4 ms·

How to operate your Regency Model TR-1G transistor pocket radio receiver (1954) [pdf]

23 points by shawndumas 12y ago

dang 12y ago
http://www.mequonsteve.com/regency/ http://www.mequonsteve.com/regency/. Very cool. It was only manufactured for a year and sold for an astonishingly high price (for the 1950s) of $49.95.
- alister 12y ago
  That inflation-adjusted price[1] would be $450.19. It does seem amazing that a lot of people were paying that much for a pocket radio, but then again $450 is in the same ballpark as a smartphone which everyone happily buys today. [1] http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=US%2449.95+1954+dollars+in+2015 http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=US%2449.95+1954+dollars...
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
Johnythree 12y ago
First Commercial Domestic portable perhaps: Definitely not the first Transistor Radio. The literature shows many earlier radios from various Research Laboratories and Radio Amateurs.
- dang 12y ago
  We added "commercial" to the title. Will that suffice?
  - Stratoscope 12y ago
    Naw, let's go all in and use the original title: "How to operate your Regency Model TR-1G transistor pocket radio receiver" (serious suggestion!)
    - dang 12y ago
      Done! (Submitted title was "The manual for the first commercial transistor radio".)
Stratoscope 12y ago
In the event of an enemy attack, your Regency TR-1G will become one of your most valued possessions. But don't forget, you need a Regency No. 215 22½ volt battery!
- gaius 12y ago
  ... Which you must remove immediately when it's flat or it will leak. The improvements in battery technology are one of the most interesting things.
rmason 12y ago
Technology moved fast in those days as well. My dad bought me a transistor pocket radio around 1960. It stretched the definition of 'pocket'. Definitely not a shirt pocket, though it would fit in a pants pocket barely. If I remember it used two AA batteries. Gave it to my dad after college so he could listen to Detroit Tiger games. Dad ended up using it until a couple of years when it finally gave out. I wonder how many electronic things we buy today would end up lasting a half century?
danjayh 12y ago
Now I know why older folks think of modern gadgets as complicated and difficult to use. The dramatic increase in functionality is accompanied by an equally dramatic increase in complication. Compare the learning curve for somebody using an ipod for the first time to the learning curve for using this for the first time.
Kayou 12y ago
Seems like they may have been the source of inspiration of VALVe for the Team Fortress 2 manuals: http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/440/manuals/SentryManual_web.pdf?t=1412282215 http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/440/manuals/Sen... Or this whole generation of manuals in general.
allard 12y ago
nice photo of TR-1 in Wikipedia entry for CONELRAD

23 points by shawndumas 12y ago

dang 12y ago

http://www.mequonsteve.com/regency/ http://www.mequonsteve.com/regency/. Very cool. It was only manufactured for a year and sold for an astonishingly high price (for the 1950s) of $49.95.

alister 12y ago
That inflation-adjusted price[1] would be $450.19. It does seem amazing that a lot of people were paying that much for a pocket radio, but then again $450 is in the same ballpark as a smartphone which everyone happily buys today. [1] http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=US%2449.95+1954+dollars+in+2015 http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=US%2449.95+1954+dollars...
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]

Johnythree 12y ago

First Commercial Domestic portable perhaps: Definitely not the first Transistor Radio. The literature shows many earlier radios from various Research Laboratories and Radio Amateurs.

dang 12y ago
We added "commercial" to the title. Will that suffice?
- Stratoscope 12y ago
  Naw, let's go all in and use the original title: "How to operate your Regency Model TR-1G transistor pocket radio receiver" (serious suggestion!)
  - dang 12y ago
    Done! (Submitted title was "The manual for the first commercial transistor radio".)

Stratoscope 12y ago

In the event of an enemy attack, your Regency TR-1G will become one of your most valued possessions. But don't forget, you need a Regency No. 215 22½ volt battery!

gaius 12y ago
... Which you must remove immediately when it's flat or it will leak. The improvements in battery technology are one of the most interesting things.

rmason 12y ago

Technology moved fast in those days as well. My dad bought me a transistor pocket radio around 1960. It stretched the definition of 'pocket'. Definitely not a shirt pocket, though it would fit in a pants pocket barely. If I remember it used two AA batteries. Gave it to my dad after college so he could listen to Detroit Tiger games. Dad ended up using it until a couple of years when it finally gave out. I wonder how many electronic things we buy today would end up lasting a half century?

danjayh 12y ago

Now I know why older folks think of modern gadgets as complicated and difficult to use. The dramatic increase in functionality is accompanied by an equally dramatic increase in complication. Compare the learning curve for somebody using an ipod for the first time to the learning curve for using this for the first time.

Kayou 12y ago

Seems like they may have been the source of inspiration of VALVe for the Team Fortress 2 manuals: http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/440/manuals/SentryManual_web.pdf?t=1412282215 http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/440/manuals/Sen... Or this whole generation of manuals in general.

allard 12y ago

nice photo of TR-1 in Wikipedia entry for CONELRAD