Hacker radio from the seventies with solid hardwood side panels typical of the period.
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- Hacker Consort – Top Front
This example is in excellent condition having very little signs of use. The dial is very clear with two tone green / white lettering. FM tuning extends to 104MHz rather than the 108MHz that is now standard, This was to avoid the general public tuning in to UK police that used the adjacent FM band for two-way radio. “Victor foxtrot two-seven” was how many learnt the phonetic alphabet by illegally tuning in to listen in.
Mains and batter power allows portability and economy when required. Use of a simple detachable power lead makes it easier to unplug the radio and continue battery powered. So many cheaper sets had captive power leads that were a pain to unplug so remained tethered.
These were expensive radios though and Hacker could not compete with cheaper Japanese radios from Sony, Sanyo and Hitachi that flooded the market amid three day weeks and power cuts that plagued the seventies. Shame as Hacker made some of the best radios at the time – in my view out performing Roberts Radios who did survive the foreign import competition.
The Consort was a mid range model good quality with less functionality than the Soveriegn III and IV or Hunter.
17/08/2015 at 3:00 am
Hi,
Your article on the Hacker Consort I found informative, thank you.
I am looking for a Hacker Consort, I was wondering if you may know where I can obtain one please.
My regards
Lee
17/08/2015 at 10:13 pm
Thanks for the feedback. Yes these later Hacker radios are very good solid quality sets worth finding. They do come up occasionally on eBay – there’s one available currently for £70 – but I’d try to avoid couriers like MyHermes who don’t treat fragile packages with any regard and may well arrive with broken ferrite aerial or worse.
I probably still have the one featured somewhere – will have a look.
Rick
05/11/2015 at 10:50 pm
I have a Hacker Consort which plays well on MW and LW but even at full volume on FM will only pick up the local FM stations and none of the national ones, any ideas?
08/11/2015 at 12:50 am
There are several things you could try: Is the FM aerial wire still connected? On some Hackers it’s attached by a clip that can spring off so check if it’s rattling around and if so clip back in place; Are any of the wires connecting the FM tuner (in a metal can with holes) touching the metal case – I’ve found this happens on the Sovereign and caused weak FM reception. If neither of these then it could be a transistor in the FM tuner box – may be an BF115 – I can’t remember will check when I get time. I’ve has these blow due to static charge from the telescopic aerial which causes this fault.
14/03/2023 at 11:25 pm
You state that Roberts survived the seventies problems , today’s Roberts radios have nothing to with old Roberts company, it just there name stamped on any rubbish, that has no chance of becoming a vintage radio. Regards JH
15/03/2023 at 6:29 pm
Roberts, like all UK manufacturers, have to compete with imports from the far east where production costs are far cheaper mainly due to cheap labour. This will change as China’s economy allows a more prosperous middle class and wages rise pushing production to the next emergent country. It’s a bit harsh to describe Robert’s radios as rubbish – they compete on functionality at the expense of serviceability – although they do still offer a service repair option. I hope this will change as the right to repair movement gains hold and manufacturers are forced to consider electrical waste and lifecycle costs with the producer pays principal of taxation. Who knows what will be seen as ‘vintage’ in the future but what’s likely is it won’t work. It’s near impossible to repair modern radios unlike what we now consider vintage and have the capability to keep running by self repair. At least vinyl LPs now out sell CDs so there’s some hope consumers do want to own products rather than subscribe to endless upgrades or a digital meta verse!