Transistor radios..worth the trouble?

[selfdestroyer]

I recently got 5 transistor radios that I tested last night and all seem to work fine. All of them have a button flap of some sorts to look at the insides, no tools required :]. I think its nice that they have the semiconductor count on the unit itself. One of the radios is a 15 transistor radio and they all seem to be the cool looking rounded black button ones. I looked up all the models online and only found info on them and people selling them but no schematics.

• Should I bust out the desoldering station and pull the parts or is it not worth the time?
• Anything in specific I should look out for?

One of the radios has a cool range of values Alan Bradly CC resistors and some cool looking diodes.

[DutchMF]

If they are working, and old (judging from the CC remark) I'd say leave them alone and sell them to a collector or somebody who appreciates what they are/do. If there's no collector value, go ahead and rip them apart. Are there any identifying marks on the parts?

Paul

[selfdestroyer]

If they are working, and old (judging from the CC remark) I'd say leave them alone and sell them to a collector or somebody who appreciates what they are/do. If there's no collector value, go ahead and rip them apart. Are there any identifying marks on the parts?

Paul

I looked them up on eBay sold auctions and they were all going from anywhere of $5 to $50 so not a big market on the ones I have. They seem to be a more common radios.

[das234]

I'm the wrong guy to ask I suppose, I've swiped capacitors from an old broken microwave just because they were there.  With that said, one of those capacitors (a 10pf I think it was) allowed me to finish my Distortion+ without waiting to order parts so it was worthwhile.

[culturejam]

I generally agree that if something is vintage and working, leave it alone. Germanium trannies are still pretty easy to find (and with full leads). Or at the very least, pull the old ones and replace with low-gain silicon so it still works.