The ominous Hong Deng HD-753F Red Lantern radio
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- čas přidán 30. 06. 2021
- Red scare or red score? Testing out the most Chinese-looking Chinese-made radio I've ever seen, the Hong Deng "Red Lantern" HD-753F, with ominous 1960s Cold War-era styling.
- Věda a technologie
The original red lantern radio was made by qingdao radio factory in 1969, the company now known as Hisense
The writing on the front of the radio says: "753F - China- Shanghai Red Lantern Electrical Appliance Limited Company"
I only recognized the characters for China (中国)
Yep that's right
Yeah, that plastic radio won't grant you a ticket as a CCP member! Be aware if there is any spy cam or mic inside though!
@@stephenwong9723 arent there?
I do nit like these jokes from Americans. They are so obsessed ( afraid an oblivious) with China.
They must be afraid as hell. 😱
@@sjefhendrickx2257 No problem, as I'm living in hell, right now, in a place called Hong Kong, China.
“Asian music, too, is expanding its influence around the world.”
*American country music plays*
WZRC 1480 Cantonese radio in NYC, Fairchild Radio CHKT 1430 / CIRV 88.9 FM Toronto, CHIN-AM 1540 AM TORONTO,
The Confucius Institute has wormed its way into radio now too I see.
that part reminded me right away of the one hey arnold episode where arnold's asian neighbour who enjoys singing country music becomes a famous radio sensation.
I think the neighbour's name was niwin or something like that I can't remember
Yes China's philosophies and cooperate private partnership are expanding world wide. We all need to work for our countries world wide and be behind our great leaders.
@@deletesoon70 yes business is very prosperous. Their life is thriving.
"It wouldn't be AM without the preachers." PREACH! 🤣
And it wouldn't be FM without all the commercials ;D
@@KRAFTWERK2K6 nor a VWestlife episode without a mention of his favourite stations 101.3 WOW FM and 98.7 the Flutter. Siiiiiiiit baaaack for some amazing tunes on WoooooooW! 😅
@M-2 Hydra that is very sad.
FM ??? AM ??? China only music! KPOP!
@M-2 Hydra Build yourself a big AM loop antenna. There are directions to one I made on my video about it. I`m about to make one out of a box a 100 watt solar panel came in. You can get the magnet wire and tuning capacitors on Amazon. You can also get wires with alligator clips on both ends to connect the loop to the tuning capacitor. On a 16 inch pizza box I needed 16 turns of 24 AWG magnet wire wrapped side by side using a 22 dollar 450 pf tuner.
"Red lantern" has here in Germany a quite different meaning. It's a marking for "houses of merchantable affection".
I showed this video to my grandma and she wanted me to bought one of these. Said it brought much nostalgia to her mind. She's 78 years old now and moved to New York since the 90s.
As far as I can tell, this radio is the latest model in the series and the F in the name probably indicates FM. The original Hong Deng 753 had only MW, and was built using germanium transistors. You can still buy them cheap at flea markets in China. Let me know if you want one for a comparison video.
Since I see that you're a Ham operator, I tend to trust you; Thanks for the recommendation!
2:48 was not expecting to hear Deirdre by The Beach Boys on the radio. That's a deep cut from the "Sunflower" album that never gets airplay. Cool!
Yeah that was really surprising!
Glad I read your comment so I didn't repeat the same thing. It was a welcome, unexpected bonus. Also, I'm not in the US and I could have thought, well, maybe it plays more often on some oldies stations over there, but by what you say I get it's rare anywhere.
New Jersey... maybe that's WFMU? They play lots of stuff like that.
I saw those on eBay a while ago and I was curious so I looked up some reviews. This is a replica of a radio that was really common in China in the '60s, except the original was AM only.
I had some Chinese friends when I was in high school, I can tell you that the first two characters after 753F mean "China", and are pronounced zhongguo which literally stands for "middle country".
* China * Shanghai Red Lamp Electric Limited Company *
The first two logograms mean "China" in simplified Chinese: en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD
When you seperate the two characters, that's the literal translation. 中 = middle and 国 = (more commonly) kingdom. But once they're put together, it means "China"
@@SirJeff That's literally what I said.
