This mini radio is about 30 years old.  It has only AM band.  While I was in Primary school, my mum gave it to me to listen to the local radio broadcasts.  The special thing about this radio is the panda that is pointing at the frequency tuned.  It is not working anymore, but I keep it until now.  I hope one day I can repair it myself and make it works again.

About 20 years ago, this type of radio was still very popular.  I remember an instant noodle manufacturer which gave AM radio when the consumer buys its big packet size of noodle with only a few ringgit extra, and this type of radio is not more than RM10 at that time.  Before I have this Panda AM radio, I had spoiled 2 or 3 other mini pocket AM radio.  I took out the components such as coils, speakers and variable capacitor (the big capacitor).  :P

There was one time, I have encountered an amplifier or radio which has vacuum tube.  My father told me not to switch it on because afraid that it would explode.  I don’t know where has it gone to now.  I have collected a big box of old electronic components from radios and television, but they have been thrown away.

At that time, there was no FM radio station here in Kuching, AM was the only choice.  Most of the time, I listened to Chinese programmes and Educational Channel (”Radio Pendidikan”).  These channels were not on air 24 hours, and only a few hours a day.  Before 6am, there was a sape music before the openning and playing national anthem on all of the local channels (Radio Malaysia Kuching).  I miss the sape music.  If you know where to find it, please let me know.

Years later (90’s), I have owned at least 3 radios which have SW (Short Wave), LW (Long Wave), MW (Medium Wave).  MW is another name for AM.  I played around with the radios, and found that there was no channel on LW, and at night I could receive the broadcast from international radio station using MW and SW.  I could not understand most of the language such as Vietnamese,  but I listened to some English and Mandarin programmes only.  Sometimes I have even received channels which were sending Morse code.

On AM / MW, I have listened to “The Voice of Asia” at night time.  It was from Taiwan, and I cannot received it now.  On SW, I have listened to Radio Australia, 958 City Channel of Singapore, NHK, BBC, China Radio, The Voice of …. <country name> etc..  I stopped listening to radio when I was preparing for my high school exam.

Now, I still have a mini multi-band radio with FM, AM and SW.  I listen to FM channels most of the time, and do not listen to AM and SW  anymore.  Some of the stations can be listened through the web now such as Radio Australia.

Everything started when I borrowed a book about radio transmission from the library.  At that time, I was studying in primary school.  From then onwards, I was interested in learning what is AM, FM, SW, etc..  From the books, I have learned how they are transmitted, and how far they can travel … .  In high school, this is my favorite chapter in Physics.

Many radio stations have been broadcasted through the Internet since many years ago.  I guess very soon, in a few years or even months later, FM channels might be replaced by radio on net using VOIP because the mobile high speed Internet broadband is getting popular.  Maybe the IP-Radio has already existed but nobody is using it here yet.  What do you think?