VINTAGE SONY TRANSISTOR RADIO PORTABLE

A rechargeable NiCad battery enabled six hours of continuous playback on a single 14-hour charge. The two-tone black and silver color scheme is beautiful and elegant, an electronic device that looks like jewelery. A key chain holder with medallion is attached instead of a strap. It is packaged in a matchbox-sized case weighing a mere 90 g. A single IC is used, incorporating 14 transistors (with four diodes) and 14 resistors. The Sony ICR 100, world’s first integrated-circuit radio. Standard Micronic Ruby photographed March 4, 2013 Indeed, Sony was and continues to be the premier electronic brand with many firsts and innovations. The company placed small, red or yellow dot decals on the products they released in the 1980’s and 90’s. The slogan or tag line, ” IT’S A SONY ” and ” SONY ONE AND ONLY ” were the company’s, registered, branded, trademarks. It did not get much better then this one in 1962. Also have the original gray leather case, strap and ear phone pouch that came with the set. The cabinet face is brushed metal without dents or scratches and the gray plastic cabinet is still polished and shiny in it’s original condition. Found this example in February, 2011, 49 years after the original and very fortunate to find a pristine working set.

Bought the radio new but again, mis-placed it. High, low tone control, deep engraved, lettering and highly detailed, I remember this radio as the most advanced looking thing I’d seen back then. The letters ” ON ” appear red in the right hand window or ” OFF ” as in the photo below. It has a unique signal strength meter and a spring loaded push button, on-off switch, at the top. Sony called it super sensitive and considered it their high end model back then. It has eight transistors and a tuned R.F. This is my second transistor radio, the Sony TR 817 from 1962. Motorola X 11 Radio photographed August 24, 2010

Here is a promotional advertisement in the Decemissue of Life magazine. This radio is very rare and I know of only seven in existence. Nevertheless, would love to find one to add to my collection.

We know that tubes produce heat and I wonder about heat build-up which could potentially shorten the life of this radio. In the photos, I do not see ventilation openings. Additionally, off the self parts were used instead of custom designed parts and the radio had mediocre sound quality. One had to change batteries during the 7th inning of a baseball game in order to hear the entire game. Problem was, the 5 tubes created a huge drain on the 2 penlight cells. Schiffer, this radio was not a sales success, selling only 5000 units.

VINTAGE SONY TRANSISTOR RADIO PORTABLE

According to the book “The Portable Radio in American Life” by Michael B. Wrapped in leather with brass accents it looks amazing even today, 67 years later. It had no speaker, just the supplied earphone. It was hard to imagine that a radio with this degree of miniaturization could be produced in 1946! This radio used five miniature tubes. Perhaps the the most desired micro radio for collectors, the Belmont Boulevard, was announced December, 1945 and went on sale in 1946, my birth year, 8 years prior to the worlds’ first transistor radio, the Regency TR-1 in 1954.

Vintage sony transistor radio