What makes a radio "vintage" in 2024?

Having a barretter as part of the circuitry.

or a cats whisker.....

and a pair of hard and uncomfortable headphones that made your ears hurt after a few minutes, and definitely no loudspeaker...

Or a coherer.

That newfangled Indian invention will never catch on!

Some of the early transistor radios seem to be classed as vintage. Those from the 1960s.

Certainly valve radios.

I have a few oldish Roberts Radios which I suspect ( almost) qualify. I’m not sure how old they are- I suspect 1970s.

I confess, I’ve gone DAB for portable radios. Ideally ones with internet / DLNA capability.

For an arbitrary dividing line, valves or germanium transistors versus silicon transistors. The early Roberts transistor sets were very old, made in 1958, only a couple of years after the invention of the (germanium) transistor.

Depending where you live, this might be a place to start:

They hold an event at the Angel Centre in Tonbridge at least once a year. I went there a couple of times to pick up business cards of dealers to sell my old hi-fi kit to. Not sure they deal in older radio stuff, but they could well know people who do.

Germanium transistors were used well into the seventies by IBM, because they were faster for switching and had lower Vbe.

I suspect that to many of our younger non-readers just being a radio makes it vintage.

What do you mean, it doesn't take photos? or show cat videos?

But probably not in radios. The very earliest transistors were point-contact, but I doubt that they were used in domestic products.

If it once called a 'wireless', that would be a start. My oldest radio is a 1971 Hacker, but it is not vintage, it has those new-fangled transistors.

I forgot to add: 'and no ferrite-rod aerial'.

I had a Bang and Olufsen portable radio in 1968 and that used all germaniun transistors

They were used in one early computer, however. Not very reliable, and the manufacturer switched to bipolar junction devices.

I have a post-war Bush DAC90 which still works and a slightly later Bush DAC90A which doesn't. I think they probably count as vintage.

Nick

You seem to assume that you are only considering radios that the public could once buy - fair enough - so I'd guess it would depend on the technology - which is not just the electronic technology but - particularly to the man in the auction room - the case.

Go to an auction and see what silly prices are paid for anything cased in "Bakelite".

So, pre-bakelite - Veteran?

Bakelite - Vintage?

PA

Yes.

What is and isn't vintage is context dependent. AC/DC mains radios, portable valve radios, transistor radios from before 1958, anything pre-war IMHO are vintage.

Things like Hacker and Roberts portable radios from the early/mid 70s are not vintage but certainly desirable and very usable if in good physical condition. I have a Roberts R707 early 70s AM/FM radio with wood veneer case. ISTR it tunes only to 104MHz on FM. That doesn't matter as it can receive R2, R4 and Radio Scotland. It has a big speaker and even 50 years old, the sound quality is fantastic for what it is. I must replace the noisy/dodgy volume pot one day.

My first radio purchase was a Perdio SP44 (or a model very like it). Seven transistors, so it was pretty up-market.

I envied my Uncle's floor-standing 1930s valve radio. Wonderful cabinet work.

Squirt it with switch cleaning fluid.