405
Item nr.
Continental version of multiband
| Production | The Netherlands, 1962.
Price was 258 guilders. |
|---|---|
| Bands | LW (750-2000m), MW (190-580m), SW2 (40-80m), SW1 (18-40m), IF 455kHz. |
| Semi- conductors | OC170 (osc/mix), AF117 (IF), OC45 (IF), OC75 (AF amp), OC75 (AF amp), OC74 (out), OC74 (out), OA79, OA79; Speaker AD3500HWZ (25 Ohm). |
| Cabinet | Wood with leatherette. Size 32x22x11cm. Weight 3.3kg (w/ batt). |
| Power | Batt 9V (6xD), 33mA at zero volume, 80mA loud, 120mA extra for lamp. |
One chassis has the band switches and antenna and oscillator coils. The switches connect to the buttons by bowden cables. This line started in 1959 with the L4X91T and L4X95T, continued with L4X00T, L4X05T, L4X20T, and spread to other brands like the Siera SA7288T and Erres RS1596 of 1968. That this single design survived almost a decade is the more remarkable because the introduction in 1959 was a year in which Philips had just two years of experience in building transistor radios. 
Of course, with all similarities, there are significant differences, too. Around 1960, wood was used for the cabinets, covered with leatherette from the outside, while later models had plastic cabinets. The versions for the European market, like the L4X20T, has LW, MW and two SW bands, while the export versions (last digit is 5, like L4X95T, L4X05T, L4X25T), intended for use in the tropics, had MW and three SW bands. The L4X20T has one funny gimmick, a little strength indicator.
If you get one of these radios and want to repair it, prepare yourself for the following. (1) With three subchasses, instably connected by many wires, the radio is a disaster to dismantle and assemble. (2) The OC170 may be dead because of whiskers. (3) Corroded battery compartment because of old batteries. (4) Usually at least one button or the battery rack is missing. (5) Speckles on the SW antenna.
Jose writes from Portugal: I just found your site and the image sent me all the way back to my childhood in the early 70īs.
May I share some good memories? I was then living in Mozambique, away from the main urban centers (which there and then were really small anyway) and my father used to switch on the radio at 18:00 PM to listen to the portuguese radio station (Rádio Clube de Moçambique). I do remember with precision the dial and the tunning/volume wheels with their texture and instantly recognized the inside of the radio with the white box for the batteries. But the one owned by us had a square aerial - is it missing in the picture? My father also listened to the BBC and to the SABC. I cherished the radio very much and at the time, hoped to keep it later. Alas, war broke out in mid 74 and we had to leave. We never saw the radio again.
Addition: the square aerial mentioned by Jose is folded down in my picture, and here visible as a shiny rim around the front. Better not mistake this flippable rim for a carrying handle!
| Obtained | 6/2015 from Activiteitenmarkt, sn=PL11888. |
|---|---|
| Condition | 7; misses knob, intermittent bad contact. |
| Disposed | Sold 3/2016. |
| Sound sample | PLAY SOUND In the century of Internet and digital techniques, AM radio will be soon discontinued, and I fixed my radio just in time to record some NPO5 sounds. The 2008 financial crisis has brought Greece the the edge of financial disaster, and in 2015 there are still fierce debates about the loans and the measures forced upon Greece. |
If your battery pack looks like this on the left it is severely corroded inside. So, please friends, when you store your old radio away because you don't want it anymore, remove the battery first! If you know when these Hellesens type 736 batteries were sold, I'd like to know because it indicates when the radio was last used before me.
The radio was dead and showed no oscillation activities, so I suspected the OC170 of developing whiskers. However, visual inspection showed that corrosion had eaten the PCB tracks away, leaving just visible, but non-conductive traces. I managed to add some new connections there.