Philips

This radio was found in what is perhaps my favourite antique shop. The shop is in Ballarat, Victoria, and is crammed so full of old things I have to shuffle sideways to get through. He has a quite a number of radios, most of which are well over priced, possibly because he doesn't want to part with them. The Philips 198 was marked at a reasonable $35, but I managed to talk him down to $20.

Battery sets go for nix because the batteries are no-longer available. However, this runs on 9 volts and a standard common garden variety 9 volt works.

This was Philips first attempt at a transistor set in Australia, and I didn't really expect it to work. However, with a little cleaning of the volume and piano keys, it came to life.

It's quite sensitive and sounds OK. It's also surprisingly heavy.

Philips produced these from 1958 almost a full year after AWA produced the first transistor set in Australia. The case, based on the valve 196, is shaped like a woman's handbag or cosmetics case. This was obviously an attempt to appeal to the fashions of the time. In contrast the AWA radio is shaped like a large brick.

I have a British GEC radio from the same period that was my mothers. It has a similar design with piano keys and a similar circuit board design. Sadly, the volume and tuning knobs are broken.

The radio as purchased. The 198/199 was described as having: "Thrilling power and penny-wise economy from seven transistor and two diodes. Three push-button controls with hi-low tone selector buttons. Long range noise-free reception from high-gain "Ferroceptor" rod aerial. Slim, compact, lightweight (less than 5 lb. complete with battery), and dust-proof. Genuine leather case in three springtime colours: luggage tan, atmosphere grey, spring-fever red."