New Site! Transistor Radios.

[itactics]

I have a new site here. Its a work in progress. Feel free to peruse it at your leisure and your comments are welcome via this forum or my online guest book. Cheers -james-

http://www.transistorradiodesign.com/index.htm

[Darren-UK]

Just had a browse and am optimistic for the site as you build it up in time.

In the UK it's a hard fact that a large proportion of enthusiasts/collectors aim their attentions at valved equipment, although the numbers who collect pocket radios and transistor radios in general does seem to be increasing.

Your site could therefore, I feel, help increase interest in transistor radios with its colourful images, links to period adverts and the leaning towards the social aspect of these radios rather than too much technical stuff.

It'd be nice to see a section on British radios but in the context of pocket radios I think this would be difficult....I'm sitting here now trying to think of just one pocket radio that could be truly called 'British' . That's not a cue to take this thread OT, by the way. Many supposedly British pocket radios were of far eastern origin.

One slightly negative observation I would make concerns the homepage. I think (others may disagree) that the whole site would benefit from a more 'vintage-looking' homepage. My initial impression was of a site which, once into its pages, is there to lure its readers into buying something...possibly repro stuff.

It'll be interesting to learn the views of others on that and other points.

[Paul_RK]

It's an impressive collection of sets already with some glorious photography, even admitting that pocket radios and 1950s woodies are pretty much the only categories of domestic receiver that don't tend to appeal much to me. I'm not sure re. Darren's points on the design of the site: what counts seems to be how it strikes the people who most respond to these radios, who will mostly be oriented more toward bright and impactful design than to performance or engineering or for that matter any more sober visual aesthetic. If you were showcasing 1930s radiograms I'd be confident something was wrong

One small apparent glitch is that the Zephyr AR-600 link is consistently taking me to the Continental TR-622.

Originally Posted by darren-uk

It'd be nice to see a section on British radios but in the context of pocket radios I think this would be difficult....I'm sitting here now trying to think of just one pocket radio that could be truly called 'British' .

Oh, that's hardly a lost cause: I have Perdio, Fidelity, Alba and Defiant models, and others came from Dansette, GEC and Sobell at the very least, without resorting to larger 'coat-pocket' sets or later ones more nominally British.

Paul

[Robert Darwent]

Originally Posted by Paul_RK

Oh, that's hardly a lost cause: I have Perdio, Fidelity, Alba and Defiant models, and others came from Dansette, GEC and Sobell at the very least, without resorting to larger 'coat-pocket' sets or later ones more nominally British.

I was thinking of most of those manufacturers as well Paul, and also several models made by Pye such as the P160BQ.

Nice website James, very well thought out and put together I must say!

[Steve_P]

Nice site. May I link to it from mine - you'll get more traffic.

Cheers,

Steve P.

[batterymaker1]

I like the pic of the little one holding the TR-1--those were made just down the road from me here in Hoosierland.

[itactics]

Originally Posted by darren-uk

Just had a browse and am optimistic for the site as you build it up in time.

In the UK it's a hard fact that a large proportion of enthusiasts/collectors aim their attentions at valved equipment, although the numbers who collect pocket radios and transistor radios in general does seem to be increasing.

Your site could therefore, I feel, help increase interest in transistor radios with its colourful images, links to period adverts and the leaning towards the social aspect of these radios rather than too much technical stuff.

It'd be nice to see a section on British radios but in the context of pocket radios I think this would be difficult....I'm sitting here now trying to think of just one pocket radio that could be truly called 'British' . That's not a cue to take this thread OT, by the way. Many supposedly British pocket radios were of far eastern origin.

One slightly negative observation I would make concerns the homepage. I think (others may disagree) that the whole site would benefit from a more 'vintage-looking' homepage. My initial impression was of a site which, once into its pages, is there to lure its readers into buying something...possibly repro stuff.

It'll be interesting to learn the views of others on that and other points.

Hi Darren, you are certainly correct when you speak of my leaning towards the social aspects of portable radios but I'm really enamored with the designs prevalent during this period! And yeah I'm not much of a tech guy

I'm hoping to more European radios in time and that includes British sets.

