In the mid 1970's CB radio became the rage and I joined in. Had a Cobra mobile in my room and a Big Stick antenna on the roof. Many a late night I was up screaming into the mic trying to get some skip. Hey, I was a kid and clueless.

Then in the late 70's I was visiting a friend's house when I saw an old Zenith Trans-Oceanic with frequencies that I never seen before. I had to turn on that radio and was surprised when an English broadcast came in loud and clear but with a strange accent. It was Radio Nederlands. Can you say Heroin?

I finally bought my first shortwave radio. It was a Panasonic RF-B300. It traveled the world with me and another radio that took quite a beating. First the dial lights burned out. then slowly knobs and switches wore out. I had a radio engineer do his best to save the radio back in the late 90's. It lived another 10 years before it died. The pic is my old friend. I do not have the heart to toss it or to cannibalize it for parts.It pulled in great DX for 30 years.
I replaced the Panasonic with a RadioLabs tweeked Sangean Super 909. I love this radio. It is light and portable.
The RadioLabs tweeks made a great radio even greater. I look forward to using this radio for 30 years.