The Nordmende Mambino is an early transistorized portable radio from Germany.

The radio's case is leather over thin plywood, typical of this very early transistorized unit. This radio dates from the early 1960s, and here's a link to a Flickr stream with a 1962 ad for this radio. 

The frequencies on the dial read "5.2" to "15" for Medium Wave, and "150" to "250" for Long Wave. The Long Wave band does not currently work, and despite the dial markings, the radio does receive a local station that's at 1590 kHz. The user selects the band via the ivory-colored switch at the top edge of the unit. The power and volume control knob is to the left of this switch.

The internal ferrite antenna is about 7" long (the radio is about 9" wide and 4" tall) which helps it pull in stations very well. Power was originally supplied by 2 4.5V batteries.  When I received it, there was a dead No. 266 (NEDA 1605) 9 volt battery in the case.  I added my own touch by installing a holder that takes 6 AA cells, and it works beautifully.  Sound on this unit is very good for a radio of this size.

Other than the fact that LW does not work on this unit, the only other defects are the missing strap that attaches to each side of the unit, and the small dent in the metal grille that you can see in the photo.

This unit came to me in early 1999 courtesy of Larry at (S&S Electronics, Morton Grove, Illinois), who is one of the best resources for these old radios and their history.

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