Wednesday, November 24, 2010

My summer receiver made in the GDR


Spent a week in Berlin this summer. The German capital is one of my favourite cities with good food, friendly people, and always a lot of sight-seeing. I had forgotten to bring along my shortwave radio.

I always travel with my small Sangean 606, which I believe is excellent for taking on trips because it picks up a lot of DX with the outboard reel. I rented a studio apartment in the Schöenberg district and I was very pleased to find that, besides free internet and cable TV, it came equiped with a fine shortwave receiver, a Robotron Werra RR1271 (RR 1271), made in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR).

Unfortunately it wasn’t connected to an outdoor antenna but I was able to spend the evenings listening to Serbia, Moscow, South Africa and Cairo. What a treat!