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Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra

p.kaczmarek2 11814 52
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  • Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    Hello my dears .
    I recently got my hands on two Ania R612 radio receivers made by Unitra. Here I will show their interior, give clear pictures of the boards with commentary and post the full manual and catalogue notes of the components that are inside.

    Introduction and teardown .
    I rescued both radios from electro-waste, someone just wanted to throw them away. I know they don't have much value, but I have a lot of respect for Polish technical thought and old Unitra equipment, so I couldn't leave them like that, even though they were in quite poor condition - no antenna, broken handle, dirty casing:
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    The radio on the front has three knobs:
    - range selection (UKF/K/S/D)
    - tuning
    - volume (with switch)
    The rear presents itself as follows:
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    On the back we have:
    - space for batteries (5 R6, 7.5V)
    - connector for 230V power cable
    - headphone connector
    There is also the information Power Consumption: 3W.
    Fortunately, there were no batteries inside, although the condition of the contacts on one of the radios indicated that they had probably spilled out in there before.

    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    The case is held on by four flathead screws:
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    Care must be taken when opening - the cable from the antenna prevents the cover from being removed initially:
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    Fortunately the antenna connection can be removed:
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    Then the two parts of the housing are already held on by just two wires from the power supply:
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    Both radios open in one photo:
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    Inside, what immediately catches the eye is a large ferrite antenna, typical of such older receivers. Next to it we have a 1W 8Ω Tonsil GD8/1/2 loudspeaker. Directly on the main board is the jack connector from the headphones, and there is also another characteristic element, the adjustable capacitor (actually there are several trimmers inside it, not one).
    On the rear cover side is a separate board with a fuse and Greatz bridge. What was striking to me here was that the fuse was out of place - the radio must have fallen to someone.
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    The transformer can be removed, it is only held on by a plastic clip.
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra
    Signed is:
    UNITRA ZATRA
    TS2/22     .
    The main PCB has on board two ICs.
    UL1219 (equivalent to TDA1220B, heterodyne IC and A.M. mixer AM/FM intermediate frequency amplifier, AM/FM detector):
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    UL1497 (low-frequency amplifier; a loudspeaker is connected to it):
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    There are also transistors; BF195:
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    Diode 811 (BAP-811):
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    By the way, I noticed that one of the electrolytic capacitors no longer holds on to its solders (as I mentioned earlier, the radio must have fallen to someone):


    .
    I later corrected these solders.
    In order to remove the main board from the housing, you have to unscrew the screws holding it in place and then additionally remove the three knobs from the front of the radio:
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    After that, you can already admire its paths from below:
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    The paths on this board in no way resemble what we have in the devices now - they were probably run by hand, although who knows? Maybe someone reading this knows more about how these PCBs were made and will share the details.
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    Also visible here is the tuning mechanism with the cable:
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    Here, remember not to move the tuning after removing the electronics board, as the tabs on the plastic tuning piece must match the trimmer when fitting the radio back together.

    One of the radios had a section of the ferrite antenna PCB broken off:
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    As a result of this, one path with a resistor was also damaged:
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    I immediately glued the PCB together and repaired the path with a tin bridge:
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .

    First voice .
    This was not the purpose of this article, but after the minor adjustments described in the previous paragraph I managed to get the first voice out of both radios.
    The result in the videos:


    .


    .
    You can hear the cringing and from a distance you can see that there is still a lot of work left to restore them to good condition, but I'll talk about that in another topic.

    Need to tune the receiver .
    It is worth noting here that the Annie R612 receives on the UKF range 65.5 - 74MHz (the OIRT band; the so-called "lower band"), and these days stations transmit on the CCIR range (87.5 - 108MHz). The 65.5-74MHz band was used in Poland until 31 December 1999, so it's unlikely we'll be able to listen to much UKF on it without some tuning. However, this is not the subject of this post, and I am yet to undertake the tuning, so I will only write about it in a little while.

