For anyone who cares: the 5 Core is based on a Sony CXA1619BS all-in-one AM/FM radio IC. This IC is reported as having been discontinued. Assuming it's genuine, perhaps 5 Core did a "last time buy" of as many as they could get? Maybe they are reclaimed, or clones/knockoffs? The one I saw looked to have had kind of a hard life and it was almost impossible to read the printing. The circuit board is far better made than the case. There is very little room for the AC power supply and supporting components, assuming any of them have it. If any do, it looks to be mounted to the back half of the case. The speaker is branded 5 Core, marked "4 ohm, 10 watts RMS" (!), which it'll never see from the output of the IC, not that it'd probably handle that kind of power anyway. Not for long, anyway... Most of you didn't ask. Fewer of you care. Now you know.
@@ofthedawn The Sony IC is an integrated AM/FM radio on a chip, with a built in audio amplifier. All you need are a few external components and you've got a radio!
From 3V your will never get 10W unless the speaker is 0.5 ohms or use an ouput transformer. So the power supply limits it already. 0.5W can sound good if properly designed. Most portable radios from 70s were 1W or belowm but it is good to have marging on the speaker so it will never go bad like on other cheap radios that is alsmot a headphne speaker or PC like speaker. The on on this radios looks like a proper spekar from a bigger device actually.
New and Improved don't always mean the same thing. I imagine there will be a big bump in eBay sales of the very well-performing analog 5 Core "Sound of India" radio now, and 5 Core's workers will be truly honored and grateful for your very kind review.
The thing DSP does give is consistency. All radios with the same DSP will have the same performance. An analogue radio has quite a few adjustments (maybe ten in a 1970s design) which all need to be set spot on in the factory for optimum reception. Having said that I have a 1970s Pye Radio that uses proper IF transformers rather than the non adjustable ceramic filters that became popular in the 1h980s, and reception is excellent.
For Americans it is a strange product in 21st century. But it is not the only analog cheap radio brand. There are 3 dozen such brands available in India even today. And even in India townsmen consider it less prestigious to buy such radios.
It's probably largely down to how well made the digital tuner is. Like someone else mentioned elsewhere in the comment section, it's a race to the bottom, so most of them tend to use very low quality digital tuners.
I don't even understand why an analog radio even needs a digital tuner. We live in an analog world and have analog senses.These digital radios take an analog input signal, convert it to digital, convert it back to analog, and output it to the speaker. This is two steps of needless conversion. Just leave it all analog, like the Indian radio does.
@@dougbrowning82 I agree but we are all to blame I guess. An am fm portable was 80 bucks back in the 60s. A cheap one half that. So that's like a 150 to 300 purchase today. Yes the same goes for a class d amplifier. Is it really much better? Well it's smaller and lighter. Probably less likely to last too.
Sony should never have stopped making the ICF-9740W. They made it for over 30 years, longest surviving product in Sony's catalog. Supposedly, Sony founder Akio Morita was a huge amateur radio fan, which is why they made so many great radios. After he retired in the 1990s, they stopped developing new short wave models.
I used to have an ICR-9740W and it was a pleasant unit. In 2010, as part of a companywide reorganization, many Sony legacy products including the last cassette Sony Walkman were terminated. These may have been slow sellers but were still profitable. My guess is that the company became very image-conscious and did not to be perceived as purveyor of "cutting edge" technologies (like their since-failed smartphones and laptop PCs), phasing out production of "old school" items that were deemed anachronistic and contrary to Sony's desired corporate image.
Sony has lost their balls since a few years when all their products basically became worse and worse and they were even so dumb to stop making laptops and phones.
How coincidental you mention this radio I copied the model number to see what the radio looked like and I just happen to have that exact model radio sitting next to my desk. Bought it at a thrift store a couple months ago for like $6
Meanwhile this company has winded up. But there are many such radios you can find in India -about 30 to 40 brands in the gray market-the IFTs, coils, ferrite rod, transistors, speakers all are manufactured cheaply in Delhi region. These units assamble them. These radios are available in India damn cheap about #7/-.
This wouldn't be up his alley, but it would be cool to see the bad quality case be replaced with something diy, of higher quality, and possibly the addition of the power inputs; the pinouts are probably still present on the board but just not hooked up for the Indian market.
I had an Indian friend who told me about the wonderful products that India makes and never exports because the home market is so large that they don't need to
Stop calling me every day. I don't need a lower interest rate and my social secirity number is not suspicious and there is nothing wrong with my Amazon account.
@@whykoks bhai admi toh chote se hi bada banta hain.. to khusiyo main kyou nehi... hum log ko proud karna chahiye at least hum log ka khud ka technology lagaya hain.. china se copy karne nehi banaya hain humne.. khud ka R&D design hain.. main maan ta hou woh chez chota hain.. par mere liye proud ki bat hain
You are a liability as an Indian. yu being proud of a nonachievement is a liability for me, as I being an Indian, but who does not think like you, is clubbed and branded with you by others who do not know the wide variety of Indians. so, instead, west Bengal should shut up, invest huge amounts in research and produce some really patented products, and not make radios with sony chips. only the rejected plastic mould must have been made in your state of West Bengal, which is a liability for other parts of India. as it is west Bengal has tainted India's reputation, by spamming scammers.
Regarding the build quality of the 5 Core- Remember that ISO 9000 certification only means that the company has documented processes which it follows consistently. They can still have bad fit and finish, it will just be consistently bad.
Precisely, I was a Quality Engineer for major car companies and then a consultant to smaller suppliers and that's exactly how ISO 9001 and previous standards worked. Nobody had any incentive to improve their quality unless customers stopped buying their product. It was all about 'traceability (I.e lots of paperwork and protecting yourself from being sued). Very depressing for me and my team who were intent on improvement of quality.
All an ISO quality system basically means is you document what you're making to keep producing the same crap over and over again without a fault ! ...LoL
Holy cow, the performance of the 5 Core radio blows me away. They actually dumped all the budget into the internal quality, rather than external flashiness like usual.
I remember an old video about a £1 microphone from the pound shop, which apparently sounded quite decent for the price, and the video also commented on how they must have put all of the money into the insides, and not the horrible cheap housing.
The Japanese, and the Americans before them, used to do both. Personally, I'd never own a radio with such sloppy build quality, regardless of how it performs. Sure it's functional, but for how long?
We live in the era of the big decievement. It's all about package. Shame on Panasonic. Who is running Panasonic letting this happen? Pretty from the outside, ugly from the inside. Refreshing to see the pureness of 5CORE, it has a heart. Thank you for - yet another - debunk!
@Lassi Kinnunen 81 They do that with entry-level devices like this radio here, but in general Panasonic is a very respectable brand and still manufactures many products in Japan. The vast majority is also engineered by Panasonic and not rebadged. Besides, no one in the target audience would ever have noticed, let alone complained, about any "choppiness" in the tuning. Those people who do would not buy such a radio anyway (and those who need one for their workshop would probably get a second-hand one). In general, it's just funny how the tone of the video influences the comments section. A brand can be praised to heaven or shred to pieces depending on what the uploader believes. Check the comments in Techmoan's Panasonic boombox videos for an example.
@@MacPhantom You definitely make a point here, as Panasonic is a respected brand associated with high quality supurb products. Therefore Panasonic should not tolerate and associate with a product meeting poor / lower standards like this radio. I for one would like to see intervention and quality upgrade from Panasonic, after the revealing from this investigative video.
@@MacPhantom Strangely Jay Allen, who has collected and reviewed hundreds of radios rates the DSP Panasonics highly. He is using different criteria though; trying to receive distant AM stations in the presence of powerful local ones.
All the portable radios we have at home are 80s Soviet analog tuned ones, with exception of 80s SONY with digital tuning. Those Soivet ones (VEF206 and Selena B211) are built like a tank, with very sensitive tuning circuits on carousels. Powered with 6 D-cells, combined with low minimum operation voltage and consumption around 20 mA, the cells would usually leak out before the radio could drain them. The last set of cells lasted for well over a year, despite the radio being used almost daily. On the other side is the SONY one, which can suck 6 AA-cells dry in 6-8 hours.
With any Soviet made equipment (like Lada cars) I wonder what the true cost was when they were being made. I would guess they cost much more within the USSR while in Europe their electronics were always sold as the bargain basement alternative to stuff made in Hong Kong, apart from Shopertunities who would claim they used the same technology as Russian spy "trawlers".
I suspect it is the case that most if not all digitally-tuned radios use more power than their analogue equivalents. Probably not a fair comparison but my Roberts R809 will only run for about a day on a set of 4xAA cells, whereas my Saisho-branded one (also multi-band) works for ages on a set of 2xAA cells.
@@MrDuncl VEF 202 cost 99 rubles, VEF 206 117, Ocean 209 (Selena 211) 135 . Average salary in 70s-80s was 130-160 rubles. But you cant go to shop and buy any radio you want. Some model need get through friends, or wait when will they appear in the store.
I didn't realise 'FM' radios used such horrible digital processing./tuning.... I guess it's just a race to the bottom with these low cost items nowadays....gone are the days of quality radios.
FM is okay with DSP, it is AM and Shortwave that is a real pain when tuning. It is also dependent on the radio. Ironically with all the pretty good Chinese made radios from relatively unknown companies, the Panasonic is one of the worst. It would be an injustice if Panasonic decided to bring back those nifty "ball" radios of the 70s and put a shitty tuner in them when the originals were actually great little radios.
Except they aren't gone. The Samsung Galaxy A40 has a quite decent FM radio tuner, not the best if you live near transmitters, but definitely far from the worst. Car radios are also of very high quality. The 4th gen Renault Clio has a high quality FM tuner. Probably the best one I've seen so far.
I think you can get analog tuned radios from Sony in Hong Kong because of their need in doing listening tests in the secondary school diploma. The standardised test audio is broadcaster through one of the radio stations and people are using analog tuning radios to get perfect tuning.
