOL! Wasn't that bad. You just coated the inside with copper tape and made a few modifications. You could even tune outside its programed band with a key press hack.