Fathers and sons

A week ago one of my old schoolmates sent me a message on FB. When he saw our YKON project and the radios we made he remembered the old radio of his godfather. The radio hasn't worked and they used it as a picture and plant holder 'device' for a while. It was a Velence R646 tube radio made in Hungary in 1955.

I was really happy to make him such a nice radio conversion because it wasn't a usual flea-market-found radio with an unknown story of scratches. It was real, it was a radio that still lives in the memories. So after the Bluetooth conversion which was a simple step because Marci needed only this function without any extra features like buttons or Phone Call.

As a first step, as always I started the process with outside and inside cleaning. 60 years old dust can be hard to remove but it has a positive and unexpected effect as well: save the wooden cabinet from sunlight.

The radio was in a perfect outside condition after the purification. The inside was dusty so I dissembled the whole thing and brushing every little part like knobs or the band searching glass.

We have converted the same model before so I knew that the original speaker meets the amplifier performance. I left there and it was a good decision. The original knob turns on and off the radio and a micro USB plug can power up the new YKON Bluetooth Radio!

After it was finished, I took it to Marci's place where I could also meet his father! It was a really interesting talk. And I would like to share it with you:

Elegant apartment with some folk motifs. Big green couch. Sunday afternoon. Good scents in the air. Warm lights.

Marci turned on the radio and played a BB King album. And it was working! After a long long time.

'It's unbelivable! It is very good! It is surprising how unfamiliar and pleasant this sound with the warm and deep tones. It is only surprising because, you know, it was there for 30-40 years without any use. It could be ruined easily but it's working now. Unbelivable!' - he said.

We were just sitting there and listening the stories from the good old days. I asked about the origin and the first owner of the radio.

'At that time my parents and my godparents were living together in that tiny house in Süly - called Tápiósüly at that time - to where we often go as well. Since then, we have inherited the house and the stuff inside. We tried to esteem everything there. So that this radio!'

But who was the first owner? Your grandfather?

'Look, I don't think that my father bought it because he died in 1974 so he was an old man. I think my godfather bought this radio in 1956. He was a rail man. He traveled a lot and was open to new things like that. He died in 1986.

'We often spent our summers there and I remember it was <<the radio>> for me.' - said Marci.

'Shortly after the death of my godfather the radio was broken and didn't work anymore. So, let's see, 32 years. It's so nice to listen it again here!'

'I remember that when I was a kid and my parents were turning the knobs gingerly in the kitchen. Maybe searching for the Free Europe radio station. I don't know... I remember the experience when I had to watch the fluorescent magic eye. It indicated the station or something like that. I'm really happy to see this radio and listening BB King! Stupendous!'

'You said we may bring it back to Süly.' - Marci said

'Yes, but I think you should use it with your technic. For me the telephone means only the SMS and phone calls.'

'You see, now you should use mom's old smartphone to listen BB King on the radio!' - explained Marci and smiled.

Then he turned to me:

I can not express how great it was to hear these old stories. When I was walking to home I thought that yes, this is the real meaning of YKON. Keep stories running, keep music playing and keep old radios in our life.

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