The 1954 TR-1 had only four transistors with a single audio stage driving the speaker, while the later six-transistor units invariably had an audio amp stage following the volume control and feeding push-pull outputs through a driver transformer. Starting around 1960, the market was flooded with six-transistor pocket radios - with many of those made for American companies.
#OLD TRANSISTOR RADIO PARTS SERIAL NUMBER#
The question really was never answered because the actual production serial number on the commemorative TR-1 they found was not revealed.Īfter having the radio featured on the program, I started to wonder what it actually sounded like 62 years ago. The question for the ‘detectives’ was whether this was the oldest transistor radio in existence.
The radio I’m restoring in this article ( Figure 2) was featured on an episode of the PBS series “History Detectives.” There are a number of good websites to learn the history of the TR-1, and one of the most complete is The site is run by Don Pies, the son of Regency co-founder John Pies. Early advertisement for the TR-1.ĭespite its high price, Regency sold the first run of about 100,400 TR-1s before introducing the TR-1G (which was re-designed with a PNP output transistor) in 1956. An early advertisement is shown in Figure 1.įIGURE 1. Options included a leather case for $3.95 and an earphone for $7.50. Of course, the battery was “not included.” The TR-1 pocket radio was introduced just before Christmas 1954 and sold for $49.95.
(Industrial Development Engineering Associates) of Indiana to produce the first transistor radio under their Regency brand.
The main benefits of the devices were their small size and low power requirements, so they decided a transistor pocket radio would be a good product to introduce the technology to the public. When Texas Instruments developed a process to mass produce transistors in the early 1950s, they wanted to show the advantages over tubes to spur marketing.
0 kommentar(er)
