BROADCAST RECEIVER COLLECTIONS

On top of military radio communications, RKK Radio Museum has over 100 samples of broadcast receivers, the vast majority of them made in 1921-1945. 

Our Broadcast Receiver Collection started with German WR 1 (Wehrmacht Rundfunk) troops entertainment receiver which was on Wehrmacht nomenclature ever since 1940. To the contrast with Red Army where any broadcast listening was strictly prohibited after German invasion to the USSR and all thru the war, both German troops as well as US troops and other USSR allies had several models of troops entertainment receivers on their military supply lists. 

First of all we have tried to collect all the Wehrmacht troops entertainment receivers that we knew about, and now there are all the "WR" and "ER" receivers presented in RKK Radio Museum show boxes. Next step was to collect battery portable receivers used by Wehrmacht officers, and we are proud to say that most of such receivers known are in our show boxes, too. 

On the way to collecting battery portable receivers, we have purchased on eBay, several unknown models that appeared to be vintage battery portables of early 1930s never actually used for Wehrmacht supplies. Thus we decided to have a limited collection of vintage battery portable receivers in our museum. This part of our collections won't get any larger in future. 

Another limited collection of vintage broadcast receivers are the tube sets of 1921-1945 that have been purchased on eBay just to decorate the private office of Valery Gromov, the RKK Radio Museum trustee. 

There are about 30 vintage receivers there, and this part of RKK Radio Museum also won't get any larger in future. There are also over 40 vintage crystals sets on display in our museum which have been purchased just to demonstrate to the visitors something different from military radios in their grey and khaki cabinets. No extension to this part of broadcast radio collection is planned at present, too. 

Still another part of our broadcast receiver collections are "People's Receivers" (Volksempfänger) and other receivers made under the "Gemeinschaftserzeugnis" project developed in Germany in 1933. This part of our collection is slowly widening though most of the "Gemeinschaftserzeugnis" models are already in our show boxes. New items are mostly accessories for "People's Receivers" that were produced by many smaller German companies in 1933-1945. 

Please find below, a Table of Contents (TOC) to our Broadcast Receiver Collection. Each of the sections listed in TOC has "thumbnail" picture gallery and detailed model information table, both arranged by the Manufacturer's names. 

Inside each Manufacturer listing, radios are arranged by the year of first production, not alphabetically. Clicking on "thumbnail" in the picture gallery or on the radio model in the information table will bring on screen, a more detailed picture galleries consisting of 4 to 8 different radio pictures. 

• Home- and Troops Entertainment Receivers of 1921-1945

  On top of most common home entertainment radios of desktop and console types, there are all of our troops entertainment receivers listed in this section, both Wehrmacht and US Army. There are also two of "Gemeinschaftserzeugnis" receivers listed, Radio-Union RU 1 W and DKE 38 B Militär. 

• Battery Portable Tube Receivers of 1930-1945 

  In this section you will find our vintage battery portable receivers as well as WW II troops entertainment battery portables, both Wehrmacht and US Army. There are also two of "Gemeinschaftserzeugnis" portable receivers listed in this section, "German Olympic Suitcases" (Deutscher Olympia-Koffer) DOK 36 and DOK 37. 

• "People's Receivers" (Volksempfänger) and Accessories of 1933-1945

  Listed in this section are all of VE 301 and DKE "People's Receivers" that RKK Radio Museum has on display as well as other receivers manufactured as part of "Gemeinschaftserzeugnis" project in Germany, Austria and Hungary. Well-known Torn.E.b "Bertha" receiver was also considered part of "Gemeinschaftserzeugnis" project thus it is also included in this section. Separate picture gallery is devoted to the accessories for "People's Receivers". We already have over 20 different items of that kind and trying to expand this part of our collections. 

• Crystal Sets and Accessories of 1924-1940 

  In this section, we have picture galleries of vintage crystal sets that are on display in RKK Radio museum as well as picture galleries of several kinds of accessories like high-resistance headsets, crystal holders and antennas used with the vintage crystal sets.

To Main Page