ICOMJAPAN: Old SONY radios made in Japan

samedi 17 juin 2023

Old SONY radios made in Japan

Akio Morita (盛田昭夫, Morita Akio, January 26, 1921 – October 3, 1999) was a Japanese entrepreneur and co-founder of Sony along with Masaru Ibuka.

https://quotefancy.com/akio-morita-quotes

The Sony company was born in 1946, but before bearing this name that everyone knows, it was called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo. Created by Akio Morita, a physicist, and Masaru Ibuka, an engineer, it specializes in the repair of electronic equipment and aims to create innovative technologies. The two creators also seek to manufacture their own products and some were major inventions. We will remember the TR-55, the first transistor tape recorder but also the first of Japanese origin, the color video cassette, the Walkman, the floppy disk, the first consumer camcorder or the Blu-ray disc. But before getting there, the brand has come a long way.

Akio Morita was born in Nagoya.^[1] Morita's family was involved in sake, miso and soy sauce production in the village of Kosugaya (currently a part of Tokoname City) on the western coast of Chita Peninsula in Aichi Prefecture since 1665. He was the oldest of four siblings and his father Kyuzaemon trained him as a child to take over the family business. Akio, however, found his true calling in mathematics and physics, and in 1944 he graduated from Osaka Imperial University with a degree in physics. He was later commissioned as a sub-lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and served in World War II. During his service, Morita met his future business partner Masaru Ibuka in the Navy's Wartime Research Committee.

The creation of its first tape recorders was the starting point of the brand's success. It is the invention that allows him to know the profitability, but also a semblance of notoriety. In 1954, Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo obtained the rights to manufacture the transistor, an invention hitherto patented by the United States. They are therefore the ones who produce and market this product for the first time in Japan, but they are also the ones who apply this technology to telecommunications. In 1955, the success continued with the creation of the first transistor radio receiver, which definitely made the company famous.

http://jeanluc.fournier.pagesperso-orange.fr/World_band/Dossier_WB_transix/pages/page_4_sony_wb_trx.htm

In 1958, 12 years after its creation, the company changed its name to Sony. The latter comes from the expression “Sunny Boy”, very popular at that time, which designates someone young, free and ahead of his time. The name of the company was indeed difficult to pronounce for people living outside of Japan.

Sony began in the wake of World War II. In 1946, Masaru Ibuka started an electronics shop in Shirokiya,^[23] a department store building in the Nihonbashi area of Tokyo. The company started with a capital of ¥190,000^[24] and a total of eight employees.^[25] On 7 May 1946, Ibuka was joined by Akio Morita to establish a company called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (東京通信工業, Tōkyō Tsūshin Kōgyō) (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation).^[26] The company built Japan's first tape recorder, called the Type-G.^[26]^[27] In 1958, the company changed its name to "Sony".^[28]

Ranges: .53-1.605, 1.6-1 O, 11.5-20, 20-30 MHz and 87.5-108 MHz FM. 1There is a reception gap from 10400 to 11400 kHz (as a result of the 10.700 MHz 1st IF). The IF filters leave something to be desired. Variants: Model ICF-6700L covers longwave also. 1978-1980

This receiver has a dedicated following among shortwave content listeners who appreciate the radio's excellent fidelity. Not a fabulous DXing machine but one of best sounding communications receivers ever built. 2 10.7 MHz IF for FM Variants: The ICF-6800W Orange is later production (after serial number 30000) with improvements. Orange ink was used on the front panel for the model's name. This version boasts tighter IF bandwidths and adds an RF attenuator (on the back of the set). This model sold new for $700 in 1982 and is worth s400+ used. This variant is sometimes referred to as the ICF·6800WA. 1980-1983