National Panasonic

By the late 1970s portable radios were becoming quite sophisticated. The rivalry bettween Matsushita (National Panasonic) and Sony was quite intense. Add to this the competion in the European market from the likes of Grundig, and high end radios were becoming quite complicated with ICs and other small scale parts. 

The RF-2200 is a fairly large radio, it has a "direct readout" similar to that used on the RF-1150 (GX600) thast I repaired here. Other than the basic film dial they share some knobs, a clamshell cabinet, and the Gyro Antenae.

A lot can go wrong with the DR22. Switches are a particular nusance, but the IC chips can go bad, particularlly the 3 watt power amplifier chip that cannot be replaced.  So if buying make 100% sure that the chip is working.

This particular radio was picked up at the HRSA April 2023 auction for well under $100. I tested it prior to bidding. However, while it indeed worked, it was very weak and intermittent.

I cleaned all the pots and switches. However, after a week of used some of the switches started playing up again. The video below shows the switches being cleaned.

The radio itself is an eight band reciever with MW, FM, and 6 Short Wave bands. It has two speed tuning with an index and band spread. There are two crystal markers at 125 and 500 kilohertz. There is also a BFO, but side band reception is less than stella.

It needs a full recap, and possibly an alignment, but as I say in the video it's quite complicated to get to some of the capacitors.

Performance is actually not quite as good as the RF-1350 that is a five band 17 transistor radio that seems a slightly older design.