Transistor Radios Around the World

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Before '54 --- North America --- Western Europe --- Japan and Pacific --- East Bloc and USSR


c.1959 Pizon Translitor 500

Coat pocket / small portable radio, thermoplastic cabinet
7 5/8 x 4 x 2 inches / 194 x 102 x 51 mm
2-band MW/LW, superheterodyne circuit
Seven transistors (RCA 2N412 or Thompson 37T1, 2x RCA 2N410 or 36T1, Thompson 991T1, Thompson 992T1, 2x Thompson 987T1 or 988T1), two diodes (Thompson 40P1 or 43P1)
One large 9-volt battery
Manufactured by Pizon Bros; Paris

A unique and rather bizarre-looking radio cabinet design. The hole in the top right corner of the cabinet was intended for a carry strap, missing from this unit. This example has a cabinet with a dark green body and a gray back half, a gray volume knob and a gray front overlay — another example I've seen has the exact opposite color scheme.

Some very stubborn chassis mounting screws have kept me from seeing what's on the underside of the pc board — thus the ambiguous transistor & diode designations above, taken from the info on the paperboard pc board cover shown below.

Like many European MW/LW radios, this set's MW band is calibrated in meters and the LW band displays a handful of LW broadcasters by name. Radios made in France designated their bands as "PO" (Petites ondes) and "GO" (Grandes ondes), "PO" being MW, and "GO" LW.


Pizon Translitor 500

c.1959 Pizon Translitor 500


Pizon Translitor 500

c.1959 Pizon Translitor 500


Pizon Translitor 500

pc board cover — click on the photo for a larger image

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