    Rebranding and Anna R612 for export .
    The radio from the topic was not only available in Poland. For example, in Germany it was available under the name Nordmende Essex 1654 or there in Czechoslovakia as Anja RT-432. Interior identical. You can read more about it here:
    https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/eltra_anja_rt_432.html
    https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/nordmende_essex_1654_986136_h_76986.html

    Manual from Unitra .
    Almost as impressive as the radio itself is its manual - downloadable here in the appendix:
    Ania_R612-..613.pdf Download (14.16 MB) .
    The manual includes the date - 1986 - which is over 30 years ago.
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    The manual has what is called an 'exploded view' - a breakdown of all the radio components/details:
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    In the manual there is, of course, a schematic diagram - but both the idea version and the with PCB:
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    There are even component leads described:
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    Voltages are also given, even those on individual IC pins:
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    Extremely detailed radio reception parameters are available:
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    Details of tuning and associated components are also described:
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra .
    In conclusion, the documentation of the Ania R612 receiver from Unitra in no way resembles the documentation of the equipment produced nowadays. It is very detailed and one gets the impression that it is written with the intention of making it easier to service and repair the receiver, so that it can work for a really long time.

    Attachments .
    I enclose here the catalogue notes of the components found in this receiver.
    BAYP95:
    BAYP95_CEM...ota.pl.pdf Download (130.73 kB) .
    BF194/BF195:
    BF194_Va..e.pdf Download (54.35 kB) .
    BF240:
    BF240 - B..41.pdf Download (63.61 kB)
    TDA1220B (counterpart UL1219):
    TDA122..pdf Download (418.48 kB) .
    UL1497/UL1490N:
    UL1490N_U..ra.pdf Download (604.14 kB) .
    BAP811:
    BAP811_CEM...ota.pl.pdf Download (1.24 MB) .
    Radio diagram itself:
    Interior of an old Polish radio receiver Ania R612 made by Unitra

    Summary .
    In this topic I have essentially limited myself to depicting the interior of the Ania R612 receiver. I also intend to get into its restoration and tuning in the future, but that's in another topic.
    In the meantime I invite you to comment - do you have any memories or anecdotes related to old Polish radios? Maybe some technical details? Or maybe someone will provide pictures of the inside of their receivers (hopefully in better condition than mine)?

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    p.kaczmarek2
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    p.kaczmarek2 wrote 11833 posts with rating 9931, helped 566 times. Been with us since 2014 year.
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  • #2 18760818
    Anonymous
    Level 1  
  • #3 18760833
    katakrowa
    Level 23  
    I've never been a big fan of communist-era electronics, although I have most fond memories of them. Even though the quality sometimes differed from the western competition, I have to admit that for the possibilities available at that time they represented a high level.
    Providing schematics is a great thing, which allowed to repair "independently" equipment, but the "exploded view" disarmed me completely :-) With today's ease of obtaining such a view from a computer, it is a shame that such material is not provided (I do not require this from cheap equipment).
    But the engineering, attention to documentation and technological processes in those days was at a much higher level. Today, everything is just to make it fast, produce it and forget it.
    I will not mention engineering in software development, because it is not even on the level of a vocational school from the communist times.... At ZPT in primary school there were higher requirements for documentation than today in IT companies :-) .
  • #4 18761481
    jaskowisnia
    Level 11  
    katakrowa wrote:
    I have never been a big fan of communist-era electronics, although I have most fond memories of them. Although it sometimes differed in quality from the western competition, I have to admit that for the possibilities that were available at the time, they represented a high level.
    Providing schematics is a great thing, which allowed to repair "independently" equipment, but the "exploded view" disarmed me completely :-) With today's ease of obtaining such a view from a computer, it is a shame that such material is not provided (I do not require this from cheap equipment).
    But the engineering, attention to documentation and technological processes in those days was at a much higher level. Today, everything is just to make it fast, produce it and forget it.
    I will not mention engineering in software development, because it is not even on the level of a vocational school from the communist times.... At ZPT in primary school there were higher requirements for documentation than today in IT companies :-)
    .