My love for radio started when I was a kid and I was given a radio with AM, FM and two short-wave bands. Listening to all these foreign AM and SW radio stations from around the World at nightime to improve reception felt like I was doing something forbidden. I even connected it to an old tv antenna with a piece of wire leftover and recorded some music to cassette. Today, much older, I still like to spend time scanning in silence and listening, just listening. There's something magical about it.
@@EmergencyChannel yeah, the adapter IS the transformer, but I didn't want to get into a fight with him. There's often a few components on the board for voltage regulation, those may need to be added.
@@claypf4795 Probably just needs a few diodes and filtering cap if anything. This would end up being a 3v wallwart now. The casing just says 4.5v because obviously the original internal design used 3 batteries instead of 2.
I'm pretty sure that the main reason why analog tuning radios are still sold in developing markets is because they are simpler in design. And DSP-based dial radios are probably a thing to save as much manufacturing costs as possible.
In developing countries (especially in rural areas) you may only have weak radio reception, maybe even AM only. Probably there is no (or very slow) internet access. A well working radio max be your only source of information and music. In NYC or Paris you are probably happy with a digital radio that looks nice, bonus if it works as a bluetooth speaker for spotify. If you ever use FM on that bad digital tuner it probably works just fine because there are several strong FM stations....
99.999% of electronic workmanship for consumer products is puuuuure junk ! Most of the time I have to open up the unit to deflux and touch up all the solder joints to at least IPC-A-610 Class 1 standards.
I take a special enjoyment in how the established, reputable, globally recognised First World name-brand product from a developed country is not just exposed and shown up as a shoddy and cheap nostalgia rip-off, but absolutely taken to the cleaners by a poorly finished developing-world product moulded in old and tired dies and manufactured and sold by a company and brand that does not even have a Wikipedia article or a website I could find. Call it schadenfreude or perverse enjoyment: I'm rooting for the underdog.
the "brain" of that indian radio is a Sony analog tuner IC, probably on a "reference design" circuit from the datasheet. all the third world did was put it in a crappy case
@@ropersonline Well there are a few reasons for that (none of them being that the countries which invented radios can't "figure out" how to make a decent one): 1. The IC is no longer in production, because 2. There is almost nonexistent demand for a basic AM/FM radio with analog tuning in the first world. Most likely the only reason this particular radio has analog tuning is because somebody bought a big lot of discontinued analog ICs for cheap, or had surplus. I doubt that the manufacturer even knows it's a good thing to have that IC, else it would be all over the box as a feature. When they run out of those chips, you will find a DSP in there and it will be just as crappy as the Panasonic (which is an extremely low end model not normally sold in the first world). 3. There are an abundance of first world radios with first world build quality with analog tuning available on the used market, for next to nothing. the minuscule amount of people who care enough to want one have their pick of the best of the best. 4. the first world has generally moved on from radios except for emergency use and weirdos. In the first case, analog tuning is not needed and in the second, as mentioned before, there is plenty on the used market to satisfy them Anyway, poverty isn't cool or glorious and I'm rooting for the people trapped in the third world to revolt and/or escape their hell, not make sloppy copies of ancient technology in sweatshops for 25 cents a day.
@@ropersonline it really depends on the place and there is no one size fits all answer. I would prescribe revolution to countries run by ultraconservative religious theocracies where the people, if given the choice, would want to move beyond burning heretics or whatever. or maybe a change of regime would be good for places where the regime is an inflexible authoritarian strongman dictatorship type of thing. I don't think telling the people in those situations to wait for things to get better via politics does a lot of good, when "politics" in their country is probably bribes and corruption top to bottom, or controlled by a witch doctor and his acolytes.
Assuming you are in New Jersey, and listening at nightime, that reception of 50 kW WBZ in Boston 1030 kHz was nothing short of incredible. What wonderful sound! de N1EA
I immediately purchased this radio upon watching your review. It came this week and I installed 2D batteries and enjoyed my local radio station. Brings back fond memories of 70s, 80’s,90s. It’s funny, I told the wife after battling our new laptop, my iPhone and smart TV literally all afternoon this Sunday afternoon the only devices that worked without hassle were my antennae TV, and this little radio. Sigh. I miss easy to use reliable tech. Thanks! PS: If anyone installs AC power in this 📻 i would love to watch the video! 👍🏻
Ah yes the original VW Beetle, we called it "Vocho". You were not a true University student if you didn't have a battered, old one that didn't smelled like marihuana inside. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Although they are branded 'Philips', they are manufactured by various small or even tiny scale industries, who are licensed to use the brand name. There are various other brands which are fully analog radios. These are available at low prices. Use of high grade plastics increases the price tag. As far as you get a good quality reception and good sound, the quality of plastic does not matter. I have various Tecsun radios and an XHDATA-D808. But I use them only for speech, (e.g. news) For listening music I use one of the 'Philips' models.
@@prasadasgoa That is true for almost everything labeled Philips! It originally was a broad electronics manufacturing company, which made products in almost every part of the electronics/lighting market. But it has been heavily restructured and almost all those factories have been sold off, they now only make some personal care products (shavers etc) and there still is the division for professional medical products, all the other things you see labeled as Philips are made by other companies licensed to use that brandname.
I've always been a fan of analog radio. When I was in college studying for my EE degree, back in the 1970's, the analog/digital debate was really heating up. The argument that convinced me was made by an instructer who said "Think of analog as digital with an infinite sampling rate." By the way, I just hit ebay and ordered one of these. It might make a fun "project" radio.
At first I was like "Really? The choppiness is bothering you? Stop being such a baby, the digital sounds fine", but when you turned on the indian radio and the sound was good I jumped out of my chair in excitement. Now I want an analog radio and I don't even listen to radio
Thanks for the great video. A few other analog (non-DSP) radios you can still get include the little Sony ICF-P26 pocket radio and the Kaito WRX911 multiband shortwave. They cost about $20 each. If you want to spend a little more money (about $50), the Tecsun R9700DX is a pleasant sounding analog AM/FM/Shortwave that's about the size of a paperback book and comes with a nice case and even has a very cool amber dial light that gives it a great "old radio" look. I own all three of these radios so I've used them extensively; they're all good-quality radios.
For DSP, based radios it's best to have an small LCD with the current frequency and buttons to set the frequency and scan for stations. Using an analog-like tuning dial with a DSP just does not work well, DSPs were never made for this. For analog tuning dials to work properly you do need analog tuners, not DSPs.
DSP tuning mute can effect digital tuning radios so DSP isn't perfect even in digital tuning radios, some radios don't suffer from the tuning mute like the Tecsun PL-880,990x, S-8800 but the audio quality on SSB is just terrible. The PL-330 and H501x sound better but still far from perfect, can't beat the sound of a pure analogue radio such as the PL-660 and PL-680 Tecsuns and this makes using ECSS a joy and almost impossible on the DSP radios, ECSS is essential to the ture SWL DX'er.
Auto scanning radios are terrible. They skip over weaker stations or lock onto one of the images of a strong station. They give you less control to cut costs and size. DSP can be made quite responsive and good enough for FM. For example using a bt878 chip on a PC. The thuds when tuning fast are short and quiet.
We need to see the internals of that 5 core radio. Looks like a copy of the Philips made radios in India. The shortwave antenna is probably an internal loop (rejection of the local electrical noise will be excellent if it is indeed a loop)
Don't know if it's using an internal loop? The last radio I bought with SW said to keep the antenna flat (not vertical) for best reception, so in this case not extended rather than up is still better. This does look like a poorly made Philips, great radios.
You can now get a whole advanced communications receiver on a dongle that plugs into your computer, and they're almost giving them away free. That truly amazes me, as someone who remembers when digital radio didn't really exist at all. I remember the mid-Sixties arrival of the National HRO-500, a huge behemoth that sold for something like $1500 (which would be over $10000 today), and it didn't even have proper PLL-based tuning.
-The third battery space is actually powercord storage space, which is not needed in this version- Agree it is too small for the power cord. There would probably be a higher model with 220v power and another model with DC input based on local markets, availibility of electricity, availibility of D cell batteries, or DC power from lead-acid battery from the tractor/ bike on the farm. All models using the same standard housing !! 😀😀
You're wrong LOL You can't fit any power cord in the space of single D battery, unless it's an inch or two long only, or it is really just a cord without any plugs... The DC 4.5V input socket (blinded now) left from previous version/reiteration of this radio give you nice hint it was designed (the housing, not the actual board inside this model) to run on 3 x 1.5V batteries = 4.5V and this empty 'compartment' is where the third battery would go in.
The cord compartment has to be slightly wider and/or bigger than the battery compartment. We used to have a Sony radio with a smooth analog tuner that had this sort of space for the cord.
I think that some of the bias (in north america at least) is that most people's experience with AM radios was car stereo's; with the constant unstoppable interference from the ignition systems of the car. I volunteer at my local museum and were have several functional AM radios from the 30's to the 70s, and yes, they sound this good and better. AM can sound as good as FM; it just requires proper design, and not being treated as an afterthought.
Really. That's a speaker feeding a mic. No judgment possible. We used to have a 20 to 20kHz AM station but it died in 2007 a victim of HD radio (what a joke) , it was HIFI not normal AM. Any good car radio and car has zero noise from the engine. AM will be gone in 20 years. Most AM's have an FM repeater now. It may not have the range but goodby noise. Then there is the internet.
I have tried unsuccessfully to find a small radio with decent reception and I think you have just explained why...So I think I just might give the Indian radio a try...THank you.
Wow. I never knew this was a thing until now. But yeah, I'm glad I have this old pocket analog AM/FM radio. The only thing that sucks is it's mono only, but it works great. It is a full analog GE radio from the 80s I think. The 9V battery in it can last for a really long time. It works really well. The portability of it is a great part of it.
