Joseph Goebbels' People's Radio VE-301 Dyn

[Wagriff]

I picked this radio up not too long ago, simply because it was in such fine condition and the price was irresistible. It is the top of the line of Goebbels' People's Radios. These radios came in something like 7 or more different models, styles, etc, but the VE-301 Dyn Volksempfänger was the top of the line. Even so, it was a cheap radio and was Designed to be-it cost the average German worker 2 weeks salary at 75RM. What made this model better was the electrodynamic Speaker(hence the "Dyn" bit in it's name). After 5 years of sales, the number of these radios was in the area of 9 Million sets. Unfortunately, they carried a Swastika on the front(with the VE-301, it had Two eagles) so after the war, many of these sets were either trashed or defaced. They were a handy sized set measuring about a foot tall by 10 inches wide and 7 inches deep. Just right for anyone's living room table or shelf. The case was made of an attractive dark brown Bakelite plastic.(Annoyingly brittle stuff). This one was made by the H. Mende Company of Dresden which still exists in one form or another to this day. It's interesting to imagine what famous speeches and voices must have been heard through this set. The Name..."VE301" also had a hidden meaning. The VE part was for Volksempfänger and the "301" stood for January 30,1933-the day the Nazi Regime took power.

[Walkwolf]

Nice radio William. This one has been taken care of,
or was stashed away a long time. As well as a
tube chart, I see it has a 'hum' adjustment
on the back.........

[AZPhil]

A Beautiful addition. So have you plugged it in and warmed them old tubes up and see if she still works?

Semper Fi
Phil

[reneblacky]

Wow! now that's a score and a half Very impressive

[Wagriff]

Fortunately, I, once upon a time ago, used to repair radios. It runs on 220 Volts rather than our 110 here in the States, but I do have a converter just to test it with and yes...it still works fine. Didn't hear Goering threatening to bomb Britain into rubble on it, but the capacitors and the dynamic speaker are all firing on 8!

[Wagriff]

The VE301 Dyn was lonely, and so, when this baby brother DKE 38 showed up for nearly nothing, I decided to bring it home and reunite it with it's relative. The DKE38 was manufactured, oddly enough in 1938-which is what it's name means -Deutcher Kleinempfänger or "Little German radio made in 1938". (The old Germans were always So imaginative!) The cost of it was cheap so as to be available for the average working class family in Germany. More wealthy Germans had, of course, much better radios, but these were passable and did their jobs-which was getting the speeches of Hitler and the Nazi Party out there to the population. The cost of these little cheapies was about 35 Reichsmarks, or about a week's average salary. It is, as you can see by the lousy photo, much smaller than the more costly VE301's, and it measured only 9.5 inches square from the front, and only 4.5 inches deep. It features some unusual by American standards features, such as having it's on and off switch located on the back and is a disturbingly crude bare metal lever. It, thankfully, warns on the back above it to "Keep away from wetness!". Not something I would need to read twice to obey. But, at any rate, yes it does work but needs a good wire antenna to bring in much. It only has 2 tubes. It was AM stations only and was intended mainly for city dwellers, so that was fine in any case. It's big brother, as you can see was quite happy to be reunited with his family member again after over 70 years separation.

[Combat Boots]

Awesome condition for their age! Bakelite is very brittle and cracks easily. You did a fine job cleaning them up! Did you replace the caps? Thanks, Bob

[Wagriff]

I haven't messed with them electronically, as they actually are doing fine for ancient radio parts. I just took the dust out and off of them and gave them abit of a polish and set them on the shelf. I Suspect that the little DKE may have been recapped at some time in it's lifetime, but there's nothing wrong with that-it doesn't alter it. Most all the parts in them are profusely stamped with eagles and swastika's everywhere you look, so I'd say that their parts are all genuine and proper in any case. I did plug them in for a few minutes each, just long enough to make sure nothing was going to go "Poof!" in them, and that was fine enough for me. But..if I want to listen to music, I'll stick with my beloved Sansui 9098db and it's quad set of JBL L112 speakers! lol

[Combat Boots]

I too used to mess with old radios and would enjoy listening to our local station that played music from the 40's & 50's. You just couldn't have any lights on that used a dimmer, any fans or florescent lighting or it was static city!
Very nice job on these two and a fine addition to the collection! Bob

[Glenn66]

You should be able to obtain digital recordings of some wartime speeches and broadcast them on a small range AM transmitter AM1C AM Broadcast Band Transmitter Kit and then tune in and listen to them in the original format.