Favorite Blast from the Past: Radio Legend Gerald Gives Us a Look at Some Vintage Field Radio Titans

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1969 to around 1978. no doubt the pinnacle years of Japanese made portable radios. While Sony and Panasonic certainly lead the way, Toshiba, Sanyo and others were pushed by the excellence of the big two. This resulted in well built , compact super radios as all these manufacturere reached the pinnacle of this technology. Use of the finest materials and cutting edge diodal, transistor and integrated circuitry technology was the order of the day across all brands from japan. The caveat, one of these babys cost you the equivalent of one weeks pay in 1972! But what you got  lasted your lifertime!

 The examples shown here are in new condition and are noted for their quality, durability asnd excellence in true field conditions.  lets introduce them,, the IC77 from Toshiba 1974, the RF 858 wordlboy from panasonic, 1970ish, the rp-7220 trailmaster from sanyo, 1973 and the Toshiba RM201FA. 1969.  as you can see all radios came with protection cases, notably, the rf858 and the sanyo rp 7220 came with hard cases! Of course, all radios came equipped with dial lights, tuning meters and shortwave capabilty.

I can only say that all perform nearly on an eqaul basis to each other. when i compare them to the new chinese fare,, well,, no contest. ALl pereform acutely on all bands with crisp, concsise analog tuning. These radios pop with life while spearing the unseen radio waves from the ether. 

 These radio compact size made them the perfect field radios. Ive included the rf 2200 for scale, as you can see, the 2200 would be a little cumbersome on the trail. These are oocaisionally offered on ebay, if you see one thats well preserved, get it.

Just remeber, Sony and Panasonic pushed Sanyo Toshiba and others to excellence in this period, dont overlook them!

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