Panapet

The Panapet radio was a round novelty radio on a chain, first produced by Panasonic in the early 1970s. Two chrome plated dials on the surface were for tuning and volume, and a tuning display was inset on the surface of the ball. The first Panapet was AM band only - no FM. An AM-FM version was released later. There was a jack for a mono earplug. The Panapet came in several colors including red, yellow, white, blue, and avocado green.

Soviet clone of this radio is called Saratov, named after the city where it was manufactured. While being similar externally, it is fully different internally. It is a nine-transistor TRF receiver with transformerless audio amplifier, while the prototype is a six-transistor superheterodyne, and its audio amplifier uses transformers. The clone has no chain, but has metal ring between ball halves instead. A later clone, LW superheterodyne with transformerless audio amplifier by the same manufacturer is called Batiskaf (means bathyscaph), it has chain and dial and lacks metal ring between halves, like in original Panapet. Another later clone, similar to previous one, but without chain, was manufactured in Khmelnitsky, it has 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics logo on its dial.

External links

• Original Panapet
• Soviet clone
• Later Soviet clone
• Another later Soviet clone