1963 Stella ST430 9 transistor AM/FM portable

[howard]

Hello again,

I bought my first Stella ST430 some three years ago and it remains one of my favorite transistor radios. These are MW/LW/VHF 9 transistor 6 volt sets built in Sweden in 1963 (presumably by Philips Sweden) in very nice stainless steel trimmed leather cases. They have two independent AM and FM tuning scales next to one another operated by separate tuning wheels on either ends of the case so that one can change from VHF to MW or LW and not lose ones position on the VHF scale, and vice versa. Another interesting feature is the telescopic aerial which pulls out the side and then flips upwards. The first one which is pale grey was mint on acquisition and despite 5 x AF11* transistors inside it continues to work perfectly.

I acquired another one during the week in a salmon colour again with stainless steel trim. It had been kept in a slightly damp lock-up for some time and was rather grubby but absolutely unmarked. I put batteries in it and switched it on and nothing happened, but after operating the waveband switches a few times it started to come to life but it was still necessary to keep a finger on the waveband switches for it to work.

This is one of the fiddlest radios I've ever taken apart. Take off the battery cover and five screws on the bottom, the handle, and four screws on the back. The back cover comes off revealing the back of the PCB, and also one side panel comes off (the aerial holds the other side cover in place but it's not necessary to take that off). Unsolder the yellow aerial wire to the aerial on the back of the PCB, undo two little screws securing the chassis to the front of the case deep in the top corners inside, pull out the aerial and prise out two plastic trays top and bottom of the PCB and then the chassis can be removed from the case. That's the tricky bit cos it fits like a glove and its necessary to pull the top and bottom of the case gently apart and also pull the remaining side panel out of the way to get it out. One can then unsolder the two wires to the loudspeaker to completely separate the chassis from the case. It took me half an hour to remove this chassis !

I brushed away all the dust inside, put a little oil on the waveband switch mechanism and then some switch cleaner in the sliding waveband switches and the volume pot. I then cleaned the case with upholstery cleaner and toothbrush and then the aerial in Brasso and switch cleaner. The badge had lost much of its red paint and as I was unable to remove it to restore it as its pins were unaccessible, I stripped off its old paint and repainted it in situ. I then reassembled the set.

This radio now works perfectly with good sensitivity, picks up just about everything on all three wavebands and sounds good for a compact transistor portable. It is very well built, especially the outer case and is surprisingly heavy. I also think it's rather a nice design which doesn't look 45 years old and this one is now back in perfect cosmetic condition.

Howard

[Robert Darwent]

Originally Posted by howard

I also think it's rather a nice design which doesn't look 45 years old...

Hello Howard,

Very nice indeed, I like the look of that one! I agree it doesn't look its age at all, its got lovely styling. It wouldn't be out of place in a shop window alongside modern portable radio's.

Very well done!

[howard]

Hello Robert,

These are surprisingly good quality early Philips VHF transistor radios and are well worth collecting. Here's my grey one, which I think is a nicer colour.

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...0&d=1118168616

Howard

[slidertogrid]

Nice job Howard! The pcb looks very well made, before Philips discovered the "super fine" print !

[howard]

Originally Posted by slidertogrid

Nice job Howard! The pcb looks very well made, before Philips discovered the "super fine" print !

I took a look on the Radio Museum at Swedish Philips sets to see if there was an original Philips version of this set - I found one similar with two scales and the same telescopic aerial but not identical. Swedish Philips radios are very nice, similar to the Dutch sets but with real wood cases including the transistor sets. The nicest ones I found were wooden cased versions of the Annette portable VHF valve model.

Howard

[newlite4]

I had one of these Howard up until a few years ago. They are indeed very difficult to dismantle. Because the internal plastic structure is slightly flexible, the case can lose its shape. One problem can be that the wavechange buttons jam-up against the case due to this mis-alignment. I would'nt want to do too many of these .
Neil

[howard]

Hello Neil,

These sets do have 2 - 3 layers of plastic casework, but the chassis itself is aluminium framed - no wonder they're heavy. Hopefully I won't have to get into my two again, well, not until the AF11*s start playing up .... unusually a couple of them have black painted cans.

Howard

[chipp1968]

That reminds me of my parents radio ,they had a hacker too ,still about at mums , but the other looked a little like this one , even the chassis , but the outer case was a wraparound thing with poppers and the set was red plastic inside .Im sure it was a murphy though