Childhood Radios
The Gathering Place for Mid-Century Electronics Enthusiasts
Site Links

Enrico Tedeschi's Wonderful Beginners' Page The fantastic, and accomplished collector/author Enrico Tedeschi has taken the time to write and upload excellent information for beginning transistor radio collectors. But it's not just for beginners. Even if you have been collecting for years, you will learn something new . You should also check out his books. A great guy, and an asset to the hobby. Beginners' Page

Alan Kastner's Radio Wallah Don't let the unassuming first page fool you. Tokyo-based Alan Kastner has assembled, and photographed one of the most beautiful radio collections you will ever see. Other great information here too, including tips for dating radios, and some great "journal entries. Nice Job Alan! Radio Wallah

Steve Reyer's Awesome Regency TR-1 Site For those interested in the birth of portable transistor radios. Steve Reyer has put an incredible amount of work into this site that contains photos, manufacturing codes, links, copies of old advertisements and articles... Awesome, indeed. Thanks Steve. Steve Reyer's Regency Site

Don Pies has taken the time to show us that the world can use more than one great TR-1 site. Besides contributing a lot of useful material of his own, Don points us to other sites and resources. Don Pies' Regency TR-1 Site

Robert Davidson has clearly spent ages on his page, and you will too as you explore its many nooks and crannies. He has a love affair with the little radios, and it shows. There is even a battery collection. 50 Years of the Transistor While you really need to spend time visiting whole site, (called the M31 Galaxy of Transistor Radios), I have also highlighted the Toshiba pages here, since they are so helpful, interesting, and well-illustrated. Toshiba Information, Anyone?

Aldo Anreani has been working on his excellent site since 1998, and it shows. Lots of links, and some great info about Sony Codes and Marconi radios.
http://www.geocities.com/aldoandr/

Radiophile John Pelham has created and maintains an impressive radio site with photos, facts, and links of all kinds. Drop by for a minute you might find yourself spending hours! John C. Pelham's Virtual Museum

Jack Ward's CK722 Classic Germanium Transistor Website Learn about the manufacturing and packaging changes made over the years, Check out the construction articles, join a discussion group, or just lurk. Great fun. Terrific site. 
Jack Ward's CK722 Site

Robert Vaughan McGarrah Robert, (or just Bob if you prefer), has an eye for details. Among other things, he loves collecting old transistors and their packaging, (The components themselves). He has done quite a bit of research, and his site is a great source of interesting historical facts, photos and more.
Bob McGarrah’s Home Page

Andrew Wylie is Mister Transistor Andrew has been collecting and studying transistors for more than 20 years. He says he is also happy to trade or buy early transistors, and is always looking for information on old devices and the companies and people who made them. Fascinating, and worth a visit! Mister Transistor

Camil Moujaber has created an awesome site called Mid-century Radios with plenty of pocket radio eye candy, (over 200 radio photos!), and information on his homebrew radios, and a really fine reel-to-reel tape recorder collection. Lots more to look at. He lives and works in Lebanon, so he has also provided some photos of his beautiful country. It makes me want to visit! nice site, Camil. Check it out!

Tom Polk is another fascinating guy. Somehow he has found the time to be an Austin, Texas real estate mogul, and nurture his beautiful collection of vintage radios, (don't forget page two), portable tape recorders, a home made telescope, amazing Tesla coils, handmade musical instruments, and, geeze, Tom, what's next? 
Check him out.
Tom Polk's Page

 Friend, and all-round great guy Lello Salvatore is in the process of  creating and refining a great new Italian site called www.alltransistor.it When it is finished, in addition to photos of his wonderful radio collection from around the world, he will have book reviews, historical information, and more. He already has a forum in place. The nice thing about this site is that it is in both Italian and English. Thanks Lello. Keep up the good work! 

Sarah Wanamaker has put together a great collection and a wonderful web site. She is particularly interested in early radios, and has some nice research available about GE and other players, including an interesting interview with Conrad Jutson, one of GE’s pioneers.  Check out her great FAQs. Excellent site, Sarah! Sarah's Place

Rainer Steinfuehr's Bilingual Site Rainer's site is in both German and English. Lots to discover here. History, photos, things to buy, services to purchase, (repair, dating, etc.) And lots and lots of links. Gantz güt, Rainer. Danka! Wumpus Radio

All Things Radio is the brainchild of enthusiasts Tim Sullivan, Bob Mantz, and some other self-described "radio nuts." It is aptly titled. Primarily a tube collector's resource, it is now starting to add some links, products, and resources for transistor nuts too. Lots to buy, and a growing list of references and links. Check it out. All things Radio

Phil’s Old Radios: Phil runs a very comprehensive site with lots of tips, photos, links, and items for sale. Mostly tube, but some good transistor stuff, and general information about other collectible electronics as well.  Phil's Old Radios

Heathkit Virtual Museum: A Tribute to Heathkit A cool collection of history, photos, and recollections, including an excellent history of Heathkit. How many Heathkits did you build? How many more did you wish you could afford? Heathkit Virtual Museum

Conrad Field and his family, (collectively called the "rummage heads"), look like active buyers/sellers and collectors, as well as all-round nice folks. Their site shows their many combined pursuits. You and I will probably be most interested in Conrad's transistor and tube radios, or perhaps his vintage stereo items. Worth a visit.

