Wireless

I've previously blogged about REMCO (Remote Control Manufacturing Company) and toys from the 1960s.  It was a golden age and Remco dominated the marketplace for creating toys that made children feel like a cold war spy, a scientist or a backyard warrior.  Including fun stuff that you could assemble like a radio.

Before the age of microchips Remco sold a kit that a kit that included all of the components - transistors, capacitors and resistors - that a kid could put together by means of spring-terminals and screws to create a working AM radio.  

To keep costs down most models used a one-transistor circuit requiring a long antenna wire that you could clip to a metal window screen or bed frame to enhance reception.  Most included a single crystal ear plug while others used a speaker.  An entire generation of baby boomers found their way into an engineering career or became ham radio enthusiasts as a consequence of Remco radios.

And if you have a working model with the original packaging and instructions you would learn that collectors and radio hobbyists will pay handsomely to get their hands on it.