page_title: Antique radio
section_title: Early transistor radios
hierarchical_section_title: Antique radio / Types of antique radio / Early transistor radios
caption_attribution_description: Radio "Sonatina", manufacturer: "DIORA" (Poland), 1957-1963
context_page_description: An antique radio is a radio receiving set that is collectible because of its age and rarity.
context_section_description: The invention of the transistor made it possible to produce very small portable radios that did not need a warm-up time, and ran on much smaller batteries. They were convenient, though the prices were initially  high and the sound quality of early models was not nearly  as good as tube radios. Later models equalled or surpassed tube models in audio quality. Transistors also made it possible to manufacture portable FM radios, which was impractical using tubes.
  Transistor radios were available in many sizes from console to table-top to matchbox. Transistors are still used in today's radios, though the integrated circuit containing a large number of transistors has surpassed the use of singly packed transistors for the majority of radio circuitry.
  Transistor radios appeared on the market in 1954, but at a high price. By the 1960s, reduced prices and an increase in desire for portability made them very popular.
  There was something of a marketing war over the number of transistors sets contained, with many models named after this number. Some sets even had non-functional reject transistors soldered to the circuit board, doing absolutely nothing, so the sales pitch could advertise a higher number of transistors.
  Vacuum tube radios and early transistor radios were hand assembled. Today radios are designed with the assistance of computers and manufactured with much greater use of machinery.
  Today's radios are usually uneconomical to repair because mass production and technological improvements in numerous areas have made them so inexpensive to buy, while the cost of human labor and workshop overheads have increased greatly in comparison.
caption: Typical insides of an antique radio, showing the vacuum tubes.
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