Introduction

In this blog, I will be highlighting mostly portable radios built in Europe & Scandinavia during the 1960s and 1970s. These were referred to in Germany as "kofferradios" or suitcase radios because of their boxy designs and carrying handles.

Why these radios, and why from that era? First and foremost - big sound. The large size of these units meant that they could employ hefty speakers and provide a reasonable baffle for them. This resulted in sound that rivalled bookshelf speakers from that period. Kind of like a Bose tabletop radio before its time.

But there is another reason. At that time, shortwave was still a plentiful source of international and domestic broadcasts, so most radios had at least one shortwave band. FM was experiencing a swell of popularity, so it was included on most models too. And, of course, AM (or medium wave) was another band that was standard. Long wave, used mostly in UK and Europe but not North America can also be found on just about every model.

This combination of bands in one portable has disappeared in modern radios and mp3 players, so the kofferradios have become popular again for nostalgic reasons. Those features also make them collectible.

My interest at this time is only in transistorized radios. The intent is to show photographs of any radio that I can buy, borrow or restore that meets this criteria. Whenever I have researched radios online, I have often been disappointed by the lack of some of the most basic information a buyer would want, such as: what frequency range is covered on shortwave?; what is the shortwave performance like?; how good is the sound quality?; etc. I hope to remedy that in this blog by making those comparisons where appropriate. I will also stray from time to time and present European 'kitchen' radios and component receivers as they become available.

So here we go.......