You see @@daniel_kale people commonly say kingdom in China /me rolls eyes. If you asked 10 Chinese people the meaning of "guo" 10/10 would say country. You are totally right in your thinking. It is "kingdom" from its origination, but "commonly" is a stretch. Some people have to try to be smarty-pantses.
I have to say, I really love seeing you review these little oddball radios from around the world. This one was a real treat - in all honesty, until you showed the modern power cord it came with, I thought it was a new old stock unit from the 60s!
Too bad it isn't NOS - it certainly looks like it could be!
I used to collect speakers as a kid, taken out of old radios and such. one of them had that exact red lantern logo
The original ones were made of wood and worked on valves and were 220v. Its just a copy of a 1970s radio that was made. The Chinese says (China - Shanghai Red LIght Company Limited),The original ones were also double the size.
I gave my mom this radio and she loves it. The adaptor plug that was provided in my unit does not cause any interference on am/fm maybe because it has low mAH. I just put an 18650 inside and the adaptor charges it. I only bought this radio because of its retro look. Now I have a lot of chinese radios and some of them are actually good. My favorite is the digital pocket radio which runs on 2x 18650 batteries and has 2 memory card slots and a mini flashlight, really great for an everyday carry.
Yes! I love it when VWestlife uploads, awesome video like always!! :)
At 2:55, you caught a few seconds of the Sibelius Violin Concerto in D Minor from a weak FM station. This music would have been totally banned during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. No Western decadence for you, Comrade!
Yet when they did allow Western Music the first taste they got in person was Wham!
@@MrDuncl Jean-Michel Jarre did it before them.
@@supchppt7541 You're right. Maybe Wham was the first pop group.
I've been fascinated by Soviet 'bone records' ever since I learned about them. It's remarkable how so many regimes want to redact music based on ideology. It's equally remarkable what lengths people went to (and still go to) to hear 'illegal music'.
@@xaenononly that it mostly bs. Sad to say to you but most people here never heard of such records lmao (i did ask people around) if by bone records you mean xray thingies, western music was mostly listened through soviet radio that had foreign music programs, released on records through Melodiya or recorded on Reel to Reel tapes. Soviet people had way more access to western media then people tend to imagine, my father for example has love for westerns, which he developed from watching them as a kid in his small town cinema in 60s-70s
I have to admit this radio does have a nice retro look. If only you would've been able to pick up 1380 or 1480 from NYC. Those are stations air Chinese programming. Thanks for reviewing it.
To me, it looks kind of like something Channel Master would have sold. The asking price seems high. I'd be surprised if it cost even 20% of that to make and ship them.
Is that not always the case? Even in USA… 🤪
I'd get it just for the looks. It certainly looks like a relic
I can’t believe this is new, I love that mottled plastic texture. It reminds me of 1970’s Datsun interiors.
It's the outros that always get me... Always a fun treat for those of us who watch til the end! 😀
It was cool hearing a little snippet of “Deidre” by The Beach Boys. I have never heard this great song on the radio.
The ebay seller's name, "Happy Home" reminds me of the Goldstar VCR I bought back in the 80s. I remember the owners manual saying,
"We hope you have happy time with your new VCR"
They really did miss a trick not installing a small red LED behind the red lantern logo. Oh well it would probably an extra quarter cent or something like that.
"Asian music is expanding its infulence around the world"
*bluegrass music plays*
That looks like something you'd find at the 99 cent store. And seriously? Putting out power to the D cell battery compartment?
And five volts to charge the 4.2V lithium cell.
Population control. XD
'could' be a wiring mistake, those dc in sockets 'usually' have a switch contact which can disconnect internal batteries, IF wired correctly 😉
@@trevorhaddox6884 That's no-load voltage. What's actually there with batteries?
@@andygozzo72 My two Prunus retro radios will explode the D batteries if you leave them in when charging it but the D batteries won`t power the radio.
@@baneverything5580 oo-er, sounds like someone got the wiring/circuitry wrong!!, probably a diode round the wrong way!
The intro video reminds me of those VCDs i bought that produced Cantonese or others shows from that company. The outro music is a classic song! 纤夫的愛
1:11 this could be saying "buying this radio officially makes you a member of the CCP"
2:28 I almost expect to hear a speech from chairman Mao when I turn it on
5:00 It wouldn't be AM without the preachers
This is definitely the most Chinese-looking Chinese-made product ever, but for the reasons above this is also a funny video.
