The first Orbiter model was the P2765 -- this example is the P2765A.
Generally, I'm not much of a fan of 1970s "style" radios -- I got rid of all my Panasonic Panapets and Toot-a-Loops years ago, and I'd only bought them in the first place because they were selling for about $1 each at the time at yard sales and flea markets and I knew I could resell them a few years later at radio shows for maybe $10 each, which is just what I did. My bad -- what a difference a few decades make... But I really liked this GE Orbiter when I first found it many years ago, and I still like it now.
I've looked off-and-on for a number of years for documentation on this radio, but I've never found much. On a recent web search, I found a really nice site named, "Future Forms", devoted to industrial design, which states on its GE Orbiter page:
"The Orbiter was one of several radios released by General Electric in 1972 under 'The Designer Series.' The Orbiter is a solid radio with a heavily weighted base that allowed the radio to balance itself with the speaker always pointing up. It can also be mounted on the wall."
I'd only add here that most of the base's weight comes from its 1/16"-thick steel bottom plate that's attached inside the very light weight chrome-plated plastic base. I've yet to come across any information on the Orbiter's circuitry, not even how many transistors are used. But in terms of design, the GE Orbiter is visually very unique and ergonomically very pleasing. On/Off and Volume are controlled by turning the top "hemisphere", and dial tuning is controlled by turning the bottom hemisphere, with the tuning dial located on the "equator", so to speak. Visually, the aluminum mesh speaker grill on the top of the radio is mirrored by the battery compartment on the bottom.
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