[www.boomboxcity.info] Ya know, as someone who grew up with a boombox throughout most of my teen years, and early 20's, I find it disappointing on how poorly they've survived over the decades. You really don't see these much anymore today. They were pitch to take sound anywhere, and people did. However, practically none of them had any kind of protection from heat, rain, salt water spray, sand, workshop messes, extreme cold weather, dust, a.k.a., the outside elements. Some of these unit were indeed 1/2 a studio & stereo component system in a box, mic mixing, auto / manual recording levels, audio level VU meters, various AUX IN / OUT, two, or three, way powering, Some had decent AM / FM tuners, while other had mediocre at best. I still have my well worn Pioneer SK-650, bought in March 1983. (Try and find one of these today.) One neat secrete to having a decent boombox, with either the analog needle, or LED, VU meters, is their ability to see what the off-air levels were from tuned AM / FM stations off-air. No, maybe not as accurate as a commercial Belar off-air MOD monitor, but many were close, and they gave you an idea what your on-air levels were if you were to build and operate a station of your own. Passing contemplation. Where I grew up, the Panasonic RX-5600 series seemed the most popular. Anyone have Boombox stories of their own? How many pirate stations used them? http://www.frn.net/vines/read.php?3,11379,11379#msg-11379 Mon, 12 Oct 2026 14:21:16 -0400 Phorum 5.2.19 http://www.frn.net/vines/read.php?3,11379,11415#msg-11415 http://www.frn.net/vines/read.php?3,11379,11415#msg-11415
I was thinking the radio wouldn't tune right if the bar was too much bigger or smaller than the original, finding out later that you can go bigger for more capturing power, just re-tune the trimmers on the tuning cap to peak the signal around 1400 khz.

Heck, if a ferrite antenna bar is broken, you can glue it back together and it will work fine. I've only read that, haven't tried it yet that I can remember.

You can even wind your own open air loop on cardboard, it could be even better, still more capture area. Older radios still need lots of turns to get the hundreds of microhenries like a ferrite loop has, while newer loops for newer and DSP tuners are smaller, I have a plastic one that's 14 turns on a 8 inch loom, just a magnetic pickup loop that's untuned apparently.

Boomer]]> Radio Animal General radio discussion Mon, 06 Apr 2026 22:36:26 -0400 http://www.frn.net/vines/read.php?3,11379,11407#msg-11407 http://www.frn.net/vines/read.php?3,11379,11407#msg-11407 ThaDood General radio discussion Sun, 29 Mar 2026 11:08:17 -0400 http://www.frn.net/vines/read.php?3,11379,11404#msg-11404 http://www.frn.net/vines/read.php?3,11379,11404#msg-11404 Radio Animal General radio discussion Fri, 27 Mar 2026 23:07:53 -0400 http://www.frn.net/vines/read.php?3,11379,11392#msg-11392 http://www.frn.net/vines/read.php?3,11379,11392#msg-11392 www.wish.com] Can't say what the quality would be for something like this, but it does have two SW Bands with it. There's others on this site as well.]]> ThaDood General radio discussion Thu, 12 Mar 2026 13:34:43 -0400 http://www.frn.net/vines/read.php?3,11379,11391#msg-11391 http://www.frn.net/vines/read.php?3,11379,11391#msg-11391 www.dewalt.com] Now, whether, or not, they can survive a teenager's years is questionable.]]> ThaDood General radio discussion Sat, 07 Mar 2026 11:16:05 -0500 http://www.frn.net/vines/read.php?3,11379,11390#msg-11390 http://www.frn.net/vines/read.php?3,11379,11390#msg-11390
They probably could have worked to make boom boxes stronger, since they were made to carry, most have no more protection than an indoor audio component.

I would have liked things like rounded steel corners like on band equipment, water resistance, and cases you could put over top of them, like iPods and phones have. It would have been a big case, but it would have worked, transistor portables had leather cases at one time.]]> Radio Animal General radio discussion Fri, 06 Mar 2026 22:42:01 -0500 http://www.frn.net/vines/read.php?3,11379,11379#msg-11379 http://www.frn.net/vines/read.php?3,11379,11379#msg-11379 www.boomboxcity.info] Ya know, as someone who grew up with a boombox throughout most of my teen years, and early 20's, I find it disappointing on how poorly they've survived over the decades. You really don't see these much anymore today. They were pitch to take sound anywhere, and people did. However, practically none of them had any kind of protection from heat, rain, salt water spray, sand, workshop messes, extreme cold weather, dust, a.k.a., the outside elements. Some of these unit were indeed 1/2 a studio & stereo component system in a box, mic mixing, auto / manual recording levels, audio level VU meters, various AUX IN / OUT, two, or three, way powering, Some had decent AM / FM tuners, while other had mediocre at best. I still have my well worn Pioneer SK-650, bought in March 1983. (Try and find one of these today.) One neat secrete to having a decent boombox, with either the analog needle, or LED, VU meters, is their ability to see what the off-air levels were from tuned AM / FM stations off-air. No, maybe not as accurate as a commercial Belar off-air MOD monitor, but many were close, and they gave you an idea what your on-air levels were if you were to build and operate a station of your own. Passing contemplation. Where I grew up, the Panasonic RX-5600 series seemed the most popular. Anyone have Boombox stories of their own? How many pirate stations used them?]]> ThaDood General radio discussion Sun, 15 Feb 2026 15:02:32 -0500