The Sharp PC-1500A was introduced to me by my friend Randy Kokesch, who was working for Northland Stationers of Saskatoon, SK at the time; he had found a program for it, supplied via cassette tape, that was for dry bulk agricultural fertilizer blending calculations; great! exactly what I needed at the time; speaking of, I can’t say with certainty the year and month that I bought it, but it was somewhere between late 1982 and early 1983; can’t recall the price either, but that really didn’t matter, because to two things; one, it would save an inordinate amount of time doing calculations and pricing when my farmer customers would come in with their soil test reports and would want to know how much it was going to cost per acre for their fertilizer requirements; prior to the PC-1500A, I had to do this manually with a calculator; even when I got really good at it, the process took a while; and of course, I would no sooner come up with the results when the customer would ask “well, then how about with only “X” amount of “such-and-such”; start all over; it got very tedious; the second reason should be obvious – I was now a computer “junkie” and just had to have it!

Some specs that I fond online:

Sharp PC-1500A
Programmable: Yes, BASIC interpreter. Only one program can be stored. Use the MODE key to switch between programming and run mode.
Memory: 6kByte internal, 8kByte RAM module, permanent memory.
The MEM command shows 13948 bytes available.
Display: 26 digit 5×7 pixel black&white dot matrix LCD, total 130×7 pixel
Processor: 8-bit LH-5801
Batteries: Calculator 4x AA or DC power supply 6V minus on center
Printer and cassette interface AC adapter – additional red and green pens for printer
Dimensions: Length 8.6cm, Width 19.5cm, Height 2.7cm

One had to initialize the program with the various products one was using for the various nutrient requirements; for example, as I was a Cominco “Elephant Brand” dealer, our phosphate source had an analysis of 11-55-0-0; these numbers are the percentages of these nutrients, by weight, in this industry-standard order: nitrogen, phosphate, potash, sulphur; you would enter the products you used for each, along with their selling price per tonne, of these and the program would determine the amount of each required for the soil test requirements as well as a cost per acre; the primary piece of information desired by the customer; if a test came back requiring 80 pounds of nitrogen per acre, 35 pounds of phosphate per acre and 10 pounds of potash per acre and no sulphur, then you would enter 85, 35, 10, 0 at the respective input prompt; the number of acres were also entered; I can’t recall the exact prompts or displays, but I do remember that once the “compute” entry was made, it would take a while for this printer to “write” the results; this was the only negative of the system at the time; but it worked and even with the slow printing, was orders of magnitude faster than me doing it “by hand”;

I continued to use this system, along with the TRS-80 PC-1 for NH3 calculations, as part of everyday operations at Outlook Fertilizers, Ltd., Outlook, SK until I got my very first “real” computer in November of 2004; that was an Apple Macintosh 512K; more about that in the next post;

The object of the program was relatively simple, but using this, along with the print out, saved a lot of time calculating how long a tank of anhydrous ammonia (NH3) would last on an applicator of a given width and travelling at a given speed. My delivery drivers used the output to determine when the farmer would need another “drink” of NH3 and whether the desired rate was being applied.

Inputs were:

• pounds of actual nitrogen per acre required
• total acres to apply
• applicator width
• applicator tank capacity (to 85% – same setup as with propane; tank and applicator combinations varied)
• target speed

Outputs were:

• hours and minutes until empty from full (85%)
• hours and minutes for depletion of 5% (gauge graduation – used to check accuracy)
• number of “fills” for total acres (used for our scheduling)

The only programming training I took was right out of the PC-1 manual. This was the first time that I had ever attempted something like this. But it worked! The bulk of it was done over the course of a weekend back at the in-laws; that is always a good “excuse” to be “engrossed” in something work-related. I verified numerous tests via the old-fashioned method and yep, they jived. So much for alphas, betas and RCs; test it and go!

Here is a blurb I found online that was from the Radio Shack promo as well as a review.

The TRS-80 PC-1 is the first-ever BASIC-programmable pocket-sized computer! It’s actually the Sharp PC-1211, sold by Radio Shack in the US.

It takes deep-pockets to hold the PC-1, but not to buy one. Costing only $230, it was very portable and useful.

quote:

This new TRS-80 Computer is another “first” from the company which brought you the best-selling, world renowned TRS-80. A truly pocket-sized Computer (not a programmable calculator). Of course it is an ultra-powerful calculator too… And it “speaks” BASIC – - the most common computer language, and the easiest to learn. You’ll soon be impressed by the phenomenal computing power of this hand-held TRS-80 – - ideal for mathematics, engineering and business application. end quote

For those who prefer hardcopy, the $149.00 Printer/Cassette Interface is superb. It is a miniature dot-matrix printer (not a thermal printer) as well as a Cassette Interface for data storage/retrieval.

Built-in rechargeable Ni-Cd batteries supplies power when the external power adapter is not being utilized. Unfortunately, the printer prints 16 characters-per-line, while the PC-1 display is 24 characters wide.

Yep, 30 years ago I got my start in this crazy world of computers with this little fellow. Sure wish I would have kept it.

Keep and eye on this space for a history of my computing experience.