Manufactured in Japan in 1959, the Channel Master Model No. 6504 is the oldest radio that I own, making the 1964 Westinghouse radio featured here, my second oldest. The 6504, which was popular due to its affordability, features five transistors, and is powered off of a single 9V battery. Optional accessories include a leather carrying case (shown to the left of the radio), an earphone that could be plugged into the side for private listening, and an external antenna that could be plugged into the top of the unit for improved reception. All of these accessories were sold separately for the 6504, but were included by default with the 6503, the nearly identical sibling of the 6504.

When I purchased it for $2 at my favorite hospice-owned secondhand store, I noticed that part of the fascia where the volume knob had been slightly melted by either sunlight or other source of heat, making it somewhat deformed, but this small blemish doesn't hinder the use of the volume control. Plus, it's an imperfection I'm more than happy to live with; in fact, every device I have has its own imperfections, however small or large such imperfections may be.

Poor contact due to a dirty carbon track on the volume control was the only issue I initially experienced with the radio, and this issue affects every aging potentiometer. However, this was easily fixed by applying contact cleaner to the tracks and wiper of the potentiometer. Further inspection showed that the 65-year-old capacitors are still in great shape, the tuning capacitor is not oxidized, and the speaker cone shows no evidence of rot. Plus, it sounds amazing for 1959. For testing, I started by scanning the local AM band to see how well the radio received local stations, and it received them loud and clear. I also tried uploading my AM Morse Code sketch to an Arduino, and the Morse Code interpretation of "1986" also came through loud and clear. I took the picture from the sill of my tech room's west window, just as the sun began setting.

Though I really don't have many AM radio stations around to listen to, I nonetheless highly enjoy having this small token of 1950s portable entertainment. I plan to use an Arduino in the future to create an AM line-level audio transmitter to make this and my other AM radios usable again.