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Old 7th Aug 2012, 2:03 am   #1
Hybrid tellies
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Default RGD Flirt

I have been after an ITT sorry RGD Flirt for a while now but the ones that come up are the more popular bright red coloured ones which always attracted a lot of interest. There was no interest shown in this one, probably due to its dark blue colour so I snapped it up.

On its arrival I found that it did work but the on off switch/volume control and LW preset switch was noisy. I took it apart and gave it a deep clean, re glued the serial number label back in place and carefully cleaned the small on off switch contact and gently applied some servisol spray to the volume control and LW preset switch. I tried removing the main pcb, to check for dry joints etc, but thanks to the small case and the second tuning gauge mounted underneath the board I decided to chicken out and put the set back together. Apart from a couple of small dents on the front and top of the case it’s perfect. The only thing missing is the wrist strap which I am not to bothered about.

On reconnecting the battery all worked well, the RF and IF calibration was spot on and no more crackles from either the volume control or the two switches. Absolute on 1215Khz had a background hiss which cleared when I tweaked the aerial trimmer on the tuning gauge. I used the same procedure that we use to have to do on car radios i.e. tune into a weak station near the HF end of the medium wave band and adjust the trimmer to maximum volume and clarity. Next I checked the idle current drawn from a new PP3 battery which at 7mA I was happy with. Refitting the case was easy but getting the battery to fit was a bit fiddly, in the end I had to feed the battery leads back into the set for the so the battery lid would fit properly.

Before the radio arrived I did some research. According to the Radio Radio book it uses 6 transistors, on the sets arrival I found that they were all Ge transistors so did not hold out much hope for its performance. On closer examination I found that they were all Hitachi transistors and probably partially explains why the performance is anything but disappointing. It receives clearly all 7 available AM stations plus some local stations from surrounding areas and many more stations at night. On the audio side it uses a driver and output transformer giving a very clear audio output with plenty of volume through its small 0.1w 8 ohm round speaker. The unique, and for me, the winning feature of this little set is the separate tuning for Long wave, which is adjustable by a small control on the rear of the set, so you can station hop between Radio 4 on 198Khz and a medium wave station of your choice. This would be very useful for sport enthusiasts who for example can follow Test match special on R4 198Khz and at the push of a button jump to R5L on medium wave which, at the moment, is covering the Olympics.

This radio has ITT stamped all over it with its looks quality of build and performance and as such is now my favourite pocket radios.
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Last edited by Hybrid tellies; 7th Aug 2012 at 2:04 am. Reason: Basic grammer error.
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Old 7th Aug 2012, 5:27 pm   #2
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Default Re: RGD Flirt

Cracking stuff, Simon. I've always thought the little Flirt was a really neat radio, and I rate it alongside the Bush Sandpiper in the desirability stakes. God, the number of those I fixed back in the 70's....
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Old 7th Aug 2012, 6:14 pm   #3
Steve_P
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Default Re: RGD Flirt

Is this the one I've seen on Facebook? Looks lovely!

Cheers,

Steve P.
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Old 7th Aug 2012, 7:26 pm   #4
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Default Re: RGD Flirt

It does indeed. Nice one Simon
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Old 7th Aug 2012, 7:32 pm   #5
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Default Re: RGD Flirt

They are an excellent practical design and are still very usable today. It must have been one of the last radios produced using Ge transistors.
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Old 7th Aug 2012, 10:09 pm   #6
Hybrid tellies
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Default Re: RGD Flirt

Thanks Guys, if it was the blue one you saw Steve its now mine. Interesting point on the Ge transistors. I know some portable radios used Si transistors in the signal stages and Ge ones in the output stage for some time into the 1970's and possibly into the early 1980's.
Going back to the RGD Flirt its now in regular use and entered onto my FB radio gallery with top markings of 10/10
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Old 8th Aug 2012, 1:24 am   #7
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Default Re: RGD Flirt

That's a cracking little set! Well done.
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Old 10th Aug 2012, 7:24 pm   #8
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Default Re: RGD Flirt

Well done! What a cracker. J.
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