The Price of Transistors

[Geoffrey]

Hi,

The first two OC71's that I bought cost 14/- each, shortly after they came down in price to 6/6. I was reminded of this when I found an August 1962 Mullard price list this afternoon which lists them at 6/6. The most expensive transistor was the AF102 at £ 1-17-6, by contrast a PCL85 was 12/6 plus 3/8 Purchase Tax and an AW47-90 (19" CRT) £ 12-10 plus Purchase Tax. To put these prices in perspective when I started work a couple of years later my pay was £ 4 a week.

I hope that this is in the right section ......

Best wishes, Geoffrey.

[Murphyv310]

In 1970 and under 16 I got £3-8-5 a week then when 16 I went up to £4-0-4. That was British relay. I then got £12 when I was 17 but had a sideways shift to Trainee station equipment technician, Sounded good at the time but Relay engineering was dying by then due to more UHF transmitters and better pictures off air. Went back on the bench late 1974 when I got my C&G.

[ppppenguin]

Geoffrey, don't worry about the right section too much. If it's obviously wrong the moderators will move it without making a fuss.

As for the price of transistors I remember using mail order firms such as Bi-Pak to get bags of red spot (audio) and white spot (RF) transistors at prices I could afford. This would have been in the early 1970s. Exactly how good these transistors were is anyone's guess but they usually worked for me. There were also the catalogues such as Home Radio, Electrovalue etc which usualy offered pretty good pricing. Being in London I would also go up to Tottenham Court Road and Lisle Street. Evocative names such as Laskys, Stern-Clyne, Proops, Z&I Aero. Edgware Road (Henry's Radio and a few others) was a slightly longer journey so I rarely went there.

[Murphyv310]

Yes the 60's & 70's were great for us, went rapidly downhill though. Just wish I collected more components then.

[ppppenguin]

Trevor, I know the whole point of GVR is looking back but I'm not convinced things went downhill from the 60s and 70s. There's always a temptation to look back to a so-called golden age but it was rarely as golden as all that.

In my own professional field of broadcast video I look back to image orthicon and plubicon cameras, 2" and the start of 1" videotape, all analogue video paths etc. By the 1990s we had CCD cameras which could outperform anything that went before at lower cost and weight. Digital videotape that could go to any number of generations without loss and all sorts of digital systems. Even in analogue we had good video rated opamps starting with the EL2020 that made life a lot easier for the designer. And this is just in one small niche.

[Murphyv310]

Oh don't get me wrong the advances have been incredible.
What I mean is so many transistors are obsolete along with other components, just wish I was a cleptomaniac and raided the junk bins at various places I worked in when stuff was written off.
In fact now I'm doing more projects these days with current chips and more low voltage stuff, eyesight struggles a bit but I'm enjoying it.