Jim,
I was impressed by this guy’s threads on basic, old, transistor radio “revival”.
His simple, well illustrated threads at Instructables are written for the novice radio tinkerer.
First, instructions for a GE P780B [1]. (I have one of these, they’re built like tanks and are worth seeking out.)
Second, an American made, Zenith portable [2]. The Zeniths from the 1950s to 1970s are very well made and have audio and DX [3] qualities that place modern portables to shame.
Regards, – F.G.
JWR Replies: I also recommend the G.E. transistor radios. The technology was improved slightly with the SupeRadio [4] series, which was made for G.E. in Japan starting in the 1970s. These used a perfected superheterodyne circuit and large speakers for full, rich sound. When paired with an inductive antenna enhancer [5] (such as a Terk, Select-A-Tenna, or Kaito brand) to boost the built-in ferrite rod AM antenna, you have a great AM and FM DXing radio with quite good monaural sound.