Greg Mayman wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:

 -=> Roy J. Tellason said to Greg Mayman
 -=> about "*BIG* TRANSISTORS" on 01-22-04  04:07.....

 RJT> I can still remember the first radio *I* built,  used a 2N107 or
 RJT> somesuch.  On a board,  which I'd painted blue...

 GM> On a board... hmmm... I seem to remember a system of using brass
 GM> nails driven into a board and the components soldered to them.

I may have left the nails out.  I was in grade school at the time...    :-)

 GM> I have a radio, vintage about 1960, that has all the minor 
 GM> components soldered onto insulated pins pressed through a metal
 GM> panel. The major components, tuning gang, coils, IF and audio
 GM> transformers are bolted to the panel in the old way.

I'd love to have the space to accumulate some of that old stuff again. 
Just now there's a big old dual tuning cap around here,  much of the rest
of that stuff is just *gone*.

 GM> A total of 5 transistors in the whole thing, and it still works, 
 GM> although the 9 volt battery it was designed for has long 
 GM> disappeared from the market!

What kind was that?  I seem to remember a few odd variants on them.

 RJT> I guess.  But these days I'm satisfied with a lot more modest 
 RJT> operation of things than I would have been years ago.  A few 
 RJT> watts of audio power is more than enough for me.  :-)

 GM> 15 watts was *B*I*G* power for transistor amplifiers in the era I
 GM> was talking about.

I worked with pro sound gear for a while.  You could find the resonant
frequencies of the various bones in your body,  after cranking some of that
stuff up...    :-)

 GM> OTOH I found that a 500mW output stage in a portable radio would
 GM> make a surprising amount of sound, and quite reasonable quality,
 GM> when fed into a decent loudspeaker.

Yes.

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