Soundesign 2540 Portable

[VA1CQ]

Just curious if anybody out there ever used my first SW receiver: Soundesign Model 2540. I recently re-bought the same model on ebay for a few dollars and have it now for nostalgic purposes only. My dad originally bought it for me via an Esso offer for about $49. It opened the world of SWL and ham radio for me.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-1970s-Soundesign-Five-5-Band-Radio-Model-2540-FM-AM-MB-SW1-SW2-NRFB-NOS-/290762150607?nma=true&si=0ysXsobcl8JizSSyrP4pYcBMvt8%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557#ht_4881wt_936

[RENTON481]

Cool looking old multibander.

I also first got into SW listening using a transistor AM-FM-SW multiband radio of similar vintage.  Worked pretty good with a 50 foot antenna.

[VA1CQ]

I had about a 100-foot long wire maybe 35 feet in the air. You can see a photo of my monitoring corner here taken in the late 1960s or early 1970s (scroll to bottom of page): http://johndenver.ca/

The setup worked well but tuning that portable was tiring since there was almost no bandspread. You had to move the main tuning or fine tuning a very small amount to change stations. A friend and I used to dream about having a dial you could rapidly turn with large bandspread and with a digital readout. Basically what every desktop SW receiver has now.

But starting simply really makes you appreciate the better receivers when you finally get one.

[RENTON481]

Mine had a fine tuner also, which made it easier to tune between stations.  I got pretty adept at using it.  :-)   Most of my SWLing was done on the 31 and 49 meter bands (the radio received 4-12 mhz, like a lot of multibanders of that time did).  Every now and then I'd hear stations on the 41 meter band, and on occasions I'd hear R. RSA on 25 meters.

I was able to listen to Radio Australia regularly on 5995 khz, but when Radio Japan kicked in around 3 in the morning on 6000 khz, it would pretty much wipe it out (mainly with the heterodyne), especially during fades.  I think the bandwidth on the radio was somewhere around 8-9 khz or so -- not bad for the technology of the time, and that it was a consumer multibander. 

[VA1CQ]

I liked the 19-metre band. 25 metres was good too. There were usually a lot of stations and less noise. And WWV was there to mark the beginning of the band at 15000 kHz.

But I spent time on all bands eventually. I remember hearing good stuff from SE Asia / Indonesia areas just below WWV at 5000 kHz in the early mornings on the west coast. That made me keep checking those frequencies for a long time.

Radio Australia read my letter to them on air one time. They sent me a postcard in advance in the mail to be sure I was listening when they read it. That was exciting for a kid.

Once I got my ham licence, most free time was spent on the ham bands.

[K0JEG]

Just curious if anybody out there ever used my first SW receiver: Soundesign Model 2540. I recently re-bought the same model on ebay for a few dollars and have it now for nostalgic purposes only. My dad originally bought it for me via an Esso offer for about $49. It opened the world of SWL and ham radio for me.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-1970s-Soundesign-Five-5-Band-Radio-Model-2540-FM-AM-MB-SW1-SW2-NRFB-NOS-/290762150607?nma=true&si=0ysXsobcl8JizSSyrP4pYcBMvt8%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557#ht_4881wt_936

I love graphics on the box. SW radios of the 1970s all had a nautical theme.

[VA1CQ]

I hadn't noticed. Mine did have one band position designated "MB" (marine band).