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Vintage Radio (domestic) Domestic vintage radio (wireless) receivers only.

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Old 17th Oct 2022, 3:30 pm   #1
Otter's vintage
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Default North Korean (DPRK) made radios?

Does anybody know anything about radios made in the DPRK? It's quite hard to find information about anything made there, not only because it's just obscure, but also because of the absolute amount of western propaganda online that gets pushed to the top of the results despite not containing anything in my search, even with boolean. I have read that there are supposed radios in each home in the DPRK that are "illegal to turn off", which sounds like nonsense to me, given that they'd have no way of knowing if you unplugged it and some of the images used on these news sites clearly show volume knobs, implying they can at least be turned down. Does anybody have any kind of info, images or links related to radios made in the DPRK? Any known manufacturers?
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Old 18th Oct 2022, 5:06 pm   #2
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Default Re: North Korean (DPRK) made radios?

l would think it's probably more of an announcement system that can't be turned off, and the radio part (if there is one) can be turned on and off as required.
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Old 18th Oct 2022, 8:02 pm   #3
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Default Re: North Korean (DPRK) made radios?

Quote:
Inside the flat a fruity voice was reading out a list of figures which had something to do with the production of pig-iron. The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall. Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely. He moved over to the window: a smallish, frail figure, the meagreness of his body merely emphasized by the blue overalls which were the uniform of the party. His hair was very fair, his face naturally sanguine, his skin roughened by coarse soap and blunt razor blades and the cold of the winter that had just ended.
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell. (1948)
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Old 18th Oct 2022, 8:08 pm   #4
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Default Re: North Korean (DPRK) made radios?

Let's stay on topic please. Remember that political discussions of any sort are strictly OT here.
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Old 18th Oct 2022, 8:17 pm   #5
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Default Re: North Korean (DPRK) made radios?

I doubt many members have been to North Korea myself included.

I did spend several years in the city of Shenyang and a lot of time in Dalian (North East China) and the city centre of Shenyang to the DPRK border is around 120 miles as the crow flies (Dalian is even closer) and that city had many Koreans from the North and South but no one was much interested in talking about DPRK. They only thing said was they were welcomed into China if they left DPRK. So I haven't a clue about communications in that country, sorry.

I guess the only way to find much out is to take a trip yourself

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Old 19th Oct 2022, 4:03 pm   #6
Courtney Louise
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Default Re: North Korean (DPRK) made radios?

Personally I would imagine it would have a similar cable based system like the USSR did in the 50's through 80's where you just had a speaker that plugged into an outlet.
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Old 19th Oct 2022, 4:23 pm   #7
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Default Re: North Korean (DPRK) made radios?

Wikipedia refers to two main domestic networks, the general one chiefly available on MW and a music station broadcast only on FM, as well as jamming of many frequencies. The black and blue portable device two-thirds of the way down this page

https://www.nknews.org/2017/07/morni...-wake-up-call/

looks at least plausible as an approved receiver, though perhaps it's surprising that there's something looking rather like an SD card sticking out of it.

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Old 20th Oct 2022, 10:46 am   #8
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Default Re: North Korean (DPRK) made radios?

Here is a North Korean radio in a hotel.
Short piece on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNg8XyVYiGU
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Old 24th Nov 2022, 10:49 pm   #9
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Default Re: North Korean (DPRK) made radios?

KCBS have recently started digital transmissions using DRM on 3205 and 6140kHz. If the set is dedicated to DRM then it would be muted when no stream is present to decode.

The always-on requirement reminds me of NOAA weather radios in the US (although I'm not aware it's compulsory to leave these switched on).
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Old 14th Dec 2022, 6:59 pm   #10
Ken Taylor
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Default Re: North Korean (DPRK) made radios?

Back in the latter days of the 1960s I traveled several times to Helsinki on a ship called The Baltika, which was later to become famous when 105 Soviet spies were sent packing on it. In the cabin was a loudspeaker with a volume control. On the eastward voyage the volume could be turned down but not off. However, on the homeward stretch it could be muted.

Many years later I was stationed in Seoul, South Korea. It was impossible to hear radio from the North because of local jamming. One could tune in to the American Forces TV and radio stations which were not jammed by the North, either because the low power signals didn't get that far, or the North Koreans found it interesting.

Most of the time I listened to the BBC World Service from Singapore on a Sony 7600 connected to a music centre.

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Old 15th Dec 2022, 10:04 am   #11
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Default Re: North Korean (DPRK) made radios?

This may be relevant. Something I wrote about North Korean media some time ago:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/6037715.stm

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