Tag: museum

Digging up a Dinosaur – a Boatanchor at the Children’s Museum

Last weekend, I took my children to the Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett, WA. On the roof, my daughter found this National NC-173 as part of a “dinosaur dig” exhibit. It may have been gutted. At the very least, the controls are certainly not original! The colorful, kid-resistant buttons cause a speaker to play a variety of recorded messages, supposedly radio communications with a base camp.

It has been painted so many times, I could hardly identify it. Through the paint, I found an engraved “80”, “40”, and “10-20” by what may have been a band switch. Peering harder, I could just make out the model number.

I’m not a boatanchor guy, and some might bemoan the loss of a historic radio. It made me smile to find it, though, and my daughter enjoyed playing with it. That’s enough for me.

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When I brought my children to the Imagine Children’s Museum (Everett, WA) last weekend, they showed me the “dinosaur dig” exhibit on the roof. There we found this National NC-173 receiver, of Kon-Tiki fame. It looks like it has been gutted. The controls certainly aren’t original. The brightly-colored, kid-resistant buttons cause it to play recorded messages from a “base camp” to the pretend-paleontologists at the dig.

I had to peer through layers of paint to read the engravings and identify it. The best remaining marking is “80”, “40”, and “10-20” by what may have been a band switch. I could barely find the model number under all the paint.

I’m not a boatanchor guy, and I understand that some might bemoan the loss of a classic receiver. My daughter enjoyed playing with it, though, and it made me smile to find it, so it’s all right with me.