Oh the possibilities!
For the "museum", actually use it! or treat it as a "component farm"
Yes, it does actually work but read my description about this under the TESTING section
Component farm? Oh my wordy yes ... this pocket transistor radio has the massive number of six (yes six, he said "tongue in cheek") Germanium transistors (2SA353/354/12 & 3x 2SB77 which are all PNP type) - it is becoming increasingly difficult to find those any longer.
It's a funny thing about these old transistor radios, the marketing was leveled at how many transistors a radio had ... the implication being that the more transistors were being used, the better the radio was - this was not always the case and it is much more important to know HOW the transistors are being used than the actual number. It was a big Jap marketing thing ...
BONUS! Along with this pocket transistor radio, I found a single OLD Eveready "Nine Lives" battery in pretty good cosmetic condition. I know some folks collect these (Eveready/Union Carbide haven't used that logo since the 1990's and that battery is marked Made In Australia too! Their battery production here in Australia stopped yonks ago) so I am INCLUDING this battery - of course it is useless to power the radio but a nice little momento I guess
HISTORY:
Remember these? Sharp Corporation (and many many other Japanese manufacturers) made pocket transistor radios in Japan during the late 1960's and into about the middle of the 1970's
It's a "trannie" baby! - nothing to do with sexuality though!
At the time these were considered a marvel of miniaturisation, it was so exciting to carry around your favourite radio station in your pocket, down at the beach or out on a picnic. There were no mobile phones back then and these were certainly a lot better than carrying around a thumping great big "boom box"
This trannie is AM only and of course, mono sound. In those days people would often listen to the "hip" radio stations such as 2SM or perhaps catch a bit of news on Radio National but these days AM is all about talkback radio and quite a bit of foreign language broadcasting ... its not really the the place to find "pop music"
With that introduction, let me tell you more about this "wonder of technology" from the 1970's
SHARP CORPORATION - Pocket Transistor Radio
Made In Japan!
Model BP 102B
AM reception only
Two controls, these being Volume (ON-OFF is integral with this control) and Tuning
3.5mm headphone socket
All plastic casing, the metallic finish on the front area is that "pseudo metal" spray on "metal"
The original plastic carry strap is fitted
DIMENSIONS:
98mm x 65mm x 25mm
WEIGHT: 160g (without batteries fitted)
That means it fits very comfortably within my palm!
TESTING:
While it is extremely unlikely someone would want to use one of these trannies day to day, it could still be useful when out camping in remote areas where there is no phone signal available (and there are plenty of those still - go down into a steep valley and see what happens to your phone signal strength!)
Does it work?
As a credit to Sharp, this trannie still works IN A FASHION! That means Yes, it turns ON and I can tune in various stations (I listened to both Radio National and some foreign language broadcasts) and the volume is good, in fact a bit loud when turned fully "up"
I say "IN A FASHION" because I believe there is an issue with the tuning capacitor, the part that the Tuning knob rotates to tune in the radio stations. It is a bit dodgy in operation, meaning that you can tune in a station then move the knob slightly and there are "crackles" and no station any longer, move a bit more and another station is heard and on it goes. So as the Tuning knob is rotated there is this pattern of "station" crackle "station" crackle
My interest in looking inside is a technical one ... I love to see how these were made back in the day. Very cramped is the best I can say, no miniature components really and certainly no SMD! Everything is jam packed together onto the single sided PCB. Now, that tuning capacitor is fully enclosed with a plastic cover which MAY be removable but I haven't tried to lift it. Inside that variable capacitor are rotating plates or vanes, with an insulator between the vanes - probably a thin plastic. If that insulation fails, the radio will behave exactly as I am experiencing. I have checked the solder joints around the capacitor and also general board condition and it appears to be fine. The "crackling" only occurs when the Tuning knob is rotated, stressing the board or nearby components does NOT cause this crackling.
Options are to leave well alone, change the variable capacitor (hard to find replacements) or perhaps lift off the capacitor cover and give it a good blast of AIR from a can.
For me, I couldn't see the point so I have reassembled the case (which is very easy to remove - it is a clip lock system, lift carefully from the battery compartment end and the case just separates into two pieces).
Audio quality is fine, not distorted (which would indicate the output had suffered thermal runaway in the past) and when a station is tuned in, it is stable - I moved and knocked the trannie gently and it didn't go "off tune"
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
Clean (very)
Carry strap is unbroken
Case has very little marking or scratching - the worst place is on the front, the left side Greenish panel shows some useage (handling) wear but overall I would rate this trannie case as being 8/10
Battery compartment cover locks into place properly
Battery terminals are all clean and shiny
This trusty little SHARP trannie (and the 1015 Nine Lives battery) is now all nicely packed up in tough clear plastic ready to add to your museum "pieces" or even use it for that very retro look!