    Exactly, I started by rummaging around with this type of equipment back in the 1970s. Back then, as a rule, the demand was greater, or definitely greater for the more interesting equipment than the supply. There were also problems with repairing this type of equipment. While in the case of TV repairs, there was a network called ZURiT (Zakład Usług Radiowych i Telewizyjnych, also for sale) and there were a lot of private, more or less professional repairmen, in the case of audio equipment, especially the cheaper ones, there were sometimes problems with repair. Such a service was not very cost-effective. In the case of higher-end equipment, but also in the case of cheaper equipment, especially in smaller centres and in the countryside, there was a shortage of repairers willing and with the necessary knowledge. Manufacturers and technical publications tried to make life easier for users and repairers alike by issuing quite detailed manuals and instructions, so that the equipment could serve its purpose for as long as possible.
    As for printed circuit boards, they were probably designed and drawn by hand on a larger scale (2:1, perhaps larger for miniature devices), followed by photographing the drawing and exposing the laminate.
    However, despite its basic flaws, the communist era in many ways worked more sensibly than it does in the current world.
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  • #5 18761514
    Olkus
    Level 32  
    Hi. My experience with the tiles is that the tracks peel off.
  • #6 18761669
    398216 Usunięty
    Level 43  
    p.kaczmarek2 wrote:
    I glued and repaired the path with a tin bridge:
    Tin itself is not very mechanically robust, and already once cracked the laminate will also not reach its original strength after gluing. I would suggest reinforcing the solder with silver or a not too thick wire only flooded with tin....
  • #7 18761711
    pawelr98
    Level 39  
    I played with exactly the same radio as the author of the topic shows as a kid.

    I rescued a Dior DSP-301 "Duet" from the dumpster and took and tuned a "Tambourine" from the lot.

    "Duet" got a new power amplifier in the form of replacing 2xUL1481 of which one was defective with a TDA2009.
    I have no fondness for these ICs, I did what I needed to do.
    No point in putting in the same chip, which was not a reliable one.
    And I can buy the TDA2009 normally.

    And then there's the Diora AS632 export. Domestic OIRT head, export case (Dynamic Speaker TU960, scale 88-108 and French-English markings).

    All 3 tuned as expected with spectrum analysis using RTL-SDR.

    I can actually take pictures of the inside of these as well as the other units because I have some.
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  • #8 18761911
    rb401
    Level 39  
    p.kaczmarek2 wrote:
    probably they were run by hand, although who knows? Maybe someone reading this knows more about how these PCBs were made and will share the details.


    As much as possible was drawn by hand. The whole world used to do it that way, because the origins of PCBs are ancient times. Only the essence of the method was that the draughtsman made a drawing on a large sheet, at a high magnification, and then this was photographed with a large-format camera on the original negative already at a scale of 1:1, and from this negative the plates were made, which went into production (e.g. by screen printing and later technology with photoresists).
    Therefore, it was not a difficulty, because even if the draughtsman's hand trembled, you could not see it. Only that the technology was time-consuming.

    By the way, in the old days, masks for the production of integrated circuits were drawn by hand in the same way and the first Polish microprocessor from Cemi is said to have used this technology.

    Returning to PCBs, later, when digital integrated circuits and the resulting complication of connections on the boards became commonplace in Poland, designs were still made by hand, in enlargement. Except that they were no longer drawn with ink, but made with the use of special self-adhesive elements (so-called padding), i.e. ready-made soldering points and black narrow tape, which was quite flexible and made it possible to guide the paths along curves. And they were made not on paper but on dimensionally stable astralon film.
    But already the boards of this die-cut technology, very much resemble modern ones in appearance, because this technology dictated the use of circular points and fixed-width paths, although it was still fully handmade.
    And even later, it is known.
  • #9 18761926
    abart64
    Level 33  
    On YT I once watched a short report from Toral, an excerpt from the Polish Newsreel I think. Unfortunately I can't find it again. It was where a lady was plotting the paths on a film board. The drawing was underneath. The pads for the integrated circuits were already glued on, zoomed in at least 10 times. She ran the tape from pad to pad , with her fingernail she deftly pressed and peeled off the tape nicely on the pad.
    Without nails I don't think they hired for such work :) .
    If anyone comes across this video, please post it for younger people to see what it was like in the old days.
  • #10 18761999
    cirrostrato
    Level 38  
    My first job after graduation, year 1977, some prototype circuit was previously launched in the design office (unit production, few pieces per year) but the PCB required four layers (PCB for digital memory, about 40 DIL circuits, I hardly remember anymore....), the boss said it was unlikely we would find a manufacturer in the country, we did some thinking, drew out the future PCB into individual layers, single-sided boards (all by hand), then gluing (as described above), etching, drilling, someone from the team miraculously came up with, not produced in the country, A colleague with the "lightest hand" did not drink for a few days (in the office drinking was almost the order of the day, so I will not give specifics, as the company is still running), soldered the first board to the pins of the bases, put the second one on and soldered, then the third, the fourth...and that's how four-layer printing came about in quite primitive conditions. We didn't have PCs.
  • #12 18762355
    Anonymous
    Level 1  
  • #13 18762392
    kris8888
    Level 39  
    baseemitercollector wrote:
    .