It's the CPC.
ah welcome to the party comrade..😄
Those atmospheric effects are the reason why I can sometimes get a transmission from radio stations as far out as eastern Ohio on a 2016 Nissan Pathfinder.
That ending with the laserdisc version of "The love of boat trackers" was a good addition
Oh, my. So close. Unfortunately, the Chinese never produced a musical drama entitled "The love of boat anchors", which would have fitted even more precisely a show about old radios (even if not old radios precisely like this one).
Red lanterns are Chinese symbols for a successful business and a happy life.
Funnily enough, Hong Deng -> 红灯 = Red light
On the radio it says 753F • China • Shanghai Red Lantern (light) company limited
Hong Deng (Red Lantern) is a very old Chinese brand for radio / cassette recorder / record players, manufactured by Shanghai No.2 Radio Factory. The retro look originated from the classic model Type 753, which was manufactured back in the 1970s.
I've just made coffee...
Holds out her cup ☕ 🙂
this thing would be very nice in a quality version, like metal dials buttons and glass window
I think this unit works quite sensitively on FM judging from the number of stations it receives during yr first dial thru.
Edit: For that amount of money, it’d be a much better bet for anyone to buy Degen’s modern radios instead.
The schematic is probably almost the same. The big plus of DSP based radios is that the performance will be almost the same irrespective of manufacturer, and there aren't a dozen adjustments that need making during manufacture.
I got a couple of old mid-70s Chinese radios, a Red Lantern and a Spring Thunder, both have AM and SW, but no FM. I don't believe FM was used for broadcast in China until the late 70s.
I just did a bit of digging into the Hong Deng Electronics Company and it was indeed a premium brand for supplying household appliances and entertainment for the CCP members when it was launched in the 1960s. The packaging says "Retro-style Portable 'Transistor' Radio" so this thing might be actually based on a real Hong Deng Radios of the 1960s-70s. One side note - one of the unique offerings that this company produced in the 1960s and 70s was the 8.75mm film projector which was the proprietary but dominant home movie format in Communist China in the 1960s 70s - this format was made by slicing the standard 35mm film stock into 4 pieces, and Hong Deng produced many projectors and other equipment for this format.
i would love to have one of those for camping!
I live in the Eastern Europe, small town. I'm amazed how many radio stations you have. For me a radio in my car serves no other purpose than receiving my BT transmitter. Because otherwise I'd have like 3 stations playing commercials most of the time. Of course my phone plays only what it downloaded. Outside big cities not much internet for mobile phones is available.
He's in the single most densely populated state in the US, 470 people per sq km, the FCC has something like 163 total radio stations licensed in New Jersey. I expect things would be very different if he was in the middle of Wyoming
Here in the UK there’s not so many AM radio stations left they are in decline unfortunately. FM still has a few but DAB has taken over now it’s a shame because I used to like the sound AM gave out.
There was another big wave of MW transmitters closures this June - czcams.com/video/rvoZYo4OhRE/video.html for example these three from NI..
@@TheMajkla 792 used to be classic gold in Bedfordshire & not forgetting the original Virgin radio 1215 or 1197
@@jamespoole7490 I can still catch Absolute Radio on 1197 in the night in Edinburgh. Probably from Nottingham. 1215 is super strong 100 kW from Westerglen near Falkirk and also 1242 is possible.
Hi VWestlife. The characters"中国上海红灯电器有限公司" (Zhōngguó Shànghǎi Hóng Dēng Diànqì Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī - if you want to read it in Chinese) translate to China. Shanghai Red Lantern Electrical Appliances Company Limited. Red Lantern is Hóng Dēng in Chinese.
That's a very contemporary 'capitalist' way of identifying the factory which made it. :) In the the time of Mao, if its manufacturer was identified at all, it would probably have just said something like "Shanghai No.1 (factories were identified by number) Electric Devices Factory." The fonts used on the radio's number also look very modern. Markings like numbers on products from the past were printed in very odd looking fonts which were often hand-rendered.
I'm glad you checked it to see if there was a tiny condenser mic and sat transponder :)
I really love this series of radio videos. Please, keep them coming! Maybe you can uncover a radio with a fake solar cell.
