NORDMENDE TRANSITA DELUXE

Radio makers tended to use the same model names over several years, while making significant design changes along the way. This is no different from the auto industry. A Toyota Camry, for instance, evolves in looks and features throughout the years. This applies to the Transita, the Telefunken Partner which I recently reviewed and probably every other radio produced in this era.

The Deluxe version of the Transita shown here was introduced in the early 60s, and is based on a wooden case covered with leatherette. This particular model covers the AM (medium wave) band, shortwave from 49m to 25m (~6-12 MHz) plus FM. The rounded profile gives it a charming retro shape. Later German radios became more squared off.

External connections include a Motorola automotive-type external antenna socket on the right hand side, and 9 Volt DC power input and headphone jack on the left. I didn't have much luck forcing a Motorola plug into the socket, because the chassis seems to be misaligned with the case.

A 6-cell C-size battery pack attaches with two snap connectors. As can be seen from the photo below, the back cover can be conveniently separated from the radio by unplugging the telescopic antenna's banana plug.


In this post, I will compare (subjectively) the Transita Deluxe with the Telefunken Partner 500.

I complained about the sticky tuning mechanism on the Partner. The Transita feels lovely and smooth in comparison. Despite that, on shortwave and AM, the Partner comes out somewhat ahead. The sensitivity (again, not measured, but subjective) is lacking on the Transita, as I found myself cranking the volume to near maximum when trying to find stations. Once I found a strong station, another Transita shortcoming appeared: apparent lack of automatic gain control (AGC). Because of this, I found myself jockeying the volume control every time I tuned in stations of varying strength.


From a sound quality standpoint, the Transita definitely was clean and generally sweet. The Partner, however, once again had the edge by offering more presence at the bass end. As opposed to the continuous tone control on the Partner, the Transita uses a switch, which introduces a single heavy-handed treble rolloff preset when pressed. I suppose a simple lower value capacitor swap in the tone circuit would improve it, but currently this is one feature I can't ever see using. 
 
The comparison of FM performance, however, was a little less black and white. While the Partner had apparently better sensitivity, in a crowded urban FM spectrum, this proved a slight disadvantage. I found the Partner subject to intermodulation (IM) distortion, which means it was overloaded with too many strong signals. This results in stations appearing like images in multiple places on the dial, and generally with distorted audio. This is different from the 'images' you would get on shortwave, because the higher I.F. stage frequency of 10.7 MHz on the FM band is generally effective at rejecting images. Retracting the telescopic antenna somewhat helped act as a front end attenuator, but then weaker stations get lost. By default then, the Transita makes a better big-city FM radio (sound quality aside), but the Partner would excel in rural fringe areas.

Performance aside, the wooden case and the retro curves make the Transita Deluxe a nice decorative element for any home with mid-century décor. While radio performance improved in later years, the plastic-fantastic housings they evolved into didn't carry quite the charm that this radio has.