This Extremely rare radio was Britain’s 1st transistor radio and dates to 1956. Called the PAM 710 it was actually produced by Pye of Cambridge. As an untested pioneering product they were clearly not confident enough to put their own name to it and instead used one of their Subsidary companies (Pamphonic Reproducers) to front it. Production only ran from March to December 1956 and since the retail price was twice that of a normal valve radio they never sold very many. Although there are no formal records yet that show exactly how many PAM 710s were sold, it has been estimated to be only in the hundreds rather than thousands.
Today there are little more than a dozen or so PAM 710s known to still exist in museum and collector’s hands (although there are probably some undiscovered in attics yet to appear). Therefore the PAM is both an historic and valuable radio and will continue to rise in value.
This example is offered in very original and untouched condition and is perfect for display. When I inserted batteries it did not work, but no further testing has been done and with proper inspection and cleaning may spring back into life (they had a reputation for being pretty robust). There was some corrosion to the battery bars and one has been reglued back in place, but otherwise it all appears pretty clean and untouched. Externally it has some age related wear and scuffing only. As expected the clear plastic tuning knobs do have some cracking, but are the originals.
If you are wishing to tidy this radio up further then I’m happy to throw in an old Pye P123 BQ for parts. These were the successor to the PAM 710 and shared several parts with them such as the dials (though other parts were unique to the PAM).
For more about the history of this fascinating radio read my blog post here.
