Hacker are generally regarded as the best quality transistor radios available. I only have one which doesn't work, so cannot really comment, but they are certainly better made than Roberts. Most of the information on this page was kindly provided by Brian Millson.

RP18 Sovereign

Wavebands - VHF, MW, LW Transistors - approx 15 germanium transistors Date - 1965 ? Status - In my collection

I purchased one of these sets in the auction at the Summer 2004 Wootton Bassett swapmeet for £20. It was described as working, but doesn't! It crackles so the audio section is probably OK, however the rest of the set uses AF11x series transistors...

As with the other sets on this page, it has a substantial Goodmans speaker and uses 2 x PP9 batteries.

RP25 Soverign II

Wavebands - MW, LW, VHF Transistors - 16 transistors Date - 1967 Status - Contributed photo and description

Simon Hockenhull describes the repair of this model in the Recent Repairs section.

The photo and the following description were kindly supplied by Brian Millson:

This is a superb 16 transistor LW/MW/VHF set dating from 1967 and it has an 8" x 5" speaker. I bought it on eBay for £26.

RP34 Democrat

Wavebands - MW, LW Transistors - 9 transistors Date - 1967 Status - Contributed photo and description

The photo and the following description were kindly supplied by Brian Millson:

This is a 9 transistor MW/LW set dating from 1967 and like most Hackers is powered by 2 x PP9s. I bought this for £6 on eBay.

RP37 VHF Herald

Wavebands - VHF Transistors - 13 transistors Date - 1969 Status - Contributed photo and description

The photo and the following description were kindly supplied by Brian Millson:

This set dates from 1969 and has 13 transistors and is essentially an RP25 without the AM components. It is powered by 2 x PP9s. I bought this set for £8 at Wootton Basset and it is fine, except for the replacement aerial which lacks the directional knuckle (but what do you expect for £8!) FM band goes to 101 MHz.

RP38A Hunter

Wavebands - MW, LW, VHF Transistors - unknown Date - 1969 Status - Contributed photo and description

The photo and the following description were kindly supplied by Brian Millson:

A 9 transistor LW/MW/VHF set dating from 1969. It is powered by 2 x PP9s and has an 8" x 5" speaker. I purchased it from Graham Gosling at East Coast Wireless for £34.

RP71 Harrier

Wavebands - VHF Transistors - unknown Date - 1972 Status - Contributed photo and description

The photo and the following description were kindly supplied by Brian Millson:

This 7 transistor portable dates from 1972 and is FM only and is powered by 1 x PP9. I bought it on eBay for £15 and it is in mint condition. The 4" x 6" speaker produces a very good sound. FM band goes to 101.5 MHz.

RV20 Mayflower II

Wavebands - VHF (87 to 104MHz) Valves - ECC85, EF89, EF80, EF80, EB91, EM84, ECL86, ECL86, Metal Rectifier Date - 1962 Status - Contributed photo and description. Now one in my collection.

The photo and the following description were kindly supplied by Brian Millson:

This 8 valve set dates from 1962 and is FM only and goes up to 104 MHz. It sounds lovely. I got it from a for-sale advert on the Radiocraft site for £60 and it is my office radio.

I purchased one of these sets from Gerry Wells in December 2004 (he was selling a number of duplicates that had been donated to the museum) - I think I paid £25 for it. It is in excellent condition and working as-found but I haven't checked the state of the capacitors etc yet. It is very nicely made using relatively modern components so I am hoping it doesn't need much work as it would be a shame to disturb it.

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