M
micky
Guest
Ahother story: I got my first FM clock radio around 1972, after I got
to NYC which had FM stations. Maybe Chicago did too by then.
Very fancy, GE, with two alarms, digital, two speakers, and I used it 20
or 30 years before the buttons got flaky. Took it apart and cleaned the
buttons and it was good for 5 or more years. Took it apart and cleaned
it and this time it only lasted 2 or 3 years. I can\'t keep doing this!
So for probably 10 years I\'ve been using it to listen to only one FM
station. It turns off by itself or I turn the volume down to zero, and
the only button that has to work is the On button.
(It doesn\'t have push button frequency selection, and I found finding
and pushing 3 numeric buttons to change stations more trouble than
car-radio style, but they made then few if any table radios with
car-radio buttons. Though I did see at a hamfest an AM/shortwave indoor
radio from the 30\'s with mechancical memory for differnt frequencies.
Came with little stubs/buttons already labeled WOR etc., and they sat on
the 4 or 5\" dial and would control where the dial stopped when you
turned it.)
But then that got hard and I\'d have to lean on the left, the right, up,
down, sometimes for 30 seconds until I pressed it just right to get it
to go on.
But two weeks ago, and this is why I\'m writing, it got easy again, just
push on the right side of the button and it starts immediately! I
wonder how long this will last.
Another thing, when I got back from a long trip, it would stay on
forever. I just turned the volume off. If a transistor radio will play
for many hours on a little 9v battery, they must not use much. And most
of the power they use is for the speaker driver, right?
But after a year there was a power failure and when the power came back
on, it would turn off after, I guess, 24 hours, or maybe at the same
clock time every time. I don\'t keep track.
to NYC which had FM stations. Maybe Chicago did too by then.
Very fancy, GE, with two alarms, digital, two speakers, and I used it 20
or 30 years before the buttons got flaky. Took it apart and cleaned the
buttons and it was good for 5 or more years. Took it apart and cleaned
it and this time it only lasted 2 or 3 years. I can\'t keep doing this!
So for probably 10 years I\'ve been using it to listen to only one FM
station. It turns off by itself or I turn the volume down to zero, and
the only button that has to work is the On button.
(It doesn\'t have push button frequency selection, and I found finding
and pushing 3 numeric buttons to change stations more trouble than
car-radio style, but they made then few if any table radios with
car-radio buttons. Though I did see at a hamfest an AM/shortwave indoor
radio from the 30\'s with mechancical memory for differnt frequencies.
Came with little stubs/buttons already labeled WOR etc., and they sat on
the 4 or 5\" dial and would control where the dial stopped when you
turned it.)
But then that got hard and I\'d have to lean on the left, the right, up,
down, sometimes for 30 seconds until I pressed it just right to get it
to go on.
But two weeks ago, and this is why I\'m writing, it got easy again, just
push on the right side of the button and it starts immediately! I
wonder how long this will last.
Another thing, when I got back from a long trip, it would stay on
forever. I just turned the volume off. If a transistor radio will play
for many hours on a little 9v battery, they must not use much. And most
of the power they use is for the speaker driver, right?
But after a year there was a power failure and when the power came back
on, it would turn off after, I guess, 24 hours, or maybe at the same
clock time every time. I don\'t keep track.