What did transistors cost way back?

Anyone got the original price of transistors such as the OC44, OC71 etc. from when they first appeared, or even an original price list?

[Paul_RK]

I've a few old boxed ones here, early '60s I'd guess, Mullard with a mix of Dutch and UK production: OC44 9/3d, pair of OC72 16/-, OC81 and OC81D 8/- each, AC127 and AF117 9/6d each. Rather more than that for the OC types at first appearance I'd guess, the AC and AF may have been the latest thing when they were made...

Paul

[techiesteve]

I used to buy red and white spot transistors around 1963/4 as I was at school then. Red were for AF, white for RF. I just found the advert from the company I used to buy from in an old PW, BW Cursons. They were a shilling each then. OC44, OC71 etc were 3 shillings each then. Looking back to a 1960 PW OC44 were 26 shillings, OC71 14 shillings in one advert. Very few transistor adverts then, mainly valves. I'm not sure when Mullard released the OC44 etc.

Looking at http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/ that is near enough a shilling to the pound. I guess that even with bulk buying a fiver of a pre 1960 transistor radio was the transistors. Makes £20 for an output valve look more reasonable now.

[Paul_RK]

No numbered types at all offered in a March '57 Radio Constructor, just red spot at 10/- and blue spot for RF at 15/-. A local station pocket receiver design in there calls for five transistors, all OC71 ("or Henry's Red Spot" ): tuned RF stage and four stages of audio amplification.

[rmslt56]

Hello All

The first OC44 I bought cost 45 shillings and a OC45 cost 44 shillings a matched pair of OC72's cost 60 shillings in the days when a pound was 20 shillings.
These were bought in order that I could build a repanco 7 transistor portable.

Regards Doug

[McMurdo]

Advert for Henry's Radio, Practical Wireless Jan 1957

[Peter.N.]

For comparison in 1960 I was earning about £12.00 per week, or at Doug's prices about six transistors!

Peter

[locoian]

Would not be fobbed of with red spots at 10/6 each.

Ian

[ricard]

The price in shillings might not be so interesting as compared to other components (or a week's wages as Peter was comparing to).

So, in those days, what would an ECC83 have cost? Or a 1kohm, 1/2 W resistor? Or an OA70 diode?

/Ricard

[wireful3]

To put transistors into some sort of context. I have a memory of early point contact transistors being offered at very high prices (£10), so the OC series would seem quite reasonable, though valve prices were still competitive.

[Hermit6345]

I remember buying a GEX34 diode for a crystal set and it was packed in a similar box to a valve and ISTR was 10/6 plus purchase tax. This would have been 1960 I think.

I think the only transistors I ever had were yellow/green spot transistors which worked nicely for amplifying my crystal set output.




Ian

[Mullard]

I reckon you can multiply a 1960s price by 20 to get an equivalent price today. That means a 14/- OC71 would cost £14 today! That would buy a few radios now.

[Mr Moose]

Hello,

There is an American price list here from 1954:- http://www.radiomuseum.org/forumdata...xt/09_Tetr.jpg

I have a boxed Mullard OC16 (of the later top hat shape) with a price of 35/- (35 shillings = £1.75) on it.

Yours, Richard

Those tetrode grown junction ones look interesting.

[HG MICKE]

In an old Laskys advert dated September 1956 OA71...5/-. 4 to 1 output transformer for transistors 4/6d. Standard resistors 0.25w 4d. 0.5w 6d. 1w 8d. 2w 1/-. High stab 0.5w 1% 2/-.ECC82 10/-.
Try buying an output transformer for less than the cost of a diode now.

Colin

[Peter.N.]

By comparison my wages in '56 were about £6.00 per week, petrol was around 5/- (25p) per gallon, so my weeks gross income would buy me around 24 gallons of fuel, makes it sound cheap today!

Peter

[paulsherwin]

I paid £1.75 for an AF117 in 1969 to replace one in my Philips Electronic Engineer kit. That was retail from a radio shop so may have been a bit pricey. As a comparison, a low paid worker would earn about £20 per week (£250 today). Pre-decimal prices have been converted of course.

[n_r_muir]

I have a couple of Mullard OC71's in their original boxes, the price is marked on each of the the boxes is 12 shillings and sixpence. They probably date from about 1962.

Thank you all for your replies, most interesting. I guess they where 2 or 3 times the cost of a valve, even then it took 'early adopters' to push a technology forward, I suppose that was always the case.