USSR Micro.

[Heatercathodeshort]

How many of you remember these? I was sorting out a box of aerial connectors when I discovered this tiny USSR manufactured MICRO that I purchased from Headquarters and General in 1968!
It is powered by a button cell and still works! I think it was the smallest working radio at that time. John.

[Restoration73]

There was also a small square keychain radio. The moulded symbol is for the exporter
"Mashpriborintorg". Some spares were held by the now-defunct J&N Factors.
Note the extended longwave band coverage for former east block area.

[mark pirate]

I had one of these little sets in my childhood, must have been around 1970.
All I remember was the batteries were hard to find & quite expensive at the time.


Mark

[wd40addict]

Do you mean 'Technical and General' who used to import lots of Russian equipment.

I note the instructions say the battery is rechargeable, is this true of you unit? Presumably from the comments above it was also used with primary cells.

I remember years ago my cousin was given a small square radio with rechargeable battery, I'm wondering if it was a relative of this set.

[greg_simons]

Originally Posted by wd40addict

Do you mean 'Technical and General' who used to import lots of Russian equipment.

I note the instructions say the battery is rechargeable, is this true of you unit? Presumably from the comments above it was also used with primary cells.

I remember years ago my cousin was given a small square radio with rechargeable battery, I'm wondering if it was a relative of this set.

Think it was technical & optical as memory serves, nice little piece though.
Greg.

[Heatercathodeshort]

The radio came complete with a little charger but it was not very satisfactory. I think it just tickled a standard button battery [POP!] Yes I think it was technical and Optical but I seem to remember them being sold by a few outlets. No doubt someone will unearth an old advert. It is switchable MW/LW. John.

[eaglework]

Ah yes - I had one of these - long since gone.
Used for listening to Week Ending on R4 once in bed - must have been early to mid 70's.

[Heatercathodeshort]

I discovered the original cell dated April 1968 that was supplied with the MICRO. It is said to be rechargeable but I doubt that in the true sense of the word. It is identical to the familiar PX625 in size and shape. John.

[paulsherwin]

I vaguely remember that they were NiCd, but had short lives and often leaked. They were used for a number of very small novelty radios in the late 60s - I don't think they were all Soviet built. There was a square shaped one with a small speaker which I think came from Hong Kong. It's a long time ago though.

[Later] This is the 'Hong Kong' one I was thinking of - apparently it was actually from the USSR too: https://www.vintage-radio.com/recent...icrosonic.html

[wd40addict]

I think that was the one my cousin had although maybe a different colour. It was given to him by relatives and I suspect the battery was no longer holding charge. Certainly I only remember seeing it once and being highly jealous, but we were both about 8/9!

[its ur aerial]

Originally Posted by wd40addict

Do you mean 'Technical and General' who used to import lots of Russian equipment.

I sure the company was called `Scientific and Technical`.

Ken G6HZG.

[paulsherwin]

That's what I remember too, though of course they did also sell optical stuff like Zenit cameras and binoculars. I worked not far from them in the early 80s.

[G6Tanuki]

Technical and Optical Equipment. They were agents for a bunch of USSR export operations. Mashpriborintorg was the USSR organisation behind them, importers of Astrad radio and Zenit cameras.

[paulsherwin]

Maybe they changed their trading name at times, accounting for the different recollections here.

[Heatercathodeshort]

Yes Paul, I recall that keyring model but I can't remember actually playing with one. Strange the items that pass through life. The instructions say you had to charge that tiny battery for 15 hours! John.

[Paul_RK]

Yes - "Technical and Optical" certainly existed, as witnessed by this promotional sheet for a slightly later "Russian miracle" - "Scientific and Technical" rings a few bells with me too though, perhaps from an earlier time, while "Headquarters and General", mentioned by John in the first post, was a mail order operation with no particular Russian connection.

The Vega Merlin featured here is itself a bit of a mystery, in that its box is printed "Designed and Assembled in England" - masked by tape on my example, but I've seen others where it wasn't.

Paul

[paulsherwin]

Maybe the confusion over the Merlin is something to do with the breakup of the USSR and Latvian independence in 1991.

[Reelman]

Laskys sold these in the early 70s for £2!

Peter

[G6Tanuki]

I remember "John Bull" selling something very similar back in the 80s, as 'damaged goods' due to battery leaks while in storage...

[Graham G3ZVT]

This is the keyring radio I remember having.

https://www.vintage-radio.com/recent...icrosonic.html

It was my dad that sent off for it, he might have got two, they were very cheap, and sold as not working because of battery leakage.

The charger was little more than a capacitive dropper and rectifier with a 2-pin plug and my dad charged the batteries in his the bedside light with a bayonet adaptor. I eventually dismantled one of them, and kept the bits in an elastoplast tin, I had never encountered such small components before.