Weird, oddball sets that you may not have seen..

[Aub]

Originally Posted by stevehertz

Here's another one weird one. It's a Zenith Royal 16 transistor set. It opens like a clam shell and is shaped to drop easily into a pocket just like a wallet, hence the nickname 'Billfold' set.

Blimey, 16 transistors! ( Ha! )

Cheers

Aub

[Paul_RK]

Just 8

We did have a thread a while back concerning AM pocket radios with actually absurd transistor counts - I'm sure there were some 15s, maybe 16 too. As with our own Fidelity Fairline, some of the claimed transistors had only two legs connected to anything: possibly in some instances only one leg, or none at all...

Paul

[stevehertz]

How's about an Air King bakelite Egyptian set. Up for sale at £12k if anyone is interested..

[Lloyd 1985]

ooooooh, tempting!

[usradcoll1]

Originally Posted by Aub

Blimey, 16 transistors! ( Ha! )

Cheers

Aub

Zenith never "bloated" the transistor count! It's just a model number!
I have a little larger Zenith transistor portable radio, MW band only, a Royal 66. It only has 7 transistors.
Good thing I looked the see the transistor count, as one of the Alkaline AA cells was leaking.
Dave, USradcoll1

[stevehertz]

Originally Posted by usradcoll1

Zenith never "bloated" the transistor count! It's just a model number!
I have a little larger Zenith transistor portable radio, MW band only, a Royal 66. It only has 7 transistors.
Good thing I looked the see the transistor count, as one of the Alkaline AA cells was leaking.
Dave, USradcoll1

I can't speak for Aub, but I doubt very much that he thought the set had 16 transistors, it's a bit of British humour. The inference being that the '16' was an attempt by Zenith to make people believe that it did have 16 transistors. The giveaway is the ( Ha! ) that Aub wrote after "16 transistors".

[Aub]

Originally Posted by stevehertz

I can't speak for Aub, but I doubt very much that he thought the set had 16 transistors, it's a bit of British humour. The inference being that the '16' was an attempt by Zenith to make people believe that it did have 16 transistors. The giveaway is the ( Ha! ) that Aub wrote after "16 transistors".

Yes, quite Steve

Aub

[Paul_RK]

Originally Posted by stevehertz

I can't speak for Aub, but I doubt very much that he thought the set had 16 transistors, it's a bit of British humour. The inference being that the '16' was an attempt by Zenith to make people believe that it did have 16 transistors. The giveaway is the ( Ha! ) that Aub wrote after "16 transistors".

I suppose some consumers of a non-technical disposition may have been led by the model number to think they were buying a 16 transistor radio - after all, why would a Zenith set be any less sophisticated than

https://i.etsystatic.com/6520363/r/i...44919_in5h.jpg

https://i.etsystatic.com/6520363/r/i...86736_c4k0.jpg

That one and its kindred surely merit the "weird, oddball" category. I've never quite summoned the curiosity to have one shipped here: for whatever reason none of them seem to have been marketed on this side of the pond.

Paul

[stevehertz]

Indeed Paul.

[livewireless123]

Here's an oddball set,it's a model of Elvis stood on top of a 6 transistor radio.
we were selling these in a shop I worked at in 1977 which would be when
he 'left the building' I think I got it because I thought it was so weird and possibly might be a collectors item some day.
I remember a gathering at a friends house where on had to produce the
'Naffest' item you had. Can;t remember if it won the competition.

[stevehertz]

Australian, Melbourne made Astor Mickey Grand of 1935 - stunning design with wonderful Queensland ' burl ' maple veneers.

[Richard_FM]

The market for novelty shaped radios seems to have dried up.

The 1970s seems to have been the golden age of them, mostly a basic MW circuit board with just tuning & volume controls in a shaped plastic enclosure. Some at least had some articulation, like the Mr Radio presenter at a desk with a moving mouth.

Tandy stocked a range made by Waco shaped like yachts & vintage cars.

Some later ones had FM using one of those radio on a chip circuits.