Focusing on the design of pocket transistor radios manufactured during the 1950's & 1960's!

Hi Doug

These are all Raytheon type Radios  just made by different Manufactures.

Raytheon T-100

Raytheon T-101

Truetone D-3614A

Truetone D-3715B

Airline BR-1100A

Airline BR-1102A

Electrohome T-100

Swiss Brass Raytheon

http://transistorhistory.50webs.com/brass.html

It Looks like Raytheon made many versions of the T-100  you just have the Leather Version which was named the T-101

Again I think it is a very Low Porduction radio which would make it extreamly rare,and I really think there is very few in

existance today. That a Radio I would keep a hold of and not sell.

Well I hope this is some help

SeanKW

Hi Doug

           Ok I found some information for your Radio. Bulova try to make a Clone of the T-101 Raytheon came out with.

The Bolova 270 which is in most price guides is the Same as the Raytheon T-101.  Here is a Web site that covers that

subject/

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/bulova_270.html

I will try to find you some more out

Thanks

SeanKW

Doug Resenbeck says...

Sean,

Ask your dad about this radio.  It is model 101.  I saw it on ebay 4 years ago.  Here are pictures:

Hi My dad been dead for many years now. I had to write what he had told me but I can look through his things and

see when and why that Radio Came out.

I knew of the TP-1, T-100,T-150... I know there was a brass version of the T-100 ,but this may have been the leather version of the

T-100... Wow it is really beautiful...  If I had to guess it was the Leather Version of the T-100,and probably the Deluxe model

of the T-100...A leather case that would really show a radio having a lot of class then.

Bulova did the same thing with their Model 250 which was the same as the Regency TR-1..Regency never did come out

with a leather case but Bulova did.. It was a TR-1 in a Leather Case made by Bulova This showed alot of class in a radio.

I will check for sure on this. I really believe you have a T-100 but since it was placed into leather they called it the 101..

I think it must be a really rare radio because I have never seen these that much. Ok I just check... It is a very Rare. Well

I want to say extreamly Rare Radio. It is the Leather Version of the Raytheon Model T-100-1 to T-100-5..

Instead of coming out with a T-100-6 well they Just Made a model 101 wich was the Leather version and I doubt you will

even find this radio in any of the Pricing guides because most of the authors would not know of it existance.

Raytheon was pushing the little plastic radios,and just did the leather radio 101 as a higher price and class radio.

I really love it,and I really doubt there is even 10 of those still around today. Yours is even in great and wonderful condition.

I will try and see how many of those were ever made..... Wow what a find on ebay.

SeanKW

thanks,

Doug

I've never seen one of those blue Hitachi's, its beautiful! And that Raytheon is a mystery, I thought they only made four models.

Sean,

Ask your dad about this radio.  It is model 101.  I saw it on ebay 4 years ago.  Here are pictures:

thanks,

Doug

It's always great finding others who appreciate these awesome radios.  I hope you will appreciate my Hitachi TH-666 radio in never seen blue!

Anybody ever seen one of these?

Hi everyone

         I wrote my other post very late and I was pretty tired. Sorry for the incorrectly spelled words and so on.

I wanted to add this to the guest book... Again I have to go off alot what my father told me.  Raytheon produced alot

of transistors before their radios even hit the Market,

     They Produce transistors such as the CK703 transistor in 1948 ,and later on the CK716. These two transistors looked

alot alike.  Later on the CK718 transistor came out and what failed on them became the famous CK722 transistor..

Now the CK721 were better than the CK722 but still a failing CK718 that did not meet Raytheon high standards for

transistors. Mist the radios used a CK760 transistor Raytheon came up with to handle Radio frequencies.

The CK760 was use in the RF sections and IF section of Raytheon first Radios.

All these transistors played a huge part in the 1950's. For the exception of the CK703 and CK716 that were

Raytheon first attemps at transistor in the late 1940's.

I have many transistors and diodes left from the time my father worked there,and it always great to look at them

to see how far we have came from. Now I would like to get another CK703 and CK716 transistor,but I figure

there is no more of them left to be found.

Well thank you again. This is a great web site and the more information we share the better it will get.

Thanks SKW

Hi everyone.

       I was ask to write somethings about Raytheon Corp. First of all I have a pretty good Ideal what happen durring the 1950's because

my father was a electronic Engineer for Raytheon.  Ok  I attaching this information about my dad to this write up.

I saw your Pictures and already fell in love with the radio.. As you know my father

help design and work on those Raytheon radios..He also told me it was the Yellow

and Ivory colors ones he built the most of...He just really liked that color and worked

on them alot.

My dad told me along time ago that he was choosen with 9 other engineers to take

a class on transistors. My dad said at that time ever one knew tubes,but no one

knew anything about transistors.. He said they took the class on them and in the

class when they were done they went to work on transistor products,,,

Raytheon did not come up with very many modles of radios my dad said because they

thought the transistor radios would not catch on. Well later on they realized they did.

