Pardon my jumping in here, but I just finished a long overdue read of
The Chip by T.R. Reid. While it tracks the development of the IC, the
history of the transistor figures big in the story. The first consumer
product using transistors was a portable radio was made by Regency in
1955 and it sold for $49.95 featuring AM only reception and a
speaker!! And did it sell....

I agree on those old HRO receivers being a nice looking receiver. I
was fortunate enough to have owned an HRO-500 for maybe a year. It was
fun to learn the operation of that turquiose colored
transistor-mechanical hybrid and that big knob was a joy to use.
Fortunately it worked and didn't need repairs!!


Joe Analssandrini wrote:
Dear Cuhulin,

I agree that the styling of the ICF-SW7600GR is not as attractive as it
ought to be. The "curved" tuning/scanning buttons at the bottom right
spoil even more what is essentially a "drab" design. Frankly, I feel
the same way about most of the shortwave radios available today. I am
not "keen" on the styling of my AOR AR7030 Plus either (actually it's
sort of ugly and very unimpressive-looking) and the plastic cabinet
(with the silk-screened printing on the top) of my Grundig Satellit 800
spoils its looks. (The Grundig would look great if it had a metal or a
wood cabinet - imagine a wooden one with a deep-gloss piano finish. The
mouth drools!)

The best-looking radios I've seen over the years are the Hammarlund
HQ-180 series, the Hallicrafters SX-100, and the National HRO series
(especially the 500), and, at a far lesser cost, my Lafayette HE-10
(which my wife - and just about everyone else - hates, but I love! Its
styling was patterned after the Hallicrafters S-38). These looked like
"real radios." (There are a number of other great-looking SW radios
from the past as well. Probably the best-LOOKING SW radio being made
today is the Japan Radio NRD-545.)

That said, the performance and cost of the modern radios makes them
stand head-and-shoulders above those older ones. True, the Hammarlund
and the National (a transistorized unit) will still perform fairly well
today, but look at their relative cost: the Hammarlund was $430 in 1962
, the Hallicrafters was $325, and the National HRO-500 was $1300 IN
1965!!! (My Lafayette was $79.95 and its HE-11 speaker was $7.95 and a
pair of Clevite Brush BA-200 headphones - the best SW headphones I have
ever used - was $14.70, all in 1962.) THINK what that would be today!
It would be AT LEAST 10 times those prices, if not more. (And THINK of
the cost of re-tubing and other repairs. The mind boggles.) And NO WAY
are those older radios going to even MATCH the overall performance of
my AOR AR7030 Plus.

As an example, who, back in 1965, could have even IMAGINED the Sony
ICF-SW7600GR with its fantastic performance relative to its price? Do
you realize that if you adjusted its price to 1965 terms its cost would
be about $12.00? Amazing!

So I just ignore the styling and savor the performance, reliability,
and affordability of today's radios.

But, like you, I really wish they could style them better!

Best,

Joe

P.S. By the way, I personally have been buying from Amazon for many
years and have ALWAYS found them to be reliable. They DO care about the
customer. I have recently had an experience with them (not concerning
radios) that demonstrated just how good they are. I would HIGHLY
recommend Amazon to everyone.