Omega Worldsound 2

The Worldsound 2 is a 10-band world receiver manufactured in China by the OMEGA Corporation. This is a 90s radio with seven shortwave (SW) bands covering the following ranges.

• 49 m
• 41 m
• 31 m
• 25 m
• 19 m
• 16 m
• 13 m

This is just a simple radio that many people would have in their attics, and just recently, I was having a clear out and found it. Although it appears as an average low-cost radio that many would have, its electronic design uses the CXA1019S integrated circuit (IC), manufactured by the Sony Corporation. Consequently, it is one of those rare designs, which will operate for a long period on just a pair of AA size batteries.

This radio measures 17 cm × 8 cm × 4 cm in size. The front selector switches are sliders, and the volume control is a manual sliding type. Tuning control is manual rotary, which is much more fun than tapping in frequency numbers. There is a socket for the headphones and a socket for an external adapter to power it. The adapter would have to supply 3 V / 150 mA DC.

Front Dial

The radio dial shows the following frequencies in scale.

OMEGA makes some of the best low cost radios, and you can still buy new models at extremely low prices on eBay.

Cost / eBay

This was a mass produced budget-end radio, however many people would have thrown theirs away and consequently it is an unusual item today. It has an interesting electronic design and average build quality. You can expect to find them on eBay for a few pounds. This would be of interest to electronic engineers mainly for the Sony radio IC, which was also used on high-end Sony radios.

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