Just wondering if you have access to the British brand Roberts? I have an analogue one and I think they still sell an analogue radio for about £20. The build quality is really good. I hope you can take a look at it. Maybe it’s not true analogue anymore - it certainly was.
Honestly, I was not expecting "5 core" radio to have analog FM receiver circuit. I guess, that "Digital choppy DSP" is something like default design, you know what I mean "You want to make a radio, this is the cheapest way to do that". I can clearly imagine "analog" design being actually more expensive to manufacture, so this is kinda shock.
Thanks for the much-needed primer on current radios. I've bought some new ones the last few years and if it's not the tuning, it's the sound that's wrong. I went retro and got a Realistic Patrolman SW-60 and the sound quality is excellent and never had a problem with tuning. Baseball on an AM station hasn't sounded that good to me in years!
Yeah the R-9012 is great on AM and SW, not so good on FM. The small 76-108 tuner is too crowded to offer good selectivity. I think the R-909 is a hair better on FM.
@@joshm264 LOL I can sometimes pick up the WWV at 10MHz near Budapest at night with my Russian VEF-206 and Sony ICF-7600DA. Not very frequently, but it happens.
i just ordered the tecsun r-9012 and have read good things about them for being a $20 analog radio it reminds me of the old Realistic DX-350 i had in the 90's...that was a great little radio
Just like an Indian product, the looks don't amount to much, but the what matters inside seals the deal! I'm trying to repair my Dad's old radio. If I fail I know where I can get a replacement! Thanks for the video!
This is not a branded Indian company but a local assembly unit. Nobody knows this brand in India. There were two branded indigenous Indian manufacturers Nelco and Santosh that produced such radios 25 years ago. Recently the maker of Nelco is manufacturing digital radios by the name Croma.
The Indian radio is made locally probably in small shops. These are not branded one, brand stopped making radio long back. If you open the Indian radio probably it will be using a chip for fm tuning. If you can get mw/sw radio only then you can be sure of pure analog.
Sure FM use chip for tuning because FM broadcast was not there when radios around world using LC tunning for reception. FM arrived late in India during 80s.
The answer to that is the analog filter network. Doing precision filtering in DSP is SO much easier than using low-tolerance parts with mechanical interfaces, like tunable coils and capacitors. A digital receiver is tuned to a relatively wide bandwidth, and filters everything in software. The IC itself is way more complex, of course, but once it's designed, it can be replicated with photo lithography. Contrast that to the dozens of parts needed to design an analog filter...
I still have an old Gran Prix AM/FM/Air/PB/Weather radio I bought in 1981 at a drug store in Orlando, Fl that's still works great. It's my emergency radio when the power goes out.
Sounds like the electronics are better than the housing. These could be a suitable donor for a retro radio build into an antique wooden or Bakelite type casing.
@@NozomuYume Why bother when there are still hundreds of old radios waiting for restoration in thrift stores or on Ebay. DSP based tuning has only been around for about ten years.
Have had one of these radios for two days. Immediately obvious is it's susceptibility to overload on FM. I pulled the telescopic antenna open, and it refused to fully slide back down. The entire antenna assembly is loose. I'll have to open it up to correct this, and will add an AC adapter jack as well. Even with the above, this radio is worth it for it's AM reception alone. Thanks for bringing attention to this radio.
That 5 Core T-22 radio looks so good. Love the design. It has that 90s look to it. Edit: And it sounds rich in sound. Might buy it since I need a new one. My portable radio (Kenner PR 410) is dying ever since my cat knocked it off the shelf. There's a lot of signal drifting now and the dial is "off grid" by a couple kHz (if I wanted to tune to 107.5 kHz FM I need to tune to almost 106 kHz).
That extra compartment next to the batteries is where a power cord would have been stored. Either they changed the design after the plastic molds were commissioned or they made an alternate model with an on-board power supply.
No, that space is far too small for a power cord. You can see it was originally designed for three batteries, thus the now-defunct 4.5V DC input on the back.
@@vwestlife Plastic mold making is very expensive. I wouldn't be surprised if the "5 Core" tooling is salvaged from some other radio production line, or perhaps they made a cast of another radio to make theirs?
I bought one, because I live in a apartment, and I heard from another member on Facebook that it's a good radio for people who are not able to put up outdoor antennas. So this radio will suit me best for apartment AM-FM-SW DXing. I wish they would make more of these radios, maybe make one model with a digital read out display. This radio is very sensitive on SW using a clip on long wire indoor antenna.
That 5 Core radio is a whole lot better than what I was expecting! I would have thought the Panasonic would be the better one. If I were in the market for a portable radio I'd probably buy one... although I've got my "mini SuperRadio" and it's pretty good.
Can't really beat a proper superhet radio for analogue reception, I don't think these one chip solutions are perfect. Be nice to see the PCB, see what's inside. Thanks for sharing.
Waiting for me as I arrived home this afternoon. Both smaller and heavier than I understood. My first test was two big MW signals that shouldn't come in before sundown. One was not great but listenable. The other was as clear as a local signal. A third test of a big signal that should but doesn't come in wasn't listenable, but since on other units it doesn't anything before sundown that is an A+. Audio quality on my local music AMs and classical FM is so good my description would be accused of being hyperbole. It really looks like, lets just say, an extremely price-conscious purchase. A second unit may well be acquired to live in the garage.
I can imagine the seller appreciates this video or pleasantly surprised by increased sales. I just ordered one from ebay and it says its "popular" and reading other's comments saying they ordered one as well
Though I have not heard of 5Core brand here in India, I think the reason analogue radio is still produced here is that there's still a huge rural market for that.
I will never thank enough the old transistor radios. They were cheap and they were available at a time when other means of entertainment were a luxury. My old radio set nurtured my body and soul like my mother. Somehow I regret it because it was not invasive
For AM reception I have a late 1970s National Panasonic RF-2200 (or DR22 as they were sold here), which I've inherited from my grandfather. It's such a treat compared to the digital receivers. Pity there's no AM stations around here anymore that are worth listening to and shortwave is also almost dead too, so I might put it up for sale.
I have a 70's Philco Transglobe that arrived to my family before myself. Unfortunately, in my country, MW and SW bands are almost completely taken by religious stations or to transmit soccer games.
In a thrift store today I came across a 5 Core "Pro Series" speaker (model 5C-WS 73) rated at 35 watts RMS. Similar poor plastic molding on the front grill as the analog radio in your video. Had I not seen this video I probably would have not looked at it twice. I have photos if interested.
If the issue is the 'skipping' sound you don't like - there are digital radios that don't do that :) they're expensive, though. BTW, AM is not only MW - Long Waves, Medium Waves and Short Waves all use analog Amplitude modulation and also may have DRM (worldwide) or HD (North America only) radio instead of AM.
8:21 Serious late 90's flashback with that classic banger from the film 'Pardes'. The fact that the film was partially shot in the US and Canada might qualify as being mildly interesting.
As for the 5 core, you could probably get around the issue of weak reception by using a loop and pairing it with the antenna using a ferrite rod connector to the external antenna
Alternatively, making a new lipstick antenna isn't too hard. You can always put the biggest ferrite core it fits in the case. It makes a huge difference
My old boombox looks like it has a digital tuner by the display, but it's actually using an analog tuner. It's so broken that it often tunes to the wrong station or just keeps tuning the entire dial without me doing anything.
I bought the T-22 after watching your review. There is another one called the T -291. The stats look the same. They have a few microphones that look interesting.
That T-22 sounds amazingly good, despite its low construction quality. To echo other people’s sentiment, would love to see inside. “Mr VWestlife, tear down that radio” - Ronald Reagan
I bought a second-hand Telefunken tuner for my old-school stereo from eBay, which cost me €1 plus shipping. Plugged into the external antenna, it sounds better than internet radio or DAB. Progress, eh?
Thanks for uploading this. It's so hard to find electronics that aren't made in China. This appears to be a great alternative for a workshop radio. -- I always wondered why my old analog radios sounded so good, especially on AM. It makes me understand how the sound quality was considered good enough to be the main means of listening to radio music for so long. Listening to AM in my Canadian market car from 2012, however, is so incredibly bad. I also own a European market vehicle with a European market AM/FM radio that tunes in 1kHz increments instead of the standard 10. That alone makes a huge difference. Sometimes, the sweet spot of a station is a few kHz off from the nominal frequency.
Watching this in Japan and remembering the many nights in the 80s spent at my grandma's house in India tuning into Short Wave broadcasts from around the world.
I remember the same in the 90's here in Canada, then slowly between the 90's and 2010 or so all SW radios seemed to disappear (except on some small portable brands such as Grundig). The one that always fascinated me was an indonesian sw station that was obviously targeted to sailors, as it would have an honest to god daily 'piracy report' warning of areas to avoid. For 10yo me in Canada that was both mind blowing and also was the first time that I think I realised that our news didn't cover a lot of what went on in the world.
It's interesting that digital tuner chips are now cheaper than analog circuitry. I can remember when in 1988 or 1989 a digital tuner in a boombox meant about a $50 surcharge. But a hint af that was already the $10 radio alarm clock I bought some years ago, which hasn't got a radio dial anymore, rather you control the whole device with 5 buttons, and if you change the frequency, it appears in the display instead of the time. So everything seems to be integrated now... and it also draws less power. My old device would suck the 9V buffer battery dry in a matter of weeks when left unplugged while the new one lasts several years on 2 AAA's even when left unplugged all the time.
for an analog radio i would also want shortwave and longwave but i have to admit that seeing the signal on an sdr is also really convenient, i miss the sound effects on shortwave when you move the dial "shwswhshwsuuuuu"
0:20 here in Brazil, VW made the original Kombi starting from the 1950's up to 2013, when they discontinued it because new laws demanded airbag and abs in all cars manufactured from 2014 and beyond (and VW Brazil still contacted VW Germany to try to make it viable in this 1950's car). The only real update the Kombi had here was having the air-cooled engine being replaced by a water cooled engine in 2006 to meet the new emissions requirements.
