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Item nr.


Philips L4X95T Portable

Philips made its first transistor portable in 1957, and this model came only two years later.


Data for Philips L4X95T
ProductionThe Netherlands, 1959.
BandsMW 3x SW.
CabinetWood, leatherette covered. Size 31x22x10 cm. Weight 2,7 kg.
PowerBatt 6x D cell.
DocumentsSchema.

The Design

With good audio and sensitive coverage of 522kHz to 22MHz the radio would be the dream of a 1960 SW listener. Today we would consider the bands too cramped with so many MHz on such a little dial.

In 1959 it wasn't very well possible to handle the high frequencies used in FM transmissions by transistors. For that reason, Philips had a gap in the production of portable FM receivers. The high-end tube portables of 1957 and 1958 could receive FM, and after that only transistorized portables ware made. I think the first one with FM was around 1961.


Obtained9/1994 from John Dirkse.
Condition8.
DisposedSold 3/2000.

This Object

The radio plays and looks reasonably well. I used parts of a second identical radio to bring it that far. Unfortunately it doesn't have the original handle, nor the metal strip underneath the dial.
The 1959 advertisement picture shows the Very Happy Couple on the move, a moped of the era, the works. (The radio here is the Continental variant, with LW and station names for LW and MW.) Of course the guy still has to park the moped while the Godess already sits down being beautiful. A shame I got the radio without the lady. Or perhaps.... I don't know what she would look like 40 years after.

Part of Gerard's Radio Corner.
Generated by SiteBuilder on 26/2/2024 by Gerard (g.tel@uu.nl)