The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I saw one of these -- I believe it was an RP-2 -- at a wireless meet this spring and, though I didn't pick it up, it piqued my curiosity. Does anyone have any experience with either of these? According to radiomuseum, these record players are supposed to transmit to somewhere between 530 and 580 kHz. Do they actually work? Has anyone restored one? And are their pickups crystal?

You might try directing your question to the Antique Radio Forum. https://antiqueradios.com/forums/index.php

I’ve always wanted one of these AM Transmitter types of 78rpm turntables. They make AM radio fun again!

I restored one (a Motorola) a couple years ago. Mine, as I believe most are was very simple and straight forward. The model I have is a changer which is nice because then I can put a stack of records on and let it play. I'm not an expert, but I feel confident in saying that these all would use crystal cartridges. These were inexpensive units to allow people who had a radio without a phono input to be able to listen to records without having to buy a whole new radio-phono or complete phonograph unit. So similar to the one-tube wonders, they need a high output cartridge to drive them. I've tried even my highest impedance horseshoe magnet pickup and it was too weak. You might be able to use the P-51 cartridge most people use to replace the old crystal thumbscrew types but I don't have first hand experience with that. These units also are designed to be in pretty close proximity to the radio you are playing it through. However you can experiment with antennae lengths on BOTH the record player and radio to be able to broadcast greater lengths. I have mine located centrally, that way I can listen to radios in each end of the house. But it took a while to get the antennae balance right. I also think the sound it produces is very pleasing. I'm not sure if it is because of the limitations of AM broadcasting or the transmitter providing a sort of equalization but scratch and hiss are practically eliminated. Of course the quality of radio helps too, but I've enjoyed excellent results on both vintage radios of the 30's-60's and modern.