Panasonic RF-4900 Communications Receiver - Shortwave, Medium Wave AM, FM

This is a quick look at the Panasonic RF-4900 receiver. It features continuous coverage from 530 kHz to 30 MHz with AM and BFO (CW/SSB), as well as FM from 88 MHZ to 108 MHz. In addition to the video, at the end are several still pictures showing good views of all of the controls and dials. The volume knob on this receiver has been replaced. The radio has four antenna connectors on the back in addition to a ferrite rod antenna for medium wave. It can be powered by 120 V AC, external 12 V DC or D Cells internally. The radio features both analog tuning scales and a digital display. The lights and/or the display can be switched off. There are headphone and audio recording outputs. The large front-facing speaker gives great audio. For this quick demo I tuned around the AM band, getting the classified call-in on WKAC. On shortwave I got Radio Havana above 15 MHz and WRMI below 9.5 MHz. To try out the BFO I tuned in some ham SSB and CW on 40 m, and some commercial or government RTTY above 12 MHz. The FM was WLRH-FM. The antennas for this were just some short pieces of wire indoors (and the ferrite rod antenna for the MW band). December 1, 2018