I'm thinking Kevin ought to get himself a Russian radio like a Vega Selena. They were actually far more common than Chinese made ones in the 1970s with adverts in the Sunday papers, saying things like "you've heard about the Russian spy "trawlers" full of sophisticated electronics. Now you can buy a Russian Multi-Band radio with similar capabilities.
THAT would be something i'd love to watch. Because there's a lot of solar radios out there and i'm a little obsessed with them. Would be nice to see which ones actually care and which ones try very little to be actually decent.
I love the look of this thing. I could imagine enjoying listening to it while riding in the back of my Hongqi limousine.
I'd buy one of these.
Thanks for the video, Kevin.
Love these obscure radio videos, man! That's very interesting about those cheap power cables too causing all that RFI. Now I'll be checking everything in the shack, especially my raspberry pi's. Have a great summer!
Ironic, he could have used a smart phone, taken a picture of the words and it would have translated what the words meant. New technology solving old technology problems.
Unfortunately I was in school. Great review on the radio. I bet Shango066 will get his hands on it.
Keep on going.
I REALLY like this videos ! 😁
Next someone will have the Green Lantern radio.
A rattle-can will fix that right up!
wow... holy moly thats fascinating that you caught some very long distance tropo dx! 130 miles is very impressive, especially considering the wide bandwidth of that FM signal.
I have one of these radios. I run it on D cells and it sounds just fine. It was $26 AUD delivered. I like it's retro looks.
Hell yeah radio time with the best radio youtuber
Love it... The Ulster orchestra are half a mile down the road from me.
I have seen a Chinese AM radio from the sixties that is powered by lighting up a lantern and heating a pad that generated electricity.
liking the new thumbnail for your channel
On the front it says, "China·Shanghai Red Light Electric Co., Ltd."
Isn't it just wonderful to see a product brand new and not waste that extra few seconds or minutes watching the person trying to make surgical cuts in either the box or an envelope with a oversized razor or a 50 year old serrated steak knife that Ron Popeil sold on the television that's seen it's better days.
Yes. I hate unboxing. I guess some people like that just for the experience, but I've never even liked to do it myself. I would be happy if I could snap my fingers and any new product that I get is instantly out of the box like magic.
@@briangoldberg4439 ...........Have you ever tried to open up some of those all plastic blister packs ? .....I've sometimes just had to look at the package for a few seconds and begin to cut the 4 sides of it to try to get a clean break THEN you see that in the middle of the package it's got a heat sealed blister in the middle of it and you still can't open it up. You need a pair of gloves to protect your hands from getting cut. I wonder what those packaging engineers were smoking when they thought of them.
@@jpolar394 blister packs are different. that's like circle of hell level bad
@@jpolar394 and gloves to protect your hands from getting covered in blisters themselves.
Its like god damnit I get it they are just trying to protect the merchandise from getting stollen and everything but there are better options! The spider, the sensor tag etc etc etc...
I literally got covered in blisters once while opening up a set of motorola walky talkies that came in one of those bloody blister packs.
It sliced me several times too
@@coolelectronics1759 mmmmm stollen
This was interesting. It seemed to have distance reception.
Decent sensitivity for the size of that AM ferrite bar antenna.
New video . Yay!
Good review.
This was probably designed by the famous radio design pioneer.His name is Lee King Kok/
.
My dad has a red lantern radio from the 1970s in its leather case, can't find any info online tho
Why couldn't it be Dionne Warwick's "Heartbreaker" for the song? Your friend, Jeff.
The most Chinese radio ever made. Straight away, I knew the Chinese characters 中国 on the front panel meant "China".
I kinda like the aesthetics of this thing. It looks like they've been churning these radios out for decades.
Even though it's a miniaturised knock off or 'nostalgic replica radio'.
Excellent, Comrade!
The codebook is extra...
🇨🇳📻🙂
Half expected a few bars of "The East is Red" to come booming out of that radio when you turned it on! It has a real late 60's/early 70's Cold War look to it. Weird.
Great video!
Nice Coffee and a new video from my friend Kevin
That radio looks more like a space heater.
Fantastic!
Hong Deng translates to red lantern and this is a replica the original
Deliciously Chinese which is why I bought one as well
manual:
- this is radio
- it has buttons
Damn this reminds me of the stuff from my mom’s childhood. And that one time I discovered a lost Cold War nuclear bunker on an island near Shanghai.
