The DX Machine

[Buick Mackane]

Picked up this old Sony TFM1600 on ebay a few years ago, Was listed as non working, But after flicking the band switch back and forth a few times she burst into life, Had old batteries in it from what i'd say was the 1980's the vapour from them had corroded the band switch which has since been cleaned, , She now works like a dream, The most sensitive radio iv'e ever heard. There's a video on youtube where shango066 brings one of these back to life and even he says it's the most sensitive radio he's ever seen and he's seen a few.

It covers AM 540 Khz to 26 Mhz And the FM Band 88 - 108 Mhz. Dates from 1969,

A lot of people say SW is dead, Not on this it isn't, I can pick up a local FM Station in fife and I'm 70 miles from fife,


The badge say's Super Sensitive, They meant it..

[Buick Mackane]

Added some blue LED'S as i have a ton of them, The original dial lamps ran off an AC Supply presumably to avoid filament notch, So i tapped into a 9v DC supply on the radios PCB, But it was unregulated and the LED's dimmed in time with music / speech, So i had to add a regulator,

[mr_m3]

looks awesome, i really like the blue, will keep an eye out for one of these for my shack!

[Agent 48]

Its amazing how well the old stuff was built, carefully thought out and well designed. SONY was always one of the top makes when it came to HI-FI & electronics during those time periods. Now days its all made in China and corners are cut.

I'm not sure the blue LED's really suit the radio, I would have gone for retro yellow LED's.