Show us your vintage pocket transistor radios!

[tcdriver]

Jeff,

I too spent one summer listening to one of the local radio stations using the above pictured GE radio. It still works when I install the battery. I can not remember how much I paid for it, although, I am sure it was not much.

GE and RCA were rivals for many years. That ended when GE bought RCA in the late 80's or early 90's?

Nipper listening to "his master’s voice” has to be one of the great images to represent a company. A picture does tell a story. It was all downhill for RCA when they dropped Nipper from their record labels.

I posed Nipper for the photo. Normally he sits atop one of my AR3's at the front of the listening room. By searching the AK website using the keyword Nipper you may find another picture of him sitting in his usual spot.

tcdriver

[Chad Hauris]

Some of my transistor radios.

[maxm]

Here are two old transistor sets that belonged to my grandparents...
I guess they aren't "pocket" sets, though they could probably fit in a coat pocket.

The brown leather set is an AM only Regency TR-5, I don't have the right bettery, it took a "sqaure" 9V battery, but when I put in a regular 9V, it won'y work, thought I go it to work one by connecting a 9V adaptor.

The second set is a Philco AM/FM form Japan, I don't knwo the model.
Sadly, my grandma had a habit of leaving the battteries in everything she had after she put them away, including this radio. The corrosion has eaten away the battey contacts, as well as the wires connecting the batteries to the board, and to the power adaptor socket, I have to figure out the wiring, before I can evne plug in an adaptor to check it out.

[Charlie]

Found these at the tv shop yesterday. The one on the left is a Pearl Tone T-606. Six transistors. Could not find a listing for it. Tried putting batteries in it, but got nothing.

The one on the right is a Zenith Royal 500H. Eight transistors. My book says it's from 1962/63. Plays like a champ!

Both radios are AM, and use 4 AA batteries.

[polaraman]

Sorry, I had to jump in and show off my transistor radios. The odd thing in the middle is a radio that I have had since i was a kid in the early 1970's. It was a radio that you attatched to your bicycle. I had a Sears bananna seat orange bike and this was placed in the center of the big swooping handle bars. It also had a button that sounded a horn. I was really big stuff at that point. It was made by Radio Shack. It also was detatchable and could remove it if you parked your bike.

polaraman

[Charlie]

That's a cool looking Global, SM. I was just looking at it in my transistor radio book... it kinda reminds me of an alien communicator from the original Star Trek series.

[Wornears]

This OPTALIX pocket transitor radio from France was my wife's first. It's about 8-inch long X 5-inch high. Her dad was stationed in Monaco at the time, and he bought this for her in the mid-to-late '60s. I don't know anything about it, but can see that it is tuned for Euro-freqs given BBC, EUR, FR1 station logos. The tuner knob is recessed at top-right, and the on/off/volume is below it (both not visible in photos).

Interestingly, it opens up like a lady's compact -- with a push-in button clip opposite a piano hinge for the two halves. The case is molded plastic with a cream-colored leatherette cloth covering. Once inside the internals are visible on one side, and it has a heavy paper cover over the two 4.5V batteries, which my father-in-law had "wired" (kludged) to accept a single 9-volt. It has the tiniest Audax speaker I've ever seen (red button is the back). The "A" is a rubber plug that covers the earphone jack.

Does this show up in anyone's books?

[soundmotor]

Originally Posted by Charlie

it kinda reminds me of an alien communicator from the original Star Trek series.

And that is E-X-A-C-T-L-Y what I thought it was when I saw it at a yard sale a couple summers back. Figured it was a Playmates or similar version as shown below. From 10 feet away, that is how it looked to me. I guess Trekkie minds think alike!

[Charlie]

Interesting. The white switch at the top is obviously the band selector. I wonder what the red switch at the bottom does? Attractive set! Looks like it was well cared for.

I didn't find that brand in my book, but, I did find one on the internet. I looks the same as yours, but in a different color. They even show a pic of the insides with the 4.5 volt batteries in place.

http://www.hilberink.nl/toptalix.htm

[alexkerhead]

I have here a Elgin-10
ten transistors
Model R-3100
AM only

Sorry about the aweful picture quality, my digital camera is almost 10 years old.

[Wornears]

Charlie: I got my wife to examine the Optalix and she pointed out that I thought the switch moved between "C" (at top of slider) and "R" (at bottom of slide); but she corrected me -- it is really "C" and "A".

The "A" I pointed out earlier from the inside images, is not an earphone jack -- it is a power jack. I found an earphone jack just under the strap's mounting pin.

So, she thinks "A" on the switch stands for Auxiliary, as in external power source, and the "C" on the switch is for running it off its batteries. The fact it is a red switch makes it likely it is power related, too, I think.

She was 13 when she got it and never hooked it up to "A" -- "I always walked around with it up to my ear tuned to Radio Luxembourg."

[Wornears]

Hi Charlie:

Thanks for the link and extra info on the OPTALIX. I'll see if my wife can remember what the red switch does. Her French is fluent, but she might not remember what it was for.

Charlie, you sound like me. I once bought am radios on ebay.
Doesn't anyone here remember the Panasonic Ball radio? Or the toot a loop?
AM radio rocks! how else are you going to listen to sports radio like ESPN?
aloha,
jeff

[Haggis]

If I get this right, you should see a picture of a few of my faves. 3 Sony ICRs, L to R: - an ICR-120, an ICR-200 and an ICR-100.
In the foreground is a rechargeable battery as used in the 2 small ones (the ICR-200 also uses rechargeable batteries, a little bigger). Both the ICR-120 and ICR-200 were supplied with a "walwart" style charger but the ICR-100 has an ingenious case which the radio fits into. When the case is closed, two pins fold out for insertion into a US type wall socket. An example of the charger is in front of the radios.
The volume of these radios is remarkable and for an idea of size, the little medallion on the end of the chain is about the size of a nickel!
Cheers! Haggis.

Hello,
Vic here, (vjf2549@optonline.net)
I just recently found this site and am beginning to try it out.
I collect transistor radios They can be viewed at geocities.com/vicsradios .
I am currently in need of a hopefully FREE copy of a Zenith Royal 85 schematic. If anyone can help, please e-mail me a copy????Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks, and keep up the good work.