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The RDA-127 is a multi-band radio made by Worldstar Ltd. of Hong Kong for a Readers Digest Magazine promotion. It is almost, but not quite identical to the Worldstar MG-6000 which first appeared in the U.S. around 1972-74. The RDA has relocated accessory plugs in order to fit a built-in battery charger, a feature not found on the original MG-6000. The other components including small speaker, twin whip antennas, etc. seem to be the same. Worldstar altered their basic multi-band radio chassis into a boombox with larger speakers, then a cassette deck when the shortwave radio boom of the 1970s began to fade: boombox buyers must have found these hybrid cassette players with multi-band capability unusual to say the least, and they eventually died out.
I would say the radio is still a useful emergency radio when the power goes out, as one can listen to police, weather, and some TV station broadcasts along with AM/FM broadcast stations. Put in some rechargeable batteries and you're good to go. It's certainly as good or better as most of those $35 'emergency' radios being hawked these days. It is NOT a terribly sensitive receiver, though: I have found many other radios from that era with considerably better reception on the AM/FM and police bands. It's fairly deaf on the shortwave bands using the whip. The external antenna port is a nice feature, but the front end tends to overload badly on the shortwave bands with an external antenna of any considerable length: a single powerful AM station can swamp the entire shortwave.
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