My father said most the engineers thought transistors would not stay since tubes could

handle much higher power levels than transistors in the begining. Tubes worked

really good in TV sets but transistors could not be used in TV;s at first because

they could not handle the higher power levels needed to run a picture tube,and also

the frequency cut off for transistor was really low..Like 2 or 3 mhz max.

Where TV;s had RF amps that worked from 54Mhz to 216Mhz. Transistor could never

reach those frquencies.. Also the IF freqency in the mid 1950;s was around 45 Mhz..

in the ealry 1950's it was still around 4.5 Mhz...Transistor would only work in the audio

stages of TV sets a very low volume output.. Tube were producing 2 watts to 5 watts to the

speaker..Were transistors were lucky to produce a 100 miliwatt output.

Which is 1/10 of a watt very low. If sounded loud in the transistor radio becuase of

special designed low power speakers.

Anyways I stiil find it very interesting of that time period because my father played a huge

part in transistors,and I have always grown up around Raytheon.. Raytheon even

sent me to school and later on I finished my degree in advance electronics and engineering.

Ok for everyone who read the above the Model T-100,and T-150 radio my father worked on.
He did alot later also for Raytheon but that would not apply to these great little radios.

I do not know if he helped out on the First Radio TP-1 but I do know he helped out with some of the

very First Transistors which I still have.

Anyways I want to thank James for letting me write this up for everyone. I could write hundreds of stories

about growing up around Raytheon as a child and later I worked for them. Only for a short while.

Raytheon really did try to produce a great radio,and before that they did alot of work with hearing aids.

There is so much Raytheon did after they stop making these radios,but these radios play such a huge

part in Raytheon history since they only made radios for a very short time.

Well Thank you James For letting me write a little about that time in history...This is a great web page a people

should take advantage of it.. There is not alot of web sites that give out all the history of radio..

SKW

Well done web site.  Among your many radios I spent a little extra time looking at your Hitachi TH-666 radios.  Like everyone else, youo mention they came in three color schemes, red with gray back, white with white back and gold with black back.  I happen to have another noone seems to have heard of.  It's blue with a gray back.  I got it from a guy in Amsterdam.  He got it at an estate sale.  I don't know anything about how it came into existance.  Was it ever sold?  Waws an an employee only item?  Who knows?.  But rare in deed.  I have pictures if anyone cares to see it.  I don't have my collection on a web site so no where to show it off.

I just checked out your ebay ad for the TR 72 and then found your web site. It's going to give me a lot of enjoyment with its excellent pictures and interesting content. Your blog-like comments are a great idea and add to the value of the site. I wrote an article for the BVWS on the restoration of a TR72 and currently have two among my collection of over 300 radios, mostly transistors. I recently acquired one called a "Lovely" which I suspect must be a Standard, but I can't find it mentioned anywhere. I would say my favourite designs and quality come from Toshiba, NEC, Telefunken, Sony, Global, Linmark, Emerson and Zenith, but there are so many others...

Here's wishing you further success with your site  and thank you for your efforts.

John

(A Brit in Germany)

Вы Vlad, имейте большой день

Добрый день  Джеймс!С большим удовольствием посмотрел ВАш сайт.Поразило большое разнообразие транзисторных приемников выпуска 50-х60-х годов.Желаю успехов Вам .

Pearl Tone is a boutique brand, as much as it is not an established name like Sony or Toshiba. There are a variety of radios that carried their logo and I suspect a number of manufacturers were used. This is a common theme amongst Japanese radios of this period. Sorry I can't be more helpful.

HI

what a great site.I just bought a Pearl Tone Transitor radio with the leather case it works in robin egg blue and was wondering more info about the pearl tone who makes it.... thanks so much

Radio Girl

Thanks for that Nick, I will update my site

Hi James, just stumbled upon your site and love it!  Your photo work and graphic design is fantastic.

I thought you might like to know a little more about the Murphy P62.  It came in three colors:  Black with a maroon painted dial cover (like yours),  Maroon with a black painted dial cover; and yellow with a black painted dial cover.  The yellow is different from the regular Toshiba model, which actually is chartreuse, not yellow.  The three color combos for the Murphy radios are unique and not found in the regular Toshiba production.  Keep looking and eventually you'll find all three colors.

Hi James:

Fascinating website - you are obviously passionate about these radios!  I'm a visual researcher currently working on a documentary series for Discovery Channel Canada called 'Inventions that Shook the World'.  For our episode on the 1950's, we are doing a segment on the transistor radio.  I am trying to find some vintage moving footage of the early transistor radios - ads, demos, new stories etc.  I see you have access to some incredible print ads and still photos, and I'm wondering if you might be able to point me in the right direction for moving archival footage?  Thanks very much for any info you can send my way!

A truly remarkable and informative site with many beautiful and rare radios. Thank you for sharing your treasure with us. Peace, Edward.....