HISTORY:
Circa 1980's
We have been sorting out our collection of "Emergency equipment" in case of a natural disaster and we have too many "transistor radios"!
Perhaps 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 severe and frequent ...
Often the first things to go are your internet access and domestic power supply - that's the end of your home internet (Alexa goes to sleep) and no more television or other AC power connected devices to keep up to date with what is happening around you.
Mobiles often cease to work, network conjestion or worst still the network redundancy systems fail to operate - no more network for data or communications. Even if you are running your home on Solar power, that's not much good when the internet is down somewhere else (burned down communication towers during a bushfire for example)
Next, you might say "Oh easy, I will go out to the car and listen to the radio" Damn! It is now floating down the street, completely water logged or a large gumtree is now sitting in the middle of the car! So that avenue is closed off
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"
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 to keeps on keeping on in times of need!
This is where your trusty old 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 for you to be winched off the roof!)
Of course you can use it to listen to "every day" AM broadcasts and FM music stations but it's real importance is as an emergency means of finding out what is happening in the world around you during a disaster.
PHILIPS - Portable Transistor Radio
Model: 90AL270/50 (270 in short!)
Manufactured in the late 1970's ~ early 1980's
Made in Singapore
Intended market was Europe, the station dial markings all indicate European stations but it also has the usual frequency markings so you can easily locate your locate AM Emergency broadcast station (you do know those don't you?)
Incorporates an easy to use multi-section telescopic antenna, extending 150cm
High impact plastic casing throughout with an adjustable carry handle
Compact & lightweight design
DIMENSIONS: 240mm wide x 150mm high (200mm when the carry handle is upright) x 70mm deep (front to back)
WEIGHT (Including the power lead & 4x batteries): 1.4Kg
ITEMS OFFERED (As in the photographs)
PHILIPS 270 Portable Domestic Receiver
AC power lead (Australian type plug)
4x PANASONIC Type C 1.5V batteries (new/fresh)
COSMETIC CONDITION:
High impact plastic casing is in very good condition, meaning there are NO cracks or pieces missing
A couple of marks to the underneath, but these do not affect the integrity of the case (no cracks etc) I cannot recall how these occurred! It's hard to recall anything these days ...
Telescopic antenna is straight, stable and not damaged at all - even the top piece is in place!
Dial scale is clean and easy to read EXCEPT at night! There is no "backlight" built in so if you are hunting for a station in the dark, you will need a torch to help you or just use your ears to listen for your favourite emergency station.
Even the old foam inside the battery compartment hasn't degraded (yet)
Battery terminals are nice and shiny
*** NEVER EVER leave the batteries in the radio for long periods of time. Keep a brand new "fresh" pack of 4 batteries nearby or even taped to 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:
Its a been a year or so since our last disaster around here (severe flooding) but today/tonight I have checked the radio with both normal AC power from the wall socket and batteries.
Working absolutely fine on both AM and FM
Both the station selection and volume controls work fine.
I did notice the dial scale is slightly (just slightly) "off", when I tuned to our local ABC AM station on 630Khz, I found it at around 625Khz - no big deal
Tuning to stations is easy and hassle free
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!)
Clean sound
SPECIAL NOTE:
For those who are not "technical types", 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 first 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 in the night, it comes alive! 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
We have said our "goodbyes" to our trusty Philips "friend" (it has helped us out more than once in the past) and it is now all nicely packed up in tough clear plastic ready to send to its new owners ...
