Cool stuff for sale mega-thread.

A bit surprising that Aiwa made that. Sharp, Toshiba, Yamaha, and Sony, all made 8 bit computers where cassette was the usual form of data storage, so it wasn't surprising some of them offered similar cassette decks. However, I can't find any records of Aiwa making a computer.

 

here I found info .. as I understand from the translation and for MSX

AIWA DR-2 DATA RECORDER sta riparando: blog di nuova riproduzione per PC vintage (seesaa.net)

looking on the net every now and then some Aiwa PCs come out ... but they are already more recent with floppy and cd rom

 

I know that some of you like other "antique" gadgets including Digital Watches.
How about this one ? A 20th Century Smartwatch.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255020443481?hash=item3b60672759:g:Lm8AAOSw6Pxgy4n7

A sensible start price but apparently not a sensible size. I wonder if Windows XP was ever supported ?

A bit more information on it here
https://www.techeblog.com/seiko-ruputer-first-smartwatch/

 

Can anyone explain why this is so expensive...

Pioneer PK-F9

 

Because he thinks rarity = valuable
At such a price point, you'd think he would provide more photos. But no, he can't be bothered to do that. Apparently it's not worth his time.

 

'Buy it Now" prices can be an absolute joke. In fact in the last month someone here was saying that their kids kept listing their stereos on EBay at silly prices as a joke.

A couple of years ago I was selling Britains Toy Soldier sets on Ebay. Almost any set is available "Buy it Now". I found that using auctions I was lucky to get half the lowest "Buy it Now" price. Of course my sets were sold at the end of the week and the "Buy it Now" sets are probably still unsold.

The only way to see the true value of something is to look at the completed auctions. If a Tiffany & Co. Walkman has sold for $3000 then there is a good chance that is what it is worth. Even then there might only be two people in the world prepared to pay that so if two came on the market simultaneously they might go for less.

Having said all that I wouldn't say there aren't bargains to be found in "Buy it Now". After losing several auctions in a row for iPad 4s one came up "Buy it Now" for just £30 and I very pleased with it.

 

Sencor FM converter | eBay

 

I'm assuming it's to convert the old Soviet band to Western, or vice versa?

 

People think the double tape deck appeared in the 1980s but how about this one

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224582941512?hash=item344a2fbb48:g:6ZkAAOSwTiBhI4NK

I guess the idea was that you could transfer your Reel to reel tapes to the new fangled cassettes to play in the car.

 

That makes sense. Japan uses what you call the Soviet Band".

 

From Wikipedia: The FM band in Japan is 76–95 MHz (previously 76–90). The OIRT FM broadcast band covers 65.9 to 74 MHz.

The Russian State Television and Radio Company is replacing transmitters for three of its stations: Radio Rossii (Radio of Russia), Mayak (Lighthouse) and Vesti FM (News FM) from OIRT band to CCIR band. Many Russian news websites have practically the same carbon copy statement, feel free to use Google Translate if interested

So, the state moves its stations into "Western" band, thirty years after this band became legal in Russia. OIRT band is used only in old Soviet radios, and only elder people use them if at all. So, makes sense from propaganda point of view.

But there is nothing about redistributing the OIRT band for other uses.

Here is a list of radio stations in Moscow region. "откл." means turned off, non-functioning. This band has been dying for the last thirty years.

A new transmitter in Moscow region was opened in 2018 at 71.3 MHz, yay! If you look at their website, they do not list this transmitter, and all their other transmitters are on "Western" band.

 

I didn't realise there were two different bands.

This is the modern equivalent to the Sencor device, essential for people who drive "old" cars in Norway where they turned off the FM transmissions.
https://www.pure.com/en-GB/stores/pure/pure/highway/p/150406
I have commented before how my wife's 2014 car doesn't have DAB, despite being the dealers demonstrator so close to the top of the range in all other respects.
Since she likes Smooth Radio she listens to it on AM where it is still available although they don't publicise that.

Meanwhile we keep getting adverts asking if you realise how easy it is to connect a Smartphone to your car stereo "to get hundreds more stations".

 

In the U.S. they use HD Radio, which I prefer over a complete digital switchover: old radios still work, but if you have one with HD Radio, then you can also tune into additional digital sub-channels. It requires fine setup on a transmitter to keep the fragile balance of power between analog and digital.

HD Radio was pushed 10-15 years ago as a new thing, but now only a couple of manufacturers left. Big names like Sony used to make HD Radio-capable component tuners, but no more. I bought a portable HD Radio radio, and my car has HD Radio too. I like it because there is less advertising (no one listens to it, ha!) and better variety. I don't think there will be improvements to terrestrial radio in the U.S. - there is digital satellite radio and there is streaming over mobile. I think this band will ultimately be re-distributed to other uses, like mobile.

Short ads they play on radio tell me to download an app and listen to radio via streaming.

So, cool stuff for sale on Amazon: Sangean HDR-14 HD Radio/FM Stereo/AM Portable Radio - currently $75 for new, unopened item. This is a good price, I bought one for almost the same money, but it is a refurbished one. I've been planning to make a video about it for a long time

 

We very rarely see Sangean products here in the U.K. However a long established U.K. radio company uses them to make their plastic bodied radios.
There is almost certainly a Sangean AKA to this maybe with a different tuner
https://www.radioworld.co.uk/roberts-play-dabdabfm-rds-radio-orange

What happens if you are listening to one of the sub channels and the signal gets weak. One of the biggest complaints about DAB was the "Bubbling Mud" sound you would get when that happened while FM would just get more background hiss and switch to Mono.

Sony still sell a decent range of DAB radios over here.
https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/boomboxes-radios-portable-cd-players/t/dab-radios
They even sell what they call a Boombox with a DAB tuner (but no cassette).

Apparently in France it is illegal to sell Radios (or even devices with a tuner like an MP3 player) unless they can pick up DAB.
In the 1980s hey did the same with SCART on TVs which is why it is so common in Europe.