New subscriber to your channel. It looks like the Panasonic RF-562DD was updated to a DSP based radio. I've seen videos of older versions of it and the tuning is pure analog. The 5 Core radio sounds pretty good to me. I look forward to seeing more of your videos.
Just ordered one of the 5Core TC-22 radios. Had a Panasonic AM/FM portable back in the early 80's I loved listening to late at night with the AM skip. Used to pickup a Texas station regularly in Massachusetts. The new digital radios are a lot less sensitive to this.
Well I ordered a T-22 to try. I'll probably modify it, add a BFO for the SW bands, etc. I am *so* sick of the modern single-chip DSP radios that are just so vastly inferiour to older designs with a more traditional RF design.
Thanks for the 5 Core review. I've been wanting to see one. I guess that Panasonic has updated their design, as the R-562D was an analog radio. Sangean PR-D6 is a true analog current production radio that I can recommend.
Ah yes, a good tech guy reviewing something I honesty have been looking for. Digital tuners are annoying. Not quite bad enough to be 'bad' but Ive so noticed the analog were so much better. Subbed.
Wow. Now I want that 5 Core radio. It may not look as attractive as the Panasonic or other radios, but it sounds so much better. Let us hope they keep making this radio for a long time to come and perhaps use new molds to make them.
I am too cheap to order both... I ordered the T-22..... I hope you can report on the technical differences. Maybe they can now use Chinese molds ??? since the 'home grown' variety is so poor???
They arrived today in fixable shape. Very fast shipping. The T-291 is exactly the same internally as the T-22. The T-291 had a broken screw standoff that was fixed with a little superglue. The plastic is quite brittle, I think Bakelite is probably more durable in comparison. The T-22 worked fine on FM but no AM or SW. So I opened it up and saw immediately that a total re-cap would fix the issue. The ferrite core antenna having come completely out of the supports and wires ripped from the pc board where it was all now magnetically stuck to the speaker magnet would have nothing to do with it not working at all of course. :) Anyway I can at least use the T-291 to see where the antenna wires should go. :) But the main takeaway is the really good speaker and the IC that it uses in the circuit. This IC appears to be recycled but genuine. I guess it could be NOS but seems too rough for that. Here is the one used in both radios: T-22 SONY CXA1619BS 407F76V T-291 SONY CXA1619BS 344XL8V It's a common IC in one-IC radios and this board looks like a similar one that has been made for a long time. This IC supports a tuning LED indicator so that might be a useful modification. Another mod might be to replace the D batteries with a single 18650 battery. It would certainly reduce the weight and stress on the brittle plastic going with lighter batteries. I'll post an update when I fix the ferrite antenna. I have pics but can't post them here of course.
The ferrite antenna is re-installed and it's working normally. I did find a few other issues: The ferrite antenna may be installed backwards. In the T-291 I noticed that the coil was hanging out in space right by the speaker however the pcb screen print has the coil indicated by the top outside corner (in alignment with the metal antenna) so when I put it back I followed the pcb screen print. If you want to try this on yours split the plastic rings in the middle and separate the halves to remove the ferrite rod more easily. Hot glue the plastic rings back together and use a little on the ferrite rod to hold it all in place. When I had the antenna rod out I noticed C23 wasn't connected on one end and the other was loose so I pulled the circuit board to re-solder it. All the wire connections are at the radio bottom so you can remove the screws and rotate it back easily. Once the board was up I checked all the solder connections and found six incomplete connections. (3 at one IF can, 1 on the other IF can, and the 2 for C23.) It looked like an attempt was made to solder them in place but it wasn't. So I fixed those and put it all back together. They're both working well now. If you get one it may be worth pulling the PCB up and checking the solder connections. Possibly think about flipping the ferrite antenna around if the coil isn't where indicated on the pcb screen print., I went back and did that on the T-291 and it may have made some improvement. Also check the wire spacing on the coil I don't think there should be any gaps so I used some glue to hold the wire loops together. I might look into the LED tuning indicator and 18650 battery mods. Problems were fixable and that's another good thing oh and don't forget..... It's got SONY GUTS!!! :) Extra points for knowing that reference. :)
Got my T-22 today... No damage although the USPS box was crushed pretty significantly. The plastic case sure shows the mold to be worn out and poorly finished to begin with. BUT I'M HAPPY! My first made in India radio! It plays just fine. When first turned on to AM, there was tremendous hum modulation on any station. I wanted to blame the radio but soon figured that there was a film scanner 'wall wart' power supply here in the shop generating an unbelievable amount of RFI. Pulled that puppy from its outlet, and its all good.....
I found an old TV set once that had a very sophisticated tuning setup and I was able to pick up one sided conversations on people's cordless radio phones in the neighborhood.
I wonder if production-line workers in India earn more than those in China? While there's a very large population of affluent Chinese, there are massive numbers of Chinese earning very little. Also keep in mind that India has had numerous military and diplomatic conflicts with the PRC over the decades, there's a lot of pride in buying domestically-made products rather than consumer goods made by India's arch-enemy.
In india radios are meant for small barber shop, cloth tailor shop or for old generation who dont use mobiles. Analog single tv's are totally closed in india where we rotates antenns to get signals. Almost every part of india connected from mobile towers so radio future isnt that bright and these radios are made in shoestring budgets.
I found a 1976 Superscope CR-1000 at a charity store, it had all the documentation including the original receipt. The tape player/recorder needs some attention but, the radio works great.
1:20 ahh yes, back when radios actually used a variable capacitor and an inductor to tune to a frequency. I believe I had that radio as a kid or at the very least I had a GE model that was probably sold next to that. I remember the "IC" branding on a lot of their stuff.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
For anyone who cares: the 5 Core is based on a Sony CXA1619BS all-in-one AM/FM radio IC. This IC is reported as having been discontinued. Assuming it's genuine, perhaps 5 Core did a "last time buy" of as many as they could get? Maybe they are reclaimed, or clones/knockoffs? The one I saw looked to have had kind of a hard life and it was almost impossible to read the printing. The circuit board is far better made than the case.
There is very little room for the AC power supply and supporting components, assuming any of them have it. If any do, it looks to be mounted to the back half of the case.
The speaker is branded 5 Core, marked "4 ohm, 10 watts RMS" (!), which it'll never see from the output of the IC, not that it'd probably handle that kind of power anyway. Not for long, anyway...
Most of you didn't ask. Fewer of you care. Now you know.
You beat me to it. I just uploaded a video in which I opened it up and discovered the Sony chip inside. The chip has a built-in 0.5W audio amplifier.
Whats the sony chip Do? The little space was for a third battery but now is used for smuggling.
@@ofthedawn The Sony IC is an integrated AM/FM radio on a chip, with a built in audio amplifier. All you need are a few external components and you've got a radio!
The speaker is killer serious for only being driven by a ½ watt amplifier !!!
From 3V your will never get 10W unless the speaker is 0.5 ohms or use an ouput transformer. So the power supply limits it already. 0.5W can sound good if properly designed. Most portable radios from 70s were 1W or belowm but it is good to have marging on the speaker so it will never go bad like on other cheap radios that is alsmot a headphne speaker or PC like speaker. The on on this radios looks like a proper spekar from a bigger device actually.
New and Improved don't always mean the same thing. I imagine there will be a big bump in eBay sales of the very well-performing analog 5 Core "Sound of India" radio now, and 5 Core's workers will be truly honored and grateful for your very kind review.
The thing DSP does give is consistency. All radios with the same DSP will have the same performance. An analogue radio has quite a few adjustments (maybe ten in a 1970s design) which all need to be set spot on in the factory for optimum reception. Having said that I have a 1970s Pye Radio that uses proper IF transformers rather than the non adjustable ceramic filters that became popular in the 1h980s, and reception is excellent.
I think this radio is crap and I do not understand all the hype about it
For Americans it is a strange product in 21st century. But it is not the only analog cheap radio brand. There are 3 dozen such brands available in India even today. And even in India townsmen consider it less prestigious to buy such radios.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed that analog tuner radios sound and tune better
It's probably largely down to how well made the digital tuner is. Like someone else mentioned elsewhere in the comment section, it's a race to the bottom, so most of them tend to use very low quality digital tuners.
That's what I love about my Magnavox boombox! It gets as good reception as my classic receiver hooked up to a long wire antenna.
I don't even understand why an analog radio even needs a digital tuner. We live in an analog world and have analog senses.These digital radios take an analog input signal, convert it to digital, convert it back to analog, and output it to the speaker. This is two steps of needless conversion. Just leave it all analog, like the Indian radio does.
@@tarstarkusz So, why wasn't this a problem in the 80s? People were fine paying the extra for quality. When did we become such cheapskates?
@@dougbrowning82 I agree but we are all to blame I guess. An am fm portable was 80 bucks back in the 60s. A cheap one half that. So that's like a 150 to 300 purchase today. Yes the same goes for a class d amplifier. Is it really much better? Well it's smaller and lighter. Probably less likely to last too.
Sony should never have stopped making the ICF-9740W. They made it for over 30 years, longest surviving product in Sony's catalog. Supposedly, Sony founder Akio Morita was a huge amateur radio fan, which is why they made so many great radios. After he retired in the 1990s, they stopped developing new short wave models.
I used to have an ICR-9740W and it was a pleasant unit. In 2010, as part of a companywide reorganization, many Sony legacy products including the last cassette Sony Walkman were terminated. These may have been slow sellers but were still profitable. My guess is that the company became very image-conscious and did not to be perceived as purveyor of "cutting edge" technologies (like their since-failed smartphones and laptop PCs), phasing out production of "old school" items that were deemed anachronistic and contrary to Sony's desired corporate image.
Do you happen to know if the Sony ICF-506 a true analogue tuner radio?
Sony has lost their balls since a few years when all their products basically became worse and worse and they were even so dumb to stop making laptops and phones.
