Few people have heard of it, yet many consider John Blankenbaker's KENBAK-1 to be the first commercial personal computer.
Tiny Transistor Treasures: Pete Roberts' Old & Vintage Radios
By James Grahame
The Retro Thing research elves stumbled upon this little radio site a few days ago. We usually avoid AOL Hometown like the plague, but this collection of radio goodies is definitely worth a quick mention. Pete Roberts was a teenager during the 1960s, and now he cheerfully collects and repairs both valve and transistor radios.
Standouts in his micro radio collection include a mid-1960s Sinclair Micromatic and a pair of Russian-made sets, including the boxy Yura keychain receiver (inexplicably marked "Made in Hong Kong" -- perhaps an attempt to slip Soviet consumer electronics into the USA at the height of the Cold War), and the Amsa Micro, billed as "The Smallest Radio In The World" upon its release in 1968.
Roberts comments, "This is a specialist [repair] service - I don't handle TVs, VCRs or any other electrical goods. Just radio (including '70s radio/cassettes)! Don't forget, today's disposable consumer electronics contribute heavily to the mountain of toxic waste that eventually ends up in landfill, squandering scarce natural resources. Your older 60s and 70s equipment was made better, and works better than contemporary gear."
