[Elecraft] HP calculators

[Mike Morrow]

Bill wrote:

>The strip reader was an HP 45. I had that and the HP 35.

The only HP handheld calculators that used magnetic card programing were:
HP-65 - Introduced in 1973 at $800
HP-67 - Introduced in 1976 at $450, replaced the HP-65
HP-41C-series with card-reader option (1979)

The HP-45 came out in 1973 for $400, and HP dropped the price of the HP-35 to $300.  The HP-45 was HP's second and more capable scientific calculator.  It was not programmable.

>Prices were outlandish in those days ( late 50's and early 60's)
>for a young engineer.

I'd imagine so...since that time span was 10 to 15 years before the first HP handheld appeared.  The HP-35 wasn't marketed until Spring 1972.  HP's first scientific desktop was the HP-9100, introduced in 1968 for several thousand dollars, depending on options.

73,
Mike / KK5F
(Self-admitted calculator geek)