How coincidental you mention this radio I copied the model number to see what the radio looked like and I just happen to have that exact model radio sitting next to my desk. Bought it at a thrift store a couple months ago for like $6
@@KRAFTWERK2K6 Sony still makes laptops and phones, they just don’t sell them in the USA.
Time to get an Indian FM/AM/SW radio for no reason
I suppose the old adage "don't judge a book by it's cover" applies to the Indian radio.
Analog Ham Radio Transceivers
Meanwhile this company has winded up. But there are many such radios you can find in India -about 30 to 40 brands in the gray market-the IFTs, coils, ferrite rod, transistors, speakers all are manufactured cheaply in Delhi region. These units assamble them. These radios are available in India damn cheap about #7/-.
It would be more interesting video if you opened the India radio to see what's inside. 📻
Yes yes ! Teardown that last analog radio !
I think some small people are inside, creating music, news etc....😂
@@colloidalsilverwater15ppm88 Like... 10 little indians, or something 😎
This wouldn't be up his alley, but it would be cool to see the bad quality case be replaced with something diy, of higher quality, and possibly the addition of the power inputs; the pinouts are probably still present on the board but just not hooked up for the Indian market.
@@thatmatt41 I think the power inputs got cancelled when they switched the design from three batteries (4.5V) to two (3V).
Feeling proud to being Indian citizen & watching this video. Im a great fan of your vdo contents. I'm from India, West Bengal, done audio engineering.
I had an Indian friend who told me about the wonderful products that India makes and never exports because the home market is so large that they don't need to
Stop calling me every day. I don't need a lower interest rate and my social secirity number is not suspicious and there is nothing wrong with my Amazon account.
@@whykoks bhai admi toh chote se hi bada banta hain.. to khusiyo main kyou nehi... hum log ko proud karna chahiye at least hum log ka khud ka technology lagaya hain.. china se copy karne nehi banaya hain humne.. khud ka R&D design hain.. main maan ta hou woh chez chota hain.. par mere liye proud ki bat hain
proud to be an indian 😇😇
#jai_hind 🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳
You are a liability as an Indian. yu being proud of a nonachievement is a liability for me, as I being an Indian, but who does not think like you, is clubbed and branded with you by others who do not know the wide variety of Indians. so, instead, west Bengal should shut up, invest huge amounts in research and produce some really patented products, and not make radios with sony chips. only the rejected plastic mould must have been made in your state of West Bengal, which is a liability for other parts of India. as it is west Bengal has tainted India's reputation, by spamming scammers.
Regarding the build quality of the 5 Core- Remember that ISO 9000 certification only means that the company has documented processes which it follows consistently. They can still have bad fit and finish, it will just be consistently bad.
I worked in many companies following that process.
It just means "we do the same thing with five times more paperwork".
Precisely, I was a Quality Engineer for major car companies and then a consultant to smaller suppliers and that's exactly how ISO 9001 and previous standards worked. Nobody had any incentive to improve their quality unless customers stopped buying their product. It was all about 'traceability (I.e lots of paperwork and protecting yourself from being sued). Very depressing for me and my team who were intent on improvement of quality.
So true!
All an ISO quality system basically means is you document what you're making to keep producing the same crap over and over again without a fault ! ...LoL
@@etow8034 but it sounds bettethan the fake pretty one's 😂
Holy cow, the performance of the 5 Core radio blows me away. They actually dumped all the budget into the internal quality, rather than external flashiness like usual.
I remember an old video about a £1 microphone from the pound shop, which apparently sounded quite decent for the price, and the video also commented on how they must have put all of the money into the insides, and not the horrible cheap housing.
The Japanese, and the Americans before them, used to do both. Personally, I'd never own a radio with such sloppy build quality, regardless of how it performs. Sure it's functional, but for how long?
@@johnstone7697 , for as long as you don't smash it when you're drunk and angry!
Yeah but if you drop it the plastic would probably shatter.
@@qwertykeyboard5901 Same is with iPhones! :)
We live in the era of the big decievement. It's all about package. Shame on Panasonic. Who is running Panasonic letting this happen? Pretty from the outside, ugly from the inside. Refreshing to see the pureness of 5CORE, it has a heart. Thank you for - yet another - debunk!
Panasonic radio is run by their chinese side of business I think. Radio isn't big business, their real growth area is lithium ion batteries.
@Lassi Kinnunen 81 They do that with entry-level devices like this radio here, but in general Panasonic is a very respectable brand and still manufactures many products in Japan. The vast majority is also engineered by Panasonic and not rebadged.
Besides, no one in the target audience would ever have noticed, let alone complained, about any "choppiness" in the tuning. Those people who do would not buy such a radio anyway (and those who need one for their workshop would probably get a second-hand one).
In general, it's just funny how the tone of the video influences the comments section. A brand can be praised to heaven or shred to pieces depending on what the uploader believes. Check the comments in Techmoan's Panasonic boombox videos for an example.
Panasonic used to make way nicer looking radios than that back in the 70s, kind of disappointed even with the design really
@@MacPhantom You definitely make a point here, as Panasonic is a respected brand associated with high quality supurb products. Therefore Panasonic should not tolerate and associate with a product meeting poor / lower standards like this radio. I for one would like to see intervention and quality upgrade from Panasonic, after the revealing from this investigative video.
@@MacPhantom Strangely Jay Allen, who has collected and reviewed hundreds of radios rates the DSP Panasonics highly. He is using different criteria though; trying to receive distant AM stations in the presence of powerful local ones.
All the portable radios we have at home are 80s Soviet analog tuned ones, with exception of 80s SONY with digital tuning.
Those Soivet ones (VEF206 and Selena B211) are built like a tank, with very sensitive tuning circuits on carousels.
Powered with 6 D-cells, combined with low minimum operation voltage and consumption around 20 mA, the cells would usually leak out before the radio could drain them. The last set of cells lasted for well over a year, despite the radio being used almost daily. On the other side is the SONY one, which can suck 6 AA-cells dry in 6-8 hours.
With any Soviet made equipment (like Lada cars) I wonder what the true cost was when they were being made. I would guess they cost much more within the USSR while in Europe their electronics were always sold as the bargain basement alternative to stuff made in Hong Kong, apart from Shopertunities who would claim they used the same technology as Russian spy "trawlers".
I suspect it is the case that most if not all digitally-tuned radios use more power than their analogue equivalents.
Probably not a fair comparison but my Roberts R809 will only run for about a day on a set of 4xAA cells, whereas my Saisho-branded one (also multi-band) works for ages on a set of 2xAA cells.
@@MrDuncl VEF 202 cost 99 rubles, VEF 206 117, Ocean 209 (Selena 211) 135 . Average salary in 70s-80s was 130-160 rubles. But you cant go to shop and buy any radio you want. Some model need get through friends, or wait when will they appear in the store.
I didn't realise 'FM' radios used such horrible digital processing./tuning.... I guess it's just a race to the bottom with these low cost items nowadays....gone are the days of quality radios.
FM is okay with DSP, it is AM and Shortwave that is a real pain when tuning. It is also dependent on the radio. Ironically with all the pretty good Chinese made radios from relatively unknown companies, the Panasonic is one of the worst. It would be an injustice if Panasonic decided to bring back those nifty "ball" radios of the 70s and put a shitty tuner in them when the originals were actually great little radios.
I didn't realize the race to the bottom was that bad these days. I still have several of my old radios and have never replaced them.
The digital processing is much better in cars where the signal is hardly ever too fuzzy
Except they aren't gone. The Samsung Galaxy A40 has a quite decent FM radio tuner, not the best if you live near transmitters, but definitely far from the worst. Car radios are also of very high quality. The 4th gen Renault Clio has a high quality FM tuner. Probably the best one I've seen so far.
@@kevinpatrickmacnutt Analog FM sounds way betterthan Digital Fm
I think you can get analog tuned radios from Sony in Hong Kong because of their need in doing listening tests in the secondary school diploma.
The standardised test audio is broadcaster through one of the radio stations and people are using analog tuning radios to get perfect tuning.
I'm not even in need of a radio(or am I?), but somehow this video stole my heart.
My love for radio started when I was a kid and I was given a radio with AM, FM and two short-wave bands. Listening to all these foreign AM and SW radio stations from around the World at nightime to improve reception felt like I was doing something forbidden. I even connected it to an old tv antenna with a piece of wire leftover and recorded some music to cassette.
Today, much older, I still like to spend time scanning in silence and listening, just listening. There's something magical about it.
i would listen if i could find a station where conservative and liberal women fight. but in europe they don't.
@@ivok9846 In Europe it's all socialist propaganda in disguise.
They've certainly got the look (and sound quality) of a 70s portable AM/FM radio. I'm glad they sell tell these. :)
Now I want to buy one of those Indian radios and try to see if I can solder the missing DC power jack to the circuit board.
@@claypf4795 I'd imagine it doesn't have a transformer
It doesn't need a transformer if you can run it off DC wall wart. You only need a transformer if you want to use AC to power a DC radio.
@@EmergencyChannel yeah, the adapter IS the transformer, but I didn't want to get into a fight with him. There's often a few components on the board for voltage regulation, those may need to be added.
@@claypf4795 Probably just needs a few diodes and filtering cap if anything. This would end up being a 3v wallwart now. The casing just says 4.5v because obviously the original internal design used 3 batteries instead of 2.
I'm pretty sure that the main reason why analog tuning radios are still sold in developing markets is because they are simpler in design.
And DSP-based dial radios are probably a thing to save as much manufacturing costs as possible.
In developing countries (especially in rural areas) you may only have weak radio reception, maybe even AM only. Probably there is no (or very slow) internet access.
A well working radio max be your only source of information and music.
In NYC or Paris you are probably happy with a digital radio that looks nice, bonus if it works as a bluetooth speaker for spotify. If you ever use FM on that bad digital tuner it probably works just fine because there are several strong FM stations....