Oh great, now I want one lol.
WQXR still broadcasts? Amazing that they can find an audience today.
Its funny hearing the classical music when you first started tuning cause that's about where my local classical station is on here in Australia
Twice have I almost ordered this radio without the excuse of a CZcams review. Literally the aesthetics of the thing is the appeal. Fortunately I happened to see some review and the unaesthetic 5Core T-22 entered my life. Unlike some CZcamsrs, I realize the fundamental property of radio is the sound and not the decor of its housing.
I still kinda want a 753F though.
The box is the most "old school" (60s/70s?) Chinese import looking thing ever! Hell, I might buy one JUST FOR THE BOX! 👍😊👍
I live in Japan so I can read some of that Kanji. First group says 'China' and second group something about 'Shanghai ... electric company' so I think it is a company name based in Shanghai.
VWestlife: "It's Radio time again"
Me: "It always is :)"
Its radio china time again yay!
I enjoy collecting these crazy and unique chinese radios from amazon and ebay
There are so many weired and quirky ones out there even some with bluetooth and a builtin mp3 player.
Holy Moly, USD 40.00? The looks are shouting out "USD 3.99".
Undoubtedly made for the domestic market, and some waiguoren living in the PRC decided to export a few for profit.
Dionne Slays
Crazy you got Froggy 99.9 because that's a station I barely pick up and I'm on the Pa/Maryland line.
They're from Ocean City, which is on the Delmarva peninsula.
Weird how the radio picked up Froggy 99.9 from Ocean City, MD when you'd probably be closer to Ocean City, NJ. Heck, it might even pick up 103.7 WXCY, which is a country station from Havre de Grace, MD, and broadcasts to MD, DE, and some parts of NJ (they just expanded their broadcast as well to include a wider listening area).
The manufacturer uses a nostalgia name to promote sales, however the well-known Red Latern radio in Mao's time was "5-TUBE Red Latern" vacuum tube type radio. Some versions came with short wave, which gave listeners access to so-called Enemy broadcasts at that time, like VOA or Taiwanese Free China broadcasts. The reason short wave radios were still made under China's tight control, simply because in the remote areas there were no AM radio receptions.
"Asian music, too, is expanding its influence around the world". Including Japanese city pop.
The volume and tuning controls remind me of cheap looking special effects from sci-fi programmes. The buzzing when using the power adaptor wasn't interference, it was the sound of bees in a beehive! You could always try using an translation app on the text on the radio and in the booklet. Just a thought.
How obscure! Great video.
it's interesting that cold war era styling & aesthetics influences how people think of this radio when the actual guts of the thing are just cheap off-the-shelf generic radio components...reminds me of Crosley radios where they just bought the name & make new radios with vintage styling to make you think it's the original company making them again
I'm not sure if this is aimed at Chinese pensioners who had the original ones when younger, or people like Kevin who are facinated by the look. In the 1970s / 80s there were lots of novelty radios shaped like cans, bottles, and even Robots. Most were made in Hong Kong and sold in seaside novelty shops.
I've just thought of something. If you were to put 2 rechargeable D cell batteries into that radio, plus an 18650 cell, would all 3 batteries work together to power the radio once they're charged? I wonder if there'd be any dangers in doing so since most likely you'd be dealing with batteries of different chemistry types, I've not seen Lithium Ion D cells before and I'm quite certain that all 18650 batteries are Lithium Ion.
Great video ! 😊
Here in Italy we have at least one chinese radio-station 😉
Wasn't prepared for that surprise clip at the end. LOLx...
That plastic looks like the kind that if it falls it will shatter in a million pieces.
7:37 Hot Rize - Blue Night. Nice
I payed a visit to my friend's home during the Lunar New Year early this year and I spotted the exact same 753F placed on a small coffee table next to his grandpa's rocking chair. Seems like Asians are hyping their radio fidelity over aesthetics and this is testified with the 753F and 5-Core radios which are sold like hot cakes in China and India respectively.
You have aquired [Chinese Radio]!
+10 Social Credit
Music out of thin air. Chinese magic!
😁
98.7 is WPEN-FM you must be close to Philadelphia. I am in Camden County.