    The same radio was produced by Stern-Radio Berlin, VEB, RFT.
    https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/stern_berl_jade_sr_30.html
    .
    Not the same, as this East German radio was already in a stereo version with two power amplifiers on board. Stereo listening on headphones or perhaps by connecting an additional external speaker.
    So compared to our Annie R612 a big improvement.
  • #14 18762530
    ^ToM^
    Level 42  
    kris8888 wrote:
    baseemitercollector wrote:
    .

    The same radio was produced by Stern-Radio Berlin, VEB, RFT.
    https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/stern_berl_jade_sr_30.html
    .
    Not the same, as this East German radio was already in a stereo version with two power amplifiers on board. Stereo listening on headphones or perhaps by connecting an additional external speaker.
    So compared to our Annie R612 a big improvement.


    This East German radio was actually co-operatively manufactured in our country for their market. This is evidenced by the markings on the schematic in the form of ULxxxx series chips.
  • #15 18762544
    ml
    Level 30  
    kris8888 wrote:
    baseemitercollector wrote:
    .

    The same radio was produced by Stern-Radio Berlin, VEB, RFT.
    https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/stern_berl_jade_sr_30.html
    .
    Not the same, as this East German radio was already in a stereo version with two power amplifiers on board. Stereo listening on headphones or perhaps by connecting an additional external speaker.
    So compared to our Annie R612 a big improvement.



    Eeee there.... The SR30 is our Annie R614
    https://www.oldradio.pl/karta.php?numer=151
  • #16 18762586
    ^ToM^
    Level 42  
    ml wrote:
    .
    Eeee there.... SR30 is our Susan R614
    https://www.oldradio.pl/karta.php?numer=151


    By all means, this option is also possible. In any case, two identical designs were not created by accident and only one design that was replicated by others within the block of socialist technical thought!

    "Das „Stereo-Radio 30“ wurde Ende der Achtziger als Gemeinschaftsentwicklung der DDR mit Polen vom Hersteller „Unitra-Eltra“ im polnischen Bydgoszcz (dt.: Reichenbach) produziert und über Stern Radio Berlin in der DDR vertrieben."

    Which should be understood as:
    "Stereo Radio 30” was produced in the late 1980s as a joint project between the GDR and Poland, by the manufacturer „Unitra-Eltra” in Bydgoszcz (dt: Reichenbach) in Poland and distributed in the GDR by Stern Radio Berlin."
    ".... The only thing I can see in the unit from GDR production is Dreko (this is probably about the tuning capacitor). The rest of the components are obviously from Polish production."

    "The device should probably satisfy the increased demand for radio equipment in the GDR at low cost, as most of the equipment was exported. In parallel to this device, the „Unitra Ania R612” was produced without a stereo decoder and headphone socket, but with an additional shortwave band and exported to the Federal Republic under its own name and as „Nordmende Essex 1654” (photos and descriptions in the „Import devices”) section."
  • #17 18763233
    Q1P
    Level 25  
    ml wrote:
    Eeee there.... SR30 is our Susan R614
    .
    ^ToM^ wrote:
    Any such option is also possible.

    Almost certain that this is an Eltra product. The instruction manual in which no information has been translated on the schematic can testify to this.
    Attachments:
  • #18 18763538
    Jacekser
    Level 26  
    p.kaczmarek2 wrote:
    The paths on this board in no way resemble what we have in devices now - they were probably hand routed, although who knows? Maybe someone reading this knows more about how these PCBs were made and will share the details.

    Phenol-formaldehyde laminate. Plates made by screen printing. Cheapest it was and quite mechanically poor (brittle). Tracks came off easily when overheated.
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  • #19 18763636
    Olkus
    Level 32  
    @Jacekser Exactly right. I guess that's the only thing I don't like about those receivers from that era.
  • #20 18764080
    ^ToM^
    Level 42  
    Jacekser wrote:
    The tracks came off easily when overheated.