99.999% of electronic workmanship for consumer products is puuuuure junk ! Most of the time I have to open up the unit to deflux and touch up all the solder joints to at least IPC-A-610 Class 1 standards.
@@etow8034 What is IPC-A-610 Class 1 standard?
Dsp radios eat batteries
I take a special enjoyment in how the established, reputable, globally recognised First World name-brand product from a developed country is not just exposed and shown up as a shoddy and cheap nostalgia rip-off, but absolutely taken to the cleaners by a poorly finished developing-world product moulded in old and tired dies and manufactured and sold by a company and brand that does not even have a Wikipedia article or a website I could find. Call it schadenfreude or perverse enjoyment: I'm rooting for the underdog.
the "brain" of that indian radio is a Sony analog tuner IC, probably on a "reference design" circuit from the datasheet. all the third world did was put it in a crappy case
@@arcade_signal Yet if that's so, then it still seems the first world can't seem to figure out how to do the same.
@@ropersonline Well there are a few reasons for that (none of them being that the countries which invented radios can't "figure out" how to make a decent one):
1. The IC is no longer in production, because
2. There is almost nonexistent demand for a basic AM/FM radio with analog tuning in the first world. Most likely the only reason this particular radio has analog tuning is because somebody bought a big lot of discontinued analog ICs for cheap, or had surplus. I doubt that the manufacturer even knows it's a good thing to have that IC, else it would be all over the box as a feature. When they run out of those chips, you will find a DSP in there and it will be just as crappy as the Panasonic (which is an extremely low end model not normally sold in the first world).
3. There are an abundance of first world radios with first world build quality with analog tuning available on the used market, for next to nothing. the minuscule amount of people who care enough to want one have their pick of the best of the best.
4. the first world has generally moved on from radios except for emergency use and weirdos. In the first case, analog tuning is not needed and in the second, as mentioned before, there is plenty on the used market to satisfy them
Anyway, poverty isn't cool or glorious and I'm rooting for the people trapped in the third world to revolt and/or escape their hell, not make sloppy copies of ancient technology in sweatshops for 25 cents a day.
@@arcade_signal "I'm rooting for the people trapped in the third world to revolt"
@@ropersonline it really depends on the place and there is no one size fits all answer. I would prescribe revolution to countries run by ultraconservative religious theocracies where the people, if given the choice, would want to move beyond burning heretics or whatever. or maybe a change of regime would be good for places where the regime is an inflexible authoritarian strongman dictatorship type of thing. I don't think telling the people in those situations to wait for things to get better via politics does a lot of good, when "politics" in their country is probably bribes and corruption top to bottom, or controlled by a witch doctor and his acolytes.
One way you can prevent Amazon sticking a shipping label on the products box is to click the option "this order contains a gift" during checkout.
Assuming you are in New Jersey, and listening at nightime, that reception of 50 kW WBZ in Boston 1030 kHz was nothing short of incredible. What wonderful sound! de N1EA
*3 AM and should probably sleep*
*vwestlife uploads a new video*
CLICK
Yes, me too
it's 3 AM!! 3 AM!! It's 3AM Eternaaaaalllllll!!!
I immediately purchased this radio upon watching your review. It came this week and I installed 2D batteries and enjoyed my local radio station. Brings back fond memories of 70s, 80’s,90s. It’s funny, I told the wife after battling our new laptop, my iPhone and smart TV literally all afternoon this Sunday afternoon the only devices that worked without hassle were my antennae TV, and this little radio. Sigh. I miss easy to use reliable tech. Thanks!
PS: If anyone installs AC power in this 📻 i would love to watch the video! 👍🏻
IS it still working. years later?? mines kaput
@@SIEBEGORMEN it works but antenna snapped off and speaker a little iffy. Shrug. I don’t use it much
Ah yes the original VW Beetle, we called it "Vocho". You were not a true University student if you didn't have a battered, old one that didn't smelled like marihuana inside. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Yes ... and a must if you want to become a world class serial killer .
Punch buggy white, NO PUNCHBACKS!
Roach Coach
I was so shocked by the sound quality and tuning of the Indian radio that I popped right over to eBay and bought one!
"True Analogue" FM/AM receivers are still common in India. Apart from local Indian brands, Philips are still manufacturing it.
Where can European ppl order one?
Although they are branded 'Philips', they are manufactured by various small or even tiny scale industries, who are licensed to use the brand name. There are various other brands which are fully analog radios. These are available at low prices. Use of high grade plastics increases the price tag. As far as you get a good quality reception and good sound, the quality of plastic does not matter. I have various Tecsun radios and an XHDATA-D808. But I use them only for speech, (e.g. news) For listening music I use one of the 'Philips' models.
@@prasadasgoa That is true for almost everything labeled Philips! It originally was a broad electronics manufacturing company, which made products in almost every part of the electronics/lighting market. But it has been heavily restructured and almost all those factories have been sold off, they now only make some personal care products (shavers etc) and there still is the division for professional medical products, all the other things you see labeled as Philips are made by other companies licensed to use that brandname.
I've always been a fan of analog radio. When I was in college studying for my EE degree, back in the 1970's, the analog/digital debate was really heating up. The argument that convinced me was made by an instructer who said "Think of analog as digital with an infinite sampling rate." By the way, I just hit ebay and ordered one of these. It might make a fun "project" radio.
At first I was like "Really? The choppiness is bothering you? Stop being such a baby, the digital sounds fine", but when you turned on the indian radio and the sound was good I jumped out of my chair in excitement.
Now I want an analog radio and I don't even listen to radio
Thanks for the great video. A few other analog (non-DSP) radios you can still get include the little Sony ICF-P26 pocket radio and the Kaito WRX911 multiband shortwave. They cost about $20 each. If you want to spend a little more money (about $50), the Tecsun R9700DX is a pleasant sounding analog AM/FM/Shortwave that's about the size of a paperback book and comes with a nice case and even has a very cool amber dial light that gives it a great "old radio" look. I own all three of these radios so I've used them extensively; they're all good-quality radios.
Lada had been manufacturing Fiat 124 from 1970 until 2012
For DSP, based radios it's best to have an small LCD with the current frequency and buttons to set the frequency and scan for stations. Using an analog-like tuning dial with a DSP just does not work well, DSPs were never made for this.
For analog tuning dials to work properly you do need analog tuners, not DSPs.
DSP tuning mute can effect digital tuning radios so DSP isn't perfect even in digital tuning radios, some radios don't suffer from the tuning mute like the Tecsun PL-880,990x, S-8800 but the audio quality on SSB is just terrible.
The PL-330 and H501x sound better but still far from perfect, can't beat the sound of a pure analogue radio such as the PL-660 and PL-680 Tecsuns and this makes using ECSS a joy and almost impossible on the DSP radios, ECSS is essential to the ture SWL DX'er.
Auto scanning radios are terrible. They skip over weaker stations or lock onto one of the images of a strong station. They give you less control to cut costs and size. DSP can be made quite responsive and good enough for FM. For example using a bt878 chip on a PC. The thuds when tuning fast are short and quiet.
We need to see the internals of that 5 core radio. Looks like a copy of the Philips made radios in India. The shortwave antenna is probably an internal loop (rejection of the local electrical noise will be excellent if it is indeed a loop)
Don't know if it's using an internal loop? The last radio I bought with SW said to keep the antenna flat (not vertical) for best reception, so in this case not extended rather than up is still better.
This does look like a poorly made Philips, great radios.
could be, i have a couple of philips sets with same control layout... though they are lw and mw only, no sw
The 'Philips' branded radios in India are also manufactures by small and tiny manufacturing units, who are licensed to use the 'Philips' brand.
You can now get a whole advanced communications receiver on a dongle that plugs into your computer, and they're almost giving them away free. That truly amazes me, as someone who remembers when digital radio didn't really exist at all. I remember the mid-Sixties arrival of the National HRO-500, a huge behemoth that sold for something like $1500 (which would be over $10000 today), and it didn't even have proper PLL-based tuning.
-The third battery space is actually powercord storage space, which is not needed in this version- Agree it is too small for the power cord. There would probably be a higher model with 220v power and another model with DC input based on local markets, availibility of electricity, availibility of D cell batteries, or DC power from lead-acid battery from the tractor/ bike on the farm. All models using the same standard housing !! 😀😀
You're wrong LOL You can't fit any power cord in the space of single D battery, unless it's an inch or two long only, or it is really just a cord without any plugs...
The DC 4.5V input socket (blinded now) left from previous version/reiteration of this radio give you nice hint it was designed (the housing, not the actual board inside this model) to run on 3 x 1.5V batteries = 4.5V and this empty 'compartment' is where the third battery would go in.
The cord compartment has to be slightly wider and/or bigger than the battery compartment. We used to have a Sony radio with a smooth analog tuner that had this sort of space for the cord.
I've never remembered AM sounding as good as it did in that Indian radio.
I think that some of the bias (in north america at least) is that most people's experience with AM radios was car stereo's; with the constant unstoppable interference from the ignition systems of the car.
I volunteer at my local museum and were have several functional AM radios from the 30's to the 70s, and yes, they sound this good and better. AM can sound as good as FM; it just requires proper design, and not being treated as an afterthought.
A fully modulated AM carrier is very sweet to the 👂ears👂.
Really. That's a speaker feeding a mic. No judgment possible. We used to have a 20 to 20kHz AM station but it died in 2007 a victim of HD radio (what a joke) , it was HIFI not normal AM. Any good car radio and car has zero noise from the engine. AM will be gone in 20 years. Most AM's have an FM repeater now. It may not have the range but goodby noise. Then there is the internet.
I still find AM and SW fascinating things, especially SW because I can pick up radio stations from across the English channel
My 2009 Jeep had an excellent sounding AM radio. It sounded as good as some cars FM radio.
