HISTORY:
Circa 2015
Another one of our radio receivers we kept in case of an emergency ... one of the more "modern" radios we kept around here.
I hear you ... you are asking yourself "why on earth would I want one of those old transistor radios?"
Think about it ...
"Natural" disasters happen and they are becoming more frequent and severe
Often the first things to be knocked out by storms or bush fires are your internet access and domestic power supply - that's the end of your internet access and no more television or other AC power connected devices to keep up to date with what is happening around you, emergency alerts and the like.
Ah (I hear you say) ... my phone will "save the day" If you haven't been in the "thick" of an emergency you may think this but often the mobile network (data and voice) cease to work due to network conjestion or worst still, the communication towers have suffered damage. Additionally, if you lose power for substantial periods of time, how are you going to charge your phone even if it is still working?
Next you have a "light bulb" moment and you might say "Oh that's easily solved, I will go out to the car and listen to the radio"
Walk (or is it swim) outside only to see your car floating down the street or now behaving something more like a submarine - that option is out.
Damn!
You are now saying to yourself "what the hell am I going to do now? I need to know what the SES, ABC Emergency radio network is telling me to do, how are my family, how widespead is this disaster (the questions mount up)"
A very good place to go BEFORE THE DISASTER is the ABC frequencies website HERE
Enter your postcode and a drop down list of various methods of communication will be shown to you. WRITE DOWN the AM and FM frequencies so you know where to go when a real emergency is occuring - be prepared.
Radio is the one communications medium that "keeps on keeping on" in times of need! Ever notice how "modern technology" falls over quite easily but the older technology just keeps going? Just ponder for a moment if/when a major world catastrophe occurs (war, meteorite etc) and a substantial number of USA servers or even satellites are "knocked out" - the entire world would be plunged into the "dark ages" - traditional analog radio would rule once again.
This is where your trusty old AM/FM transistor radio comes to the rescue!
NO need for domestic power, it has its own battery supply
Completely PORTABLE so you can take it up to the roof of the house while you wait for the floodwaters to subside (or while you wait for the helicopter to winch you off the roof!)
Of course you can use your transistor radio to listen to "every day" AM broadcasts and FM music stations but it's real usefulness is as an emergency means of finding out what is happening in the world around you during a disaster. You may not use the radio much but when disaster strikes, you will wish you had one.
PANASONIC - Portable Transistor Radio
Matsushita is the parent company
Model: RF-2400
Released to the market around 2015
Made in China (Matsushita Audio in Xiamen)
Aimed squarely at the Australian/NZ market (230~240V operation when using AC)
Incorporates an easy to use multi-section, multi-angle, telescopic antenna, which can fully extend to 60cm length
High impact plastic casing throughout with an adjustable carry handle
Compact & lightweight design
DIMENSIONS: 230mm wide x 125mm high (175mm when the carry handle is upright) x 60mm deep (front to back)
WEIGHT: 680g
When 4x AA batteries are fitted (not included), this increases to 790g
ITEMS OFFERED (As in the photographs)
PANASONIC RF-2400 Portable Domestic 2 Band (AM/FM) Receiver
NOT INCLUDED:
AC power lead (Australian figure 8 style of plug)
4x AA 1.5V batteries (Alkaline is best)
COSMETIC CONDITION:
High impact plastic casing is in very good condition, meaning there are NO cracks or pieces missing
NO marks or scratches to the casing at all - this has afterall just been kept in the "emergency cupboard" along with a torch and some other supplies. We used it just a couple of times a few years back when we experienced severe storms/hail/water damage to the house.
Telescopic antenna is straight, stable and not damaged at all - even the top "knob" is in place!
Sliding dial scale is clean and easy to read - note that there is no dial backlight which means that if you are hunting for a station on the dial in the dark, you will need your handy torch (or smartphone light if the phone hasn't gone dead)
Battery terminals are nice and shiny
*** NEVER EVER *** leave the batteries in any electronic equipment for long periods of time when the equipment is unused, the batteries will often leak and corrode the battery terminals. Keep a brand new "fresh" pack of 4 batteries nearby or even taped to the back of the radio so when you need to use it, you are ready to go.
Leaving these old style batteries in the radio often results in leakage from the batteries and this corrodes the contact terminals - not a good thing!
TESTING/CHECKING:
Due to my technical background, I like to "take a look inside" equipment ...
Nice and tidy layout, well organised and constructed. The potentiometer used for the volume is completely sealed (nice) as is the variable capacitor for tuning.
Inside of using discrete semiconductors for this receiver, Panasonic has used an LSI chip - I forgot to take note of the type number though.
Nice large (for this size of receiver) loudspeaker.
Its a been around three years since our last major disaster around here so I have rechecked the radio operation on both AM and FM and all is good.
Very intuitive knobs and buttons, none of that "what does that button do?"
Tuning is smooth and easy, when a strong station signal is received, a RED led glows next to the ON-AM-FM slide switch
The side mounted volume control has a smooth action when rotated and is not "crackly" when being rotated.
Working absolutely fine on both AM and FM - A1
I especially like the vertical sliding dial with a front clear perspex ... if you wished to, you could mark on the dial cover where you local emergency stations are located.
Plenty of volume (you sometimes need it so you can hear the radio over the sound of rushing water or the roar of the approaching bushfire!) is achieveable with the 4" internal loudspeaker and the sound is crisp and clear - nothing worse than plenty of volume but sounding like someone is mumbling!
SPECIAL NOTE:
For those who are not "ionospheric boffins", due to the nature of radio (particularly AM band) you will hear a LOT more stations in the night time, those that are very far away. For example I made my checks with the radio in the late afternoon and tuned lots of stations which were all around 100Km radius from me. But once the sun sets, slowly the AM band "opens up" and you will hear a lot more "noise" and stations MUCH further away. By 10pm I was easily able to hear stations in Victoria, 1000Km away. Some people use their radios to find those elusive stations at night for fun but a more practical application is let's say you are way out Woop Woop, and you want to catch the news for example. Try in the daytime by all means but you may not hear much if the AM stations are a long way from you (say over 500Km away) but when dusk has begun, the radio comes alive, especially on AM! You will hear far more stations along with "weird" sounds that only occur during these night conditions (crashing noises from lightning storms which can be hundreds of kilometres away, slow or quick fades which sound pretty freaky too)
So if you are in a very remote area, night time on AM is always going to give the best results for you to hear important information on the radio
This trusty little Panasonic radio is now all nicely packed up in tough clear plastic ready to help out another family, particularly during times of a climate emergency ...
