Hello all,

My girlfriend's father was a correspondent for the Voice of America for many
years, and before he died a few years ago he gave her a Westinghouse Model
RF43W070 portable radio that he had taken with him on his assignments to
Africa and Asia. The radio is in pretty much like-new condition, with the
exception that the AC adaptor has been lost. There is a jack for a "9V
adaptor" on one side, but I have no other details about the sort of adaptor
this would need. She would like to listen to the radio more, perhaps more
for old-times sake than any other reason, but she would prefer not to have
to run it off batteries all the time.

Does anyone know where I can find an AC adaptor that will work with this
radio? I'd love to surprise her with one if possible. Any information would
be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

--Larry

the critical thing is to get the polarity right on the adaptor. so one
fine day when you're over there with a small DVM in your pocket, and she
skips up to the can or out to weed the garden or something, slip the
back off. fire up the meter, put one probe on the outside conductor of
the adaptor, and touch the other one to both of the battery leads, each
in turn. one will give you voltage if you are not watching the
interrupted lead on the adaptor jack... if you don't get voltage either
way, you need to look more closely at the adaptor and find the outside
lead before it is interrupted.

once you get a reading, note the polarity (useful if you use the red
lead to chase the adaptor jack so you and the meter are both clear about
where you are seeing things.) if polarity at the red lead is positive,
then the center has to be negative. if you see -8.56 volts or similar,
the center has to be positive.

find an adaptor and plug at radio shack that fits, fit the magic plug
the right way to put the polarity the right way, and you are in like
Flynn.

get it backwards... well, depending on how they made the radio, if there
is not a diode that shorts the adaptor plug if you hook it up backwards,
ugly can happen.

wrote:

Hello all,

My girlfriend's father was a correspondent for the Voice of America for many
years, and before he died a few years ago he gave her a Westinghouse Model
RF43W070 portable radio that he had taken with him on his assignments to
Africa and Asia. The radio is in pretty much like-new condition, with the
exception that the AC adaptor has been lost. There is a jack for a "9V
adaptor" on one side, but I have no other details about the sort of adaptor
this would need. She would like to listen to the radio more, perhaps more
for old-times sake than any other reason, but she would prefer not to have
to run it off batteries all the time.

Does anyone know where I can find an AC adaptor that will work with this
radio? I'd love to surprise her with one if possible. Any information would
be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

--Larry

-- If it's a "new economy," why do they want my obsolete old money?

the critical thing is to get the polarity right on the adaptor. so one
fine day when you're over there with a small DVM in your pocket, and she
skips up to the can or out to weed the garden or something, slip the
back off. fire up the meter, put one probe on the outside conductor of
the adaptor, and touch the other one to both of the battery leads, each
in turn. one will give you voltage if you are not watching the
interrupted lead on the adaptor jack... if you don't get voltage either
way, you need to look more closely at the adaptor and find the outside
lead before it is interrupted.

once you get a reading, note the polarity (useful if you use the red
lead to chase the adaptor jack so you and the meter are both clear about
where you are seeing things.) if polarity at the red lead is positive,
then the center has to be negative. if you see -8.56 volts or similar,
the center has to be positive.

find an adaptor and plug at radio shack that fits, fit the magic plug
the right way to put the polarity the right way, and you are in like
Flynn.

get it backwards... well, depending on how they made the radio, if there
is not a diode that shorts the adaptor plug if you hook it up backwards,
ugly can happen.

wrote:

Hello all,

My girlfriend's father was a correspondent for the Voice of America for many
years, and before he died a few years ago he gave her a Westinghouse Model
RF43W070 portable radio that he had taken with him on his assignments to
Africa and Asia. The radio is in pretty much like-new condition, with the
exception that the AC adaptor has been lost. There is a jack for a "9V
adaptor" on one side, but I have no other details about the sort of adaptor
this would need. She would like to listen to the radio more, perhaps more
for old-times sake than any other reason, but she would prefer not to have
to run it off batteries all the time.

Does anyone know where I can find an AC adaptor that will work with this
radio? I'd love to surprise her with one if possible. Any information would
be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

--Larry

-- If it's a "new economy," why do they want my obsolete old money?

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:22:47 GMT, wrote:

Hello all,

My girlfriend's father was a correspondent for the Voice of America for many
years, and before he died a few years ago he gave her a Westinghouse Model
RF43W070 portable radio that he had taken with him on his assignments to
Africa and Asia. The radio is in pretty much like-new condition, with the
exception that the AC adaptor has been lost. There is a jack for a "9V
adaptor" on one side, but I have no other details about the sort of adaptor
this would need. She would like to listen to the radio more, perhaps more
for old-times sake than any other reason, but she would prefer not to have
to run it off batteries all the time.

Does anyone know where I can find an AC adaptor that will work with this
radio? I'd love to surprise her with one if possible. Any information would
be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

--Larry


The easiest thing would be to go to the hardware store or Radio Shack,
and get one of their universal AC wall transformers that provides
multiple voltages, multiple-size plugs, as well as a switch to go from
positive to negative polarity. Try out the various plugs and voltages
-- or just go to 9V -- and try the polarity switch both ways. The
radio should power right up. These multi-voltage transformers run
about $10-$15.

Bob
k5qwg

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:22:47 GMT, wrote:

Hello all,

My girlfriend's father was a correspondent for the Voice of America for many
years, and before he died a few years ago he gave her a Westinghouse Model
RF43W070 portable radio that he had taken with him on his assignments to
Africa and Asia. The radio is in pretty much like-new condition, with the
exception that the AC adaptor has been lost. There is a jack for a "9V
adaptor" on one side, but I have no other details about the sort of adaptor
this would need. She would like to listen to the radio more, perhaps more
for old-times sake than any other reason, but she would prefer not to have
to run it off batteries all the time.

Does anyone know where I can find an AC adaptor that will work with this
radio? I'd love to surprise her with one if possible. Any information would
be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

--Larry


The easiest thing would be to go to the hardware store or Radio Shack,
and get one of their universal AC wall transformers that provides
multiple voltages, multiple-size plugs, as well as a switch to go from
positive to negative polarity. Try out the various plugs and voltages
-- or just go to 9V -- and try the polarity switch both ways. The
radio should power right up. These multi-voltage transformers run
about $10-$15.

Bob
k5qwg