I have tried unsuccessfully to find a small radio with decent reception and I think you have just explained why...So I think I just might give the Indian radio a try...THank you.
Try the C CRANE SKYWAVE.
This video fondly reminds me of the great Radio Shack era.
Wow. I never knew this was a thing until now. But yeah, I'm glad I have this old pocket analog AM/FM radio. The only thing that sucks is it's mono only, but it works great. It is a full analog GE radio from the 80s I think. The 9V battery in it can last for a really long time. It works really well. The portability of it is a great part of it.
Just wondering if you have access to the British brand Roberts? I have an analogue one and I think they still sell an analogue radio for about £20. The build quality is really good. I hope you can take a look at it. Maybe it’s not true analogue anymore - it certainly was.
I was thinking the same thing! Their digital machines are good too if you're into that.
For info most Roberts Radios are made by Sangean. I'm not sure about the wood and cloth cased ones that cost five times the cost of these two.
Honestly, I was not expecting "5 core" radio to have analog FM receiver circuit. I guess, that "Digital choppy DSP" is something like default design, you know what I mean "You want to make a radio, this is the cheapest way to do that".
I can clearly imagine "analog" design being actually more expensive to manufacture, so this is kinda shock.
Thanks for the much-needed primer on current radios. I've bought some new ones the last few years and if it's not the tuning, it's the sound that's wrong. I went retro and got a Realistic Patrolman SW-60 and the sound quality is excellent and never had a problem with tuning. Baseball on an AM station hasn't sounded that good to me in years!
Tecsun R-9012 is still produced and has the addition of shortwave.
Yeah that thing is one of the most sensitive compact World Receiver radios. It's really really good on AM and SW.
I have one, too. It's the only SW radio I have that can pick up WWV in my house
Yeah the R-9012 is great on AM and SW, not so good on FM. The small 76-108 tuner is too crowded to offer good selectivity. I think the R-909 is a hair better on FM.
@@joshm264 LOL I can sometimes pick up the WWV at 10MHz near Budapest at night with my Russian VEF-206 and Sony ICF-7600DA. Not very frequently, but it happens.
i just ordered the tecsun r-9012 and have read good things about them for being a $20 analog radio
it reminds me of the old Realistic DX-350 i had in the 90's...that was a great little radio
Just like an Indian product, the looks don't amount to much, but the what matters inside seals the deal!
I'm trying to repair my Dad's old radio. If I fail I know where I can get a replacement!
Thanks for the video!
This is not a branded Indian company but a local assembly unit. Nobody knows this brand in India. There were two branded indigenous Indian manufacturers Nelco and Santosh that produced such radios 25 years ago. Recently the maker of Nelco is manufacturing digital radios by the name Croma.
The Indian radio is made locally probably in small shops. These are not branded one, brand stopped making radio long back. If you open the Indian radio probably it will be using a chip for fm tuning. If you can get mw/sw radio only then you can be sure of pure analog.
Sure FM use chip for tuning because FM broadcast was not there when radios around world using LC tunning for reception. FM arrived late in India during 80s.
I always find it amazing how today it is cheaper embedding a whole computer inside a radio than making a simple am radio with analog parts
Especially given that there are chips with analogue radios on them.
The answer to that is the analog filter network. Doing precision filtering in DSP is SO much easier than using low-tolerance parts with mechanical interfaces, like tunable coils and capacitors.
A digital receiver is tuned to a relatively wide bandwidth, and filters everything in software. The IC itself is way more complex, of course, but once it's designed, it can be replicated with photo lithography. Contrast that to the dozens of parts needed to design an analog filter...
@@nickwallette6201 I know, I am a computer engineer with a masters and ongoing phd in microelectronics myself. This still amazes me.
I still have an old Gran Prix AM/FM/Air/PB/Weather radio I bought in 1981 at a drug store in Orlando, Fl that's still works great. It's my emergency radio when the power goes out.
Sounds like the electronics are better than the housing. These could be a suitable donor for a retro radio build into an antique wooden or Bakelite type casing.
No reason for that. Tube chassis are often extremely easy to get working again.
@@mfbfreak Could still swap it into a better quality casing while retaining the benefit of compact size.
@@NozomuYume Why bother when there are still hundreds of old radios waiting for restoration in thrift stores or on Ebay. DSP based tuning has only been around for about ten years.
I'm half indian/half brazilian, so this video is kinda nostalgic for me, as always I love it ♥
Dang! That is an amazing combo! Very rare though! :)
@@jarjarbinks3193 Yup, it is, and even more if you consider all the distance between both countries, Brazil and India ♥
Have had one of these radios for two days. Immediately obvious is it's susceptibility to overload on FM. I pulled the telescopic antenna open, and it refused to fully slide back down. The entire antenna assembly is loose. I'll have to open it up to correct this, and will add an AC adapter jack as well. Even with the above, this radio is worth it for it's AM reception alone. Thanks for bringing attention to this radio.
The coolest thang about the cheap Indiaradio is the hologram sticker.
The AM sounds great! All you need is one with AM stereo!
That 5 Core T-22 radio looks so good. Love the design. It has that 90s look to it.
Edit: And it sounds rich in sound. Might buy it since I need a new one. My portable radio (Kenner PR 410) is dying ever since my cat knocked it off the shelf. There's a lot of signal drifting now and the dial is "off grid" by a couple kHz (if I wanted to tune to 107.5 kHz FM I need to tune to almost 106 kHz).
That extra compartment next to the batteries is where a power cord would have been stored. Either they changed the design after the plastic molds were commissioned or they made an alternate model with an on-board power supply.
No, that space is far too small for a power cord. You can see it was originally designed for three batteries, thus the now-defunct 4.5V DC input on the back.
@@vwestlife Plastic mold making is very expensive. I wouldn't be surprised if the "5 Core" tooling is salvaged from some other radio production line, or perhaps they made a cast of another radio to make theirs?
India continued making the Morris Oxford series 3 for decades after Morris made anything! And hopefully will continue again, one day.
India still make the Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle, which was first manufactured (in the UK) in 1948.
I bought one, because I live in a apartment, and I heard from another member on Facebook that it's a good radio for people who are not able to put up outdoor antennas. So this radio will suit me best for apartment AM-FM-SW DXing. I wish they would make more of these radios, maybe make one model with a digital read out display. This radio is very sensitive on SW using a clip on long wire indoor antenna.
That 5 Core radio is a whole lot better than what I was expecting! I would have thought the Panasonic would be the better one. If I were in the market for a portable radio I'd probably buy one... although I've got my "mini SuperRadio" and it's pretty good.
I'm truly shocked! Appearances were truly deceiving. I may have to look for this one!
Can't really beat a proper superhet radio for analogue reception, I don't think these one chip solutions are perfect. Be nice to see the PCB, see what's inside. Thanks for sharing.
So a couple weeks after both of my casual listening radios went the way of all things, this appears. I have just sent $27 to 5 Core.
Those radios are repairable. Shango066 has lots of radio repair videos showing how he does it.
Waiting for me as I arrived home this afternoon.
Both smaller and heavier than I understood. My first test was two big MW signals that shouldn't come in before sundown. One was not great but listenable. The other was as clear as a local signal. A third test of a big signal that should but doesn't come in wasn't listenable, but since on other units it doesn't anything before sundown that is an A+.
Audio quality on my local music AMs and classical FM is so good my description would be accused of being hyperbole. It really looks like, lets just say, an extremely price-conscious purchase. A second unit may well be acquired to live in the garage.
I can imagine the seller appreciates this video or pleasantly surprised by increased sales. I just ordered one from ebay and it says its "popular" and reading other's comments saying they ordered one as well
I remember seeing the “low” indicator a week after this video. They have since restocked 😁
I've got a soviet radio from 1970's, has a lot of frequencies from LW to UHF, and man, it sounds beautiful. True analog radio!
Though I have not heard of 5Core brand here in India, I think the reason analogue radio is still produced here is that there's still a huge rural market for that.
Ahuja is the major player for audio systems across there aren't they?
@@RediffusionMusic Of course, they are a top brand & of good quality but only in public address systems, mics etc! NO RADIOS!😢
I will never thank enough the old transistor radios. They were cheap and they were available at a time when other means of entertainment were a luxury. My old radio set nurtured my body and soul like my mother. Somehow I regret it because it was not invasive
For AM reception I have a late 1970s National Panasonic RF-2200 (or DR22 as they were sold here), which I've inherited from my grandfather. It's such a treat compared to the digital receivers. Pity there's no AM stations around here anymore that are worth listening to and shortwave is also almost dead too, so I might put it up for sale.
Some radio enthusiast claim that radio (with its pop up "gyro" antenna) is the best radio ever made for AM reception.
I have a 70's Philco Transglobe that arrived to my family before myself. Unfortunately, in my country, MW and SW bands are almost completely taken by religious stations or to transmit soccer games.
In a thrift store today I came across a 5 Core "Pro Series" speaker (model 5C-WS 73) rated at 35 watts RMS. Similar poor plastic molding on the front grill as the analog radio in your video. Had I not seen this video I probably would have not looked at it twice. I have photos if interested.
If the issue is the 'skipping' sound you don't like - there are digital radios that don't do that :) they're expensive, though. BTW, AM is not only MW - Long Waves, Medium Waves and Short Waves all use analog Amplitude modulation and also may have DRM (worldwide) or HD (North America only) radio instead of AM.
This channel always reminds me of Technology Connections. I would love to see a channel crossover someday.
I'm really impressed with that radio. Even with listening to it on my cell phone speaker it sounded really good.
8:21 Serious late 90's flashback with that classic banger from the film 'Pardes'. The fact that the film was partially shot in the US and Canada might qualify as being mildly interesting.
