This radio model is very fond to me, as it was the model of radio my grandmother had. So it’s something I’ll hold dear in my collection, reminding me of evenings when we listened to Radio România Cultural when I was just a little kid. Unfortunately, her radio is gone and I don’t know where it might have landed. So I was searching for a long time for one, and I was lucky to find one on a classifieds site. So, without further ado, let me present you the VEF Spidola 230-1.

VEF, or Valsts elektrotehniskā fabrika (State Electrotechnical Factory) was a factory founded in 1919 in Riga, Latvia, who manufactured a variety of goods, from photographic cameras, to radio and TV machines. During the soviet times, VEF focused on electronics and supplied the SOviet Union with telecommunications equipment and electronics for the millitary. They also built computers and computer parts (floppy disks, monitors, etc).

The Spidola radio line was the first mass-produced transistor radio with short wave band in the Soviet Union, being manufactured since 1962. The word “spidola” became a genericised trademark for “transistor radio” for a long time in Russian, and other synonyms included “transistor”.

Due to the decline of AM stations, the radio now receives the signal of very few stations, Radio România Actualități, the main public radio station on 567 kHz, 720kHz and 855 kHz. It also receives RR Antena Satelor, on 603 kHz and 1314 kHz (Shout out to Unchiul Costache and Nea Florica in the show Caruta 4x4).

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