Dave Meier' site: is interesting. You get a glimpse of his home, airplane, and hobbies.  And, talk about Specialization! How about a whole series of pages dedicated to Vintage Code Practice Oscillators. Yup. Check it out. Very cool site.   

Ron Stalma's Tr Radio Site: A Little of Everything here's another Ron with a radio site. It's hard to know how to categorize this one. Very cool advertising copy, photos, reference info, and more good stuff. Thanks for all the hard work, Ron. Looks great. Ron Stalma's Tr Radio

Marconi Radio Information: No Marconi Didn't Invent the Transistor Radio But the Canadians, Britts, and French folks bought a lot of radios with his name on them. Here's a site that looks at the Marconi-branded US and Japanese radios. Marconi Radio Information

Tom lives in the Dayton, Ohio area, is 58 years old, a ham radio operator (N5KCL) and love old radio's; which he has been repairing for over 20 years and really enjoys this as a hobby. He has some radios for sale, and he repairs them at what look to be reasonable prices. http://tomsradiorepair.bizland.com/ 

Hans Summers' Electronics Projects: Difficult to classify... but worth a visit, so I am putting Hans Summers' wonderful site here. Lots of construction projects, links, and information of value to experimenters and enthusiasts. Hans Summers' Electronics Projects

Merrill L. Mabbs has some of the nicest graphics I have seen on a home-grown, (and recently-moved) web site. If you have a slow modem, be patient. It is worth a visit. Besides transistor radios, Merrill collects cool old microphones and more. Holy Cow. Check it Out! Classic Radio Gallery

Bill and Connie love to collect! 'Good thing they have a basement 'cuz it looks like 'First ran into Bill at an eBay Live event, (Bill's the infamous TipTie), but didn't get a chance to speak with him. Next time, for sure.  Love the downstairs Bill and Connie. What cha got on the other floors? 
Bill & Connie's Basement

Don’s Crazy Cat is your tour guide at this site. Looks like the cat is selling some radios, books, and more. Nice collection of other radio-related links, too. Don’s Old Radio Page

Don Adamson's great site is worth a look. There is much to see and do relating to the 20s to through the 60s. Tube sets, all nicely categorized and photographed, transistor sets, "kite antenna kit ads, radio ashtrays, the sound of Sputnik, and yes, Radio Girl perfume... Another Amazing Collection

George Kaczowka has a large collection, and has put some of it online, along with some helpful research information, and some nice stories to go with the radios.George's Collection

Radio Mednick A very nice radio collection, including transistor and tube sets, plus microphones, and lots of other stuff from the cold war era. Also a "wanted" list, so if you have items to sell, maybe you can make a match here. Radio Mednick


Mike Peebles has been producing crystal radios, tube radios, transistor radio kits, and informative instruction articles, since 1988. Mike has been building and tinkering with crystal radio, tube & transistor radios since the age of ten. Mike writes the "Peebles Choice" column in the Xtal Set Society newsletter, which is also dedicated to crystal, tube, and transistor radio of the vintage nature. Supplying radio kits, parts, literature, instructions & information in the interest of hobby radio building and experimenting. We offer many fine books on this subject as well. www.peeblesoriginals.com

RadioMuseum.org Wow. What an ambitious multilingual project! This home page includes a search engine and a catalog of antique radios manufactured in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as in other countries. It also includes Crystal Receivers, Loop Antennas, Speakers, Rectifiers, Hi-Fi Amplifiers, Record Players, Tape Recorders, etc.You will find more than 30,000 radios listed, with over 35,000 photographs, (as of 22. Jan. 2003), incl. over 18,000 printable schematic diagrams. Some features, including schematic downloads, are available only to Radiomuseum members . At present the site claims about 2,000 members in 52 countries, many of them having contributed to the Radiomuseum by uploading photographs, descriptive text and schematics and building their own radio home page in Radiomuseum. See Instructions and Help (blue icon) on the site to learn more.Guests have limited privileges. Joining costs $20.00 (cash in the mail). www.RadioMuseum.org (Click the appropriate flag for your language.)

101Science.com is a cool site that offers a wide range of technical information about transistors. It is part of a larger project that gives plenty of interesting and practical information about scientific topics. Very cool!  www.101science.com/transistor.htm

Antique Radio Classified is dedicated antique radio collecting, its activities, and is run by the publishers of Antique Radio Classified. It covers old radio, TV, telegraph, amateur/ham radio, high fidelity/hi-fi & audio.  Antique Radio Classified is antique radio's largest circulation monthly magazine with over 7,000 print . Mostly tube and crystal set related, but there is some great transistor info as well. www.antiqueradio.com

Just Radios is another primarily tube site, but it also some transistor information. They sell schematics, and some replacement parts. American, Canadian and European radios are supported. www.justradios.com

The official Texas Instruments Regency TR-1 page is worth a visit. It's also a great jumping-off point for a technology innovation timeline.  www.ti.com/corp/docs/company/history/radio.shtml

Nostalgia Air is another nice, mostly-tube site with some transistor information as well. Nostalgia Air is dedicated to the preservation, conservation and dissemination of antique and vintage electronics technical information. It is a personal, private venture with no commercial content. The site is maintained as a commercial free zone, save the sole references on this page to those that support the site. Donations are requested. www.nostalgiaair.org