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Old 10th Apr 2021, 8:42 pm   #1
crackle
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Default Radios marked with the Pirate stations

This may have been discussed before, but I came across an interesting web page listing lots of radios marked with the pirate stations.
https://www.offshore-radio.de/radiosets/list.htm
I thought others may be interested to see them.

Mike
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Old 10th Apr 2021, 8:58 pm   #2
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Default Re: Radios marked with the Pirate stations

Fascinating to see in that list a number of RFT "VEB" radios.

VEB was the East German communist-era tag for "Publicly owned Enterprise" - i.e. one under State control.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkseigener_Betrieb

Given that the East German authorities always viewed listening to "Western" radio-stations in a distinctly-negative light - possibly leading to a visit from the Volkspolizei - I guess their radios with pirate-stations marked on the dials were intended as export-only models!
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Old 10th Apr 2021, 9:06 pm   #3
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Default Re: Radios marked with the Pirate stations

Thanks for this Mike, very interesting. I have a KB Cobra and had never realised that it had the pirates on the dial! However my dial is in poor condition.
Peter
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Old 11th Apr 2021, 8:54 am   #4
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Default Re: Radios marked with the Pirate stations

Morning.
Thanks for posting Mike i will have to look at one or two of my radios that's on the list I enjoyed reading it. i wish we had more pirate stations to day.

Kevin.
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Old 11th Apr 2021, 11:14 am   #5
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Default Re: Radios marked with the Pirate stations

I was surprised to see the Fidelity 208 included there, but the set in the linked photo is actually a 208A, a completely different radio in the same case, which doesn't have an RM.org entry yet. The 208A chassis was then used in the Rad 11/Rad 11B in a new cabinet. The 208A itself is quite a scarce beast, but does indeed have 266 and 299 marked on the tuning scale: the original 208 doesn't.

From a glance at a few of the resident Fidelity sets, the Comet also has 266 and 299 on its scale.

Paul

Last edited by Paul_RK; 11th Apr 2021 at 11:29 am.
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Old 11th Apr 2021, 11:34 am   #6
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Default Re: Radios marked with the Pirate stations

Quote:
Originally Posted by G6Tanuki View Post
Given that the East German authorities always viewed listening to "Western" radio-stations in a distinctly-negative light - possibly leading to a visit from the Volkspolizei - I guess their radios with pirate-stations marked on the dials were intended as export-only models!
I daresay that anything that might make Western youth restive would have been seen as useful in the grand scheme of things, and the spluttering fury of the "powers that be", including the BBC, Postmaster General and general "elders and betters" would only have encouraged that line of thought. Besides, anything that would increase export market appeal and foreign currency earnings would have been welcome, open espousal of capitalism might have been verboten but Lenin himself supposedly had things to say about the marketing of rope....

Radio scale markings generally are evocative of their era, and pirate station names represent on sets represent an interesting historical snapshot and point of cultural evolution.
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Old 11th Apr 2021, 12:10 pm   #7
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Default Re: Radios marked with the Pirate stations

In the 1960's I made my own markers for the pirate stations by using thin strips of self-adhesive labels intended for labelling plastic 35mm slides, sticking them on top of the glass. The adhesive was obviously good quality as they are still there on our old radiogram.
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Old 11th Apr 2021, 2:19 pm   #8
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Default Re: Radios marked with the Pirate stations

Quote:
Originally Posted by Reelman View Post
Thanks for this Mike, very interesting. I have a KB Cobra and had never realised that it had the pirates on the dial! However my dial is in poor condition.
Peter
I was offered a KB KR021 Cobra a couple of years ago and nearly didn't buy it. Fortuantely I did. There were 2 interesting features. The first is the 'modular' construction with plug-in fequency changer, IF and Audio PCBs. The second is that is had the pirate stations on the dial.
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Old 14th Apr 2021, 10:19 pm   #9
crackle
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Default Re: Radios marked with the Pirate stations

Not all of the KB KR021 radios that were sold are marked with the pirate stations, the same probably goes for the RGD equivalent. I suspect the inclusion of pirate stations was frowned on after they were outlawed and manufacturers changed the dial accordingly.

Mike
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Old 21st Apr 2021, 2:22 pm   #10
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Default Re: Radios marked with the Pirate stations

How about this example from the former Yugoslavia?
It was made by Elektronska Industrija and was called "Barclay". This had M.V Caroline on 199 metres. I have two of these radios.
The valve line up has two ECH81, EL84, EZ80, a T.I, and a semiconductor diode.
Cheers
Mike
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Old 26th Apr 2021, 4:16 pm   #11
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Default Re: Radios marked with the Pirate stations

Quote:
Originally Posted by telstar View Post
How about this example from the former Yugoslavia?
It was made by Elektronska Industrija and was called "Barclay". This had M.V Caroline on 199 metres. I have two of these radios.
The valve line up has two ECH81, EL84, EZ80, a T.I, and a semiconductor diode.
Cheers
Mike
Looks like a Telefunken or Grundig to my eyes. Does it have a tuning eye?
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Old 26th Apr 2021, 4:43 pm   #12
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Default Re: Radios marked with the Pirate stations

I think the thing top right is a tuning indicator, or at least a hole for one. And the OP said T.I. too.

Last edited by Guest; 26th Apr 2021 at 4:44 pm. Reason: Added a bit
 
Old 26th Apr 2021, 7:57 pm   #13
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Default Re: Radios marked with the Pirate stations

Quote:
Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell View Post
I think the thing top right is a tuning indicator, or at least a hole for one. And the OP said T.I. too.
Oops, sorry, missed that part. What I get for posting during a headache.
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Old 28th Apr 2021, 2:10 pm   #14
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Default Re: Radios marked with the Pirate stations

Quote:
Originally Posted by WilliamTK1974 View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by telstar View Post
How about this example from the former Yugoslavia?
It was made by Elektronska Industrija and was called "Barclay". This had M.V Caroline on 199 metres. I have two of these radios.
The valve line up has two ECH81, EL84, EZ80, a T.I, and a semiconductor diode.
Cheers
Mike
Looks like a Telefunken or Grundig to my eyes. Does it have a tuning eye?
Hi. It does have a tuning eye, an EM80 I believe. It was definitely made in Yugoslavia by E.I.
No information on the radio is available as the radio factory was destroyed in the 1990's.
Cheers
Mike
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Old 29th Apr 2021, 2:55 am   #15
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Default Re: Radios marked with the Pirate stations

Here is the model that was sold locally in Yugoslavia:

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/elektronsk_rr_230.html

It came in two versions, one had EBF80 and the other had EF89 and Ge diode as a detector. There could be the third version with a solid state rectifier instead of EZ80, but I haven't came across it yet. These were bread and butter of the Yugoslavian radios and were popular and quite cheap. There was also a rare version with a VHF, called Ei Nis Leone.

Also some are marked Ei Nis, and some RR. This is in the fact the same company. In the beginning there was RR (Radio Roetgen) Nis, but they later merged with few smaller companies to create an Ei Nis (Elektronska Industrija or Electronic Industry) and Nis is a city in Serbia.
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Old 29th Apr 2021, 2:12 pm   #16
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Default Re: Radios marked with the Pirate stations

Hi Mitch-W
Thanks for the information on the EI Nis radio. It was very interesting to read.
Cheers
Mike
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Old 30th Apr 2021, 3:31 am   #17
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Default Re: Radios marked with the Pirate stations

Actually I think there was a third version that used 2x ECH81, EL84, EZ80 and a Ge diode, but this was based on a RR 240 model, which is more or less the 230 in different case and few modifications, the chassis layout is essentially the same.
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