Early Asian radios

[FreeElectron]

What were they doing with radio production in Asia in the 20's and 30's?

[Peter]

This guy has a pretty cool collection of Japanese tube radios:

http://tuberadio.web.fc2.com/index2.htm

Another here:

http://radiomann.hp.infoseek.co.jp/AJRradio.html

I've seen a few early Japanese sets on e-Bay over the years.

Peter

[Norm Leal]

Peter

Nice site. I seldom, almost never, see Japanese radios. I was surprised to see 26B and 12F tubes being used in 1946 radios. Similar tubes in the US were obsolete by 1930. 12F is a 3 pin half wave rectifier.

http://tuberadio.web.fc2.com/radio/N4-4.GIF

Might have to use Peters posted address than check schematics? Doesn't seem to go direct.
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Norm

[HadYourPhil]

Those 50's radios are quite attractive!
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We improve things by making them worse...

[Don Cavey]

Yes, 50s radios are very cool. Unless that collector has a particular desire for eye tubes, seems that many of the radios used them. Do you think most of the radios had them?
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Don

[Alan Douglas]

Japanese domestic radios were a luxury in the 1920s and not many were sold, but some did exist. All the US electrical companies had Japanese licensees: GE and Tokyo Electric (later merged into Toshiba), Western Electric and NEC (Nippon Electric), Victor and JVC (Japan Victor). I forget right now who the Westinghouse counterpart was.

I have a couple of Japanese sets from the early 30s, simple three-tube affairs.

[Bruce MacMillan]

I don't know if these were made locally in Indochine or in France.

http://picasaweb.google.com/BruceM001/Misc02#

click on thumbs, then magnifier to enlarge

[jkaetzjr]

Interesting question I think a lot of Asia outside of Japan was sort of primative in the 30s. Had two uncles that served on the Augusta (Navy ship) during those years. Chinese wre drowning infant girls in the Yangtze (sp) River. One uncle was injured by shrapnel from shelling by the the Japanese navy. I have a picture one of them sent dad from Bali of a young woman, topless, in the street selling Betel (?) nut for chewing. Looked like old west town with an oriental flavor.

If you are interested, Google "Augusta". I think there is a roster of those who served on it. I think it was a destroyer. I am not much on things naval.

[Alan Douglas]

Here is a two-page spread from the Spring 2008 Bulletin of the British Vintage Wireless Society. If you don't subscribe you're missing four of these publications each year, 48 pages in full color. http://bvws.org.uk/

[Arran]

I think that some radios were either built or assembled in India, possibly Hong Kong and Singapore, they would have been of British based designs of course. Technically the USSR was part of Asia and they produced radios in the 1920s and 30s, but I think they were built in the European end of the country. I think that the Chinese may have had some home grown stuff as well, Shanghai was relatively modern by Western standards. Early Japanese stuff seems to have involved regenerative circuits, even well into the 1940s, I guess they figured it was good enough for a country their size.
Best Regards
Arran

[Arran]

I realize that this was posted as an example of a pre war Japanese set but I just had to comment on the article. I personally think that the Atwater Kent 185A looks more European then Asian, it has more in common with French art deco then with Japanese design other then being square. The Matsushita looks like a copy of something Western, no fancy marquetry or exotic woods, even in those days the Japanese were fond of following the trends in the West.
Best Regards
Arran

[Alan Douglas]

It's certainly possible they were both influenced by European designs.

[U106]

Philco had a plant in Shanghai in the 30s, although Ive never seen any of the sets that were produced there. I have had 10 or so prewar Japanese sets over the years, most simple small affairs, tombstone or cathedrals. Hermes was a common name. Still have a small Sharp cathedral

[FreeElectron]

I guess that Australia and New Zealand would be in the orient too, wouldn't they but maybe not Asia?

[HadYourPhil]

Dig the cat with the speaker horn!
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We improve things by making them worse...

[bb.odin]

[Geoff Fors]

When I lived in Shanghai in '01 I found many 1930's-40's radios. Any trace of the Philco plant would have been swept away by 1945 or certainly in 1949. The Chinese Philcos were essentially the same as the USA models but with 220V 50 Hz transformers (as applicable.) There were also many American names such as Firestone, Arvin, and RCA. As you might expect, there were also some Australian made table radios along with some which may have come from New Zealand. Other than the Australian and NZ sets, it was a bit disappointing because it was the same kind of stuff we would find in the USA.

There were evidently a couple of Chinese radio factories producing home-grown table radios prior to 1939, but unfortunately the records and memories of these things are all gone. The one I examined was a small black Bakelite set, AC-DC curtain-burner design, with a flimsy cellophane dial and a pointer attached directly to the tuning capacitor shaft. No nameplate or maker info visible.

I never saw any Japanese made sets.

So much of China's history and culture was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution that it's amazing anything is left. Imagine a bunch of paramilitary troops coming to your house and demanding that you take your radio collection out into the middle of the street and smash and burn it, and if you have been to college, they take you to prison afterwards.
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WB6NVH