Regarding my homepage, its one of those 'pre-fab ones so I'm a little limited in what I can and can't do. In fact the whole site uses set templates and the selection is limited I'm afraid... I would prefer to have an image of a radio as my background but it's not possible at the moment.

Thanks for your comments!!

-james-

[itactics]

Hi Paul, I'm glad you like it I still have about 100 or so radios to photograph and research and its quite time consuming but lots of fun! Thanks for the tip re the Zephyr, it should work now

-james-

[itactics]

Thanks Robert Please don't forget to sign my guest book

-james-

[itactics]

Originally Posted by Steve_P

Nice site. May I link to it from mine - you'll get more traffic.

Cheers,

Steve P.

Yes you can Steve, the more links the better !!

[itactics]

Originally Posted by batterymaker1

I like the pic of the little one holding the TR-1--those were made just down the road from me here in Hoosierland.

That's my 3 year old daughter Anastasia, well she will be 4 tomorrow on Valentines day

[Mike Phelan]

Hi James
It is looking good; I would be inclined to agree regarding what Darren says about the "vintage look".

There are a couple of small things that (naturally enough) need looking at; there is a bit of Javascript showing in the "boys radios" page (should that be boy's or boys'?) and I would imagine that Andrew (arjoll) would understand better what the "about me" text was all about!

Good luck.

[itactics]

Originally Posted by Mike Phelan

There are a couple of small things that (naturally enough) need looking at; there is a bit of Javascript showing in the "boys radios" page (should that be boy's or boys'?) and I would imagine that Andrew (arjoll) would understand better what the "about me" text was all about!

Good luck.

Hi Mike, the java script showing on the boys page doesn't show up on our two computers at home but it does on the computers at work. It has something to do with what browser is being used and the java settings on individual computers. I use Firefox on the laptop and we use Explorer in the home office. The computers at work are not 'Java enabled' so the heading on the home page looks a bit odd to!

Cheers

-james-

[itactics]

I've tried a new background color on my site. It's a bit 'warmer' than the blue... What do you all think?

-james-

[Darren-UK]

It certainly does look 'warmer' now but, to be honest, is there any need at all for that mottled red background thingy? On my pc I've noticed that, when going into the site, the red background loads on its own - followed a few seconds later by the 'business' part of the site.

When scrolling the pages it tends to be very jerky; as if the pages are full of compressed images or whatever. These two minor niggles might be down to my pc so has anyone else had the same problems?

I noticed yesterday, but failed to mention it, the words "Focusing on the design of pocket transistor radios manufactured during the 1950's & 1960's!". Copying and pasting those words here, it comes out in full...but on the homepage the last bit is obscured by those Regency images.

James, don't be offended by anything I say. Your site is generally looking good and I've found it enjoyable to browse through. I'm just of the opinion that small details can and do make a lot of difference - however minor they may be in the context of the total work involved in building a website.

[batterymaker1]

I'd either go back to blue, or make that red tint less imposing.

[itactics]

Originally Posted by darren-uk

I noticed yesterday, but failed to mention it, the words "Focusing on the design of pocket transistor radios manufactured during the 1950's & 1960's!". Copying and pasting those words here, it comes out in full...but on the homepage the last bit is obscured by those Regency images.

James, don't be offended by anything I say. Your site is generally looking good and I've found it enjoyable to browse through. I'm just of the opinion that small details can and do make a lot of difference - however minor they may be in the context of the total work involved in building a website.

Hi Darren, oh I'm not offended at all. I'm very happy that you and the other members have taken the time to offer me your constructive criticism! My site can only improve if people are honest

The site is best viewed on either Firefox (farrrrr better than Explorer!) or Explorer Version 6.0 or higher. Java script needs to be enabled on your computer as well...

I have now tried a completely new template to give my site more of a 'retro' look.

-james-

[batterymaker1]

That'll work!

[Darren-UK]

Ah that's vastly better . The background 'Formica' look is very in keeping with the period of the radios concerned. For some reason that jerky scroll problem I previously had has now vanished too.

[itactics]

Ah Jolly good then! This one certainly fits the theme!

-james-