    If you repair with a transformer they come off. If you use a soldering iron this problem does not occur. :)
  • #22 18764138
    ^ToM^
    Level 42  
    Jacekser wrote:
    .

    I've been using a similar one for years.You just have to hold it briefly over the gas -and quickly unsolder it :wink:


    All true, but how do you want to unsolder a guttering or other cannery.

    :D
  • #23 18764146
    Jacekser
    Level 26  
    ^ToM^ wrote:
    All true, but how do you want to unsolder a gutter or other tin.
    .
    I even reball with this flask- :D (it's an obvious joke).

    And just out of curiosity-what are the smallest AM-FM radios you know of (in terms of the number of components used necessary to make them work)?
    (TDA7000 and similar.)
    Just do not write about crystal radios ! :)
  • #24 18764167
    Olkus
    Level 32  
    Hi. I know of an 8 pin AM receiver IC with the designation ZN416. This chip comes from the USA and it is not available for purchase. There is also virtually no information about it. All I know is that the power supply is only 1.5v. I am writing about this circuit because I can't buy it anywhere and maybe someone had the opportunity to try it in practice? Regards.
  • #25 18764169
    ^ToM^
    Level 42  
    Jacekser wrote:
    .
    And just out of curiosity-what are the smallest AM-FM radios you know of (in terms of the number of components used necessary to make them work)?
    (TDA7000 and similar.)
    Just do not write about crystal radios ! :)
    .

    ZN414 (MK484 TA7642) - with this being AM only!
  • #26 18764170
    Olkus
    Level 32  
    I used to work on a project for an AM radio like this, but because I couldn't buy a chip anywhere, the project fell through.
  • #28 18764181
    Olkus
    Level 32  
    And when I searched a few years ago there was nothing.
  • #29 18764191
    Jacekser
    Level 26  
    Olkus wrote:
    And when I looked a few years ago there was nothing.

    By the way, sometimes something appears after many years on the internet, but more often than not, unfortunately, it disappears.This is how I collected data on some (old) components which I still have to deal with in my service (sometimes 50 years old!).Mainly paper ones.When I sometimes browse the net and find something interesting about a component I was looking for, I keep it on disk.This allowed me, for example, to modernise machine tools.Manufacturers - especially of machines - must have noticed this and started to shave the net of this information.
  • #30 18764232
    sq3evp
    Level 37  
    I once tuned one - after a long struggle (about 3 months of tuning by ear) I managed to achieve very good selectivity and sensitivity. For malcontents - the parameters are good for the class of receiver.

    After a few years I turned to the RM 121 and also managed to improve its performance. Now there are a lot of manuals on the web, but when it was trial and error without documentation. Analogue technology from the communist era will be useless in a while - DAB may take over the airwaves and only memories will remain.
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Topic summary

The discussion centers on the interior and technical aspects of the Polish Ania R612 radio receiver produced by Unitra, including its design, components, and repair experiences. The Ania R612 features a three-knob interface for range selection (UKF/FM, K, S, D bands), tuning, and volume control with a switch. The radio was rescued from waste and is noted for its historical and technical value despite modest market worth. The PCB manufacturing process in the era involved hand-drawn layouts, photographic negatives, and screen printing on phenol-formaldehyde laminate, which is mechanically brittle and prone to track peeling when overheated. The radio uses integrated circuits such as the TDA1220B, TA2111N, and CXA1691, with some versions incorporating the TDA1083. The Ania R612 is related to East German designs like the Stern Radio Berlin SR30 (Ania R614), produced cooperatively within the Eastern Bloc, with components often sourced domestically or from allied countries. Repair challenges include fragile PCB tracks and tuning difficulties, with some users reporting signal gain loss on LW bands possibly linked to automatic gain control (AGC) issues. The discussion also touches on the broader context of Unitra as a union of factories including Eltra, Diora, and Radmor, and the export of Polish radios under various brand names such as Royal, Quelle, Universum, and ITT. Modern equivalents and successors use different ICs like the CXA1119. The conversation includes references to schematic availability, tuning procedures, and the historical significance of these radios in the communist era's technical landscape.
Summary generated by the language model.
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