As for the 5 core, you could probably get around the issue of weak reception by using a loop and pairing it with the antenna using a ferrite rod connector to the external antenna
Alternatively, making a new lipstick antenna isn't too hard. You can always put the biggest ferrite core it fits in the case. It makes a huge difference
My old boombox looks like it has a digital tuner by the display, but it's actually using an analog tuner. It's so broken that it often tunes to the wrong station or just keeps tuning the entire dial without me doing anything.
I bought the T-22 after watching your review. There is another one called the T -291. The stats look the same. They have a few microphones that look interesting.
I like how your example was the first thing that popped into my mind before you even said it.
That T-22 sounds amazingly good, despite its low construction quality. To echo other people’s sentiment, would love to see inside.
“Mr VWestlife, tear down that radio” - Ronald Reagan
The Tecsun DR-920C is an true analog radio with a digital readout. The Tecsun radios are good radios to review on your channel.
I bought a second-hand Telefunken tuner for my old-school stereo from eBay, which cost me €1 plus shipping.
Plugged into the external antenna, it sounds better than internet radio or DAB. Progress, eh?
Thanks for uploading this. It's so hard to find electronics that aren't made in China. This appears to be a great alternative for a workshop radio.
--
I always wondered why my old analog radios sounded so good, especially on AM. It makes me understand how the sound quality was considered good enough to be the main means of listening to radio music for so long. Listening to AM in my Canadian market car from 2012, however, is so incredibly bad. I also own a European market vehicle with a European market AM/FM radio that tunes in 1kHz increments instead of the standard 10. That alone makes a huge difference. Sometimes, the sweet spot of a station is a few kHz off from the nominal frequency.
Watching this in Japan and remembering the many nights in the 80s spent at my grandma's house in India tuning into Short Wave broadcasts from around the world.
I remember the same in the 90's here in Canada, then slowly between the 90's and 2010 or so all SW radios seemed to disappear (except on some small portable brands such as Grundig).
The one that always fascinated me was an indonesian sw station that was obviously targeted to sailors, as it would have an honest to god daily 'piracy report' warning of areas to avoid. For 10yo me in Canada that was both mind blowing and also was the first time that I think I realised that our news didn't cover a lot of what went on in the world.
I am from India. And the reliability of the build is obvious through this video.
Wow a surprise contender! Looks fair, sounds great! Go India!!
It's interesting that digital tuner chips are now cheaper than analog circuitry. I can remember when in 1988 or 1989 a digital tuner in a boombox meant about a $50 surcharge. But a hint af that was already the $10 radio alarm clock I bought some years ago, which hasn't got a radio dial anymore, rather you control the whole device with 5 buttons, and if you change the frequency, it appears in the display instead of the time. So everything seems to be integrated now... and it also draws less power. My old device would suck the 9V buffer battery dry in a matter of weeks when left unplugged while the new one lasts several years on 2 AAA's even when left unplugged all the time.
for an analog radio i would also want shortwave and longwave but i have to admit that seeing the signal on an sdr is also really convenient, i miss the sound effects on shortwave when you move the dial "shwswhshwsuuuuu"
0:20 here in Brazil, VW made the original Kombi starting from the 1950's up to 2013, when they discontinued it because new laws demanded airbag and abs in all cars manufactured from 2014 and beyond (and VW Brazil still contacted VW Germany to try to make it viable in this 1950's car). The only real update the Kombi had here was having the air-cooled engine being replaced by a water cooled engine in 2006 to meet the new emissions requirements.
New subscriber to your channel. It looks like the Panasonic RF-562DD was updated to a DSP based radio. I've seen videos of older versions of it and the tuning is pure analog. The 5 Core radio sounds pretty good to me. I look forward to seeing more of your videos.
I've often found that the cheaper, smaller pocket radios using the small sized foam covered headphones sounds wonderful in ALL bands!
Just ordered one of the 5Core TC-22 radios. Had a Panasonic AM/FM portable back in the early 80's I loved listening to late at night with the AM skip. Used to pickup a Texas station regularly in Massachusetts. The new digital radios are a lot less sensitive to this.
Well I ordered a T-22 to try. I'll probably modify it, add a BFO for the SW bands, etc. I am *so* sick of the modern single-chip DSP radios that are just so vastly inferiour to older designs with a more traditional RF design.
Thanks for the 5 Core review. I've been wanting to see one. I guess that Panasonic has updated their design, as the R-562D was an analog radio. Sangean PR-D6 is a true analog current production radio that I can recommend.
i have an indian made watch, an HMT pilot. it's a mechanical wind-up wristwatch. they still make things the old way there.
No HMT has stopped making watches. Actually the company has shut down a decked ago.
Ah yes, a good tech guy reviewing something I honesty have been looking for. Digital tuners are annoying. Not quite bad enough to be 'bad' but Ive so noticed the analog were so much better. Subbed.
True analog tuning, not something you find now.
Thanks for the video, Kevin.
Wow. Now I want that 5 Core radio. It may not look as attractive as the Panasonic or other radios, but it sounds so much better. Let us hope they keep making this radio for a long time to come and perhaps use new molds to make them.
That completely analog radio looks completely 3d printed 😁
Jokes aside, it sounds great!
Wow, despite the crappy plastic, that made in India one is quality!
I just ordered the T-22 and T-291 from the same Ebay seller. They both appear to be the same radio but there are some cosmetic differences.
I am too cheap to order both... I ordered the T-22..... I hope you can report on the technical differences. Maybe they can now use Chinese molds ??? since the 'home grown' variety is so poor???
They arrived today in fixable shape. Very fast shipping. The T-291 is exactly the same internally as the T-22. The T-291 had a broken screw standoff that was fixed with a little superglue. The plastic is quite brittle, I think Bakelite is probably more durable in comparison.
The T-22 worked fine on FM but no AM or SW. So I opened it up and saw immediately that a total re-cap would fix the issue. The ferrite core antenna having come completely out of the supports and wires ripped from the pc board where it was all now magnetically stuck to the speaker magnet would have nothing to do with it not working at all of course. :) Anyway I can at least use the T-291 to see where the antenna wires should go. :)
But the main takeaway is the really good speaker and the IC that it uses in the circuit. This IC appears to be recycled but genuine. I guess it could be NOS but seems too rough for that. Here is the one used in both radios:
T-22
SONY
CXA1619BS
407F76V
T-291
SONY
CXA1619BS
344XL8V
It's a common IC in one-IC radios and this board looks like a similar one that has been made for a long time. This IC supports a tuning LED indicator so that might be a useful modification.
Another mod might be to replace the D batteries with a single 18650 battery. It would certainly reduce the weight and stress on the brittle plastic going with lighter batteries.
I'll post an update when I fix the ferrite antenna. I have pics but can't post them here of course.
The ferrite antenna is re-installed and it's working normally. I did find a few other issues:
The ferrite antenna may be installed backwards. In the T-291 I noticed that the coil was hanging out in space right by the speaker however the pcb screen print has the coil indicated by the top outside corner (in alignment with the metal antenna) so when I put it back I followed the pcb screen print. If you want to try this on yours split the plastic rings in the middle and separate the halves to remove the ferrite rod more easily. Hot glue the plastic rings back together and use a little on the ferrite rod to hold it all in place.
When I had the antenna rod out I noticed C23 wasn't connected on one end and the other was loose so I pulled the circuit board to re-solder it. All the wire connections are at the radio bottom so you can remove the screws and rotate it back easily. Once the board was up I checked all the solder connections and found six incomplete connections. (3 at one IF can, 1 on the other IF can, and the 2 for C23.) It looked like an attempt was made to solder them in place but it wasn't. So I fixed those and put it all back together. They're both working well now.
If you get one it may be worth pulling the PCB up and checking the solder connections. Possibly think about flipping the ferrite antenna around if the coil isn't where indicated on the pcb screen print., I went back and did that on the T-291 and it may have made some improvement. Also check the wire spacing on the coil I don't think there should be any gaps so I used some glue to hold the wire loops together.
I might look into the LED tuning indicator and 18650 battery mods. Problems were fixable and that's another good thing oh and don't forget.....
It's got SONY GUTS!!! :) Extra points for knowing that reference. :)
Sounds like a lot of work for a cheap "new" radio.
Got my T-22 today... No damage although the USPS box was crushed pretty significantly. The plastic case sure shows the mold to be worn out and poorly finished to begin with. BUT I'M HAPPY! My first made in India radio! It plays just fine. When first turned on to AM, there was tremendous hum modulation on any station. I wanted to blame the radio but soon figured that there was a film scanner 'wall wart' power supply here in the shop generating an unbelievable amount of RFI. Pulled that puppy from its outlet, and its all good.....
I found an old TV set once that had a very sophisticated tuning setup and I was able to pick up one sided conversations on people's cordless radio phones in the neighborhood.
Just imagine the workers in India having their curries and whatnot on their lunch break, then going back to making analog radios.
Lol wut??!
Makes me slightly jealous TBH.
I wonder if production-line workers in India earn more than those in China? While there's a very large population of affluent Chinese, there are massive numbers of Chinese earning very little. Also keep in mind that India has had numerous military and diplomatic conflicts with the PRC over the decades, there's a lot of pride in buying domestically-made products rather than consumer goods made by India's arch-enemy.
@Lassi Kinnunen 81 Well I would prefer something made in a free country to something made in China.
In india radios are meant for small barber shop, cloth tailor shop or for old generation who dont use mobiles. Analog single tv's are totally closed in india where we rotates antenns to get signals. Almost every part of india connected from mobile towers so radio future isnt that bright and these radios are made in shoestring budgets.
1:09 hey! that just threw me back to the 90s. pops had one like that in the garage when i was a kid.
I found a 1976 Superscope CR-1000 at a charity store, it had all the documentation including the original receipt. The tape player/recorder needs some attention but, the radio works great.
1:20 ahh yes, back when radios actually used a variable capacitor and an inductor to tune to a frequency. I believe I had that radio as a kid or at the very least I had a GE model that was probably sold next to that. I remember the "IC" branding on a lot of their stuff.