"Stephanie Weil" wrote in message
oups.com...
Early domestic-market Western European FM radios would cover 88 - 100.
Then the band was stretched to 104 in the 60s. In the late 1970s/
early 1980s, the band was stretched out to its current 108 MHz.

True export models would cover the entire FM band 88-108. Any radio
that only covered the 88-100 or 88-104 bands seen in the Americas were
brought over by immigrants.

The European radios in Ecuador, which were the majority in 1966, were known
brands like Telefunken and Grundig. Since there were no FM stations, there
were only about 16, 000 of them then. Almost all were 88 to 100 MHz,
including theone in my home. Most were consoles, with a record changer and
all... in a credenza sized piece of furniture that, then, cost about $500 or
more.

Domestic Japanese-market radios cover the FM band from 76 to 91. I
should know, I have a couple Japanese-market FM radios. The band
between 91 and 108 is used for VHF TV audio channels 1, 2 and 3.

The export ones in LAtin America must have been ones intended for other
markets, as they were 76 to 100. Not many of them, though.

Eastern-European/Russian FM radios cover the 66-74 megahertz band.
That would be what we use for TV audio for Channel 2, 3 and 4.

Never saw one of these, although the Czechs often tried to sell me
transmitters full of Svetlanas.

Using a Japanese radio, you can pick up USA TV audio channels 5 and 6.

A friend did some consulting for J-Wave, an FM in Tokyo. They gave him a
radio. It tunes the non-com band nicely, of course.

David Eduardo wrote:

The European radios in Ecuador, which were the majority in 1966, were known
brands like Telefunken and Grundig. Since there were no FM stations, there
were only about 16, 000 of them then. Almost all were 88 to 100 MHz,
including theone in my home. Most were consoles, with a record changer and
all... in a credenza sized piece of furniture that, then, cost about $500 or
more.

Most of the few vintage FM radios I saw in Colombia were all 88-108.
But those were mostly all transistorized. All the tube radios I saw
there were MW/SW only. I brought back two, a huge Grundig and a
smaller Philco-Tropic made in the UK.

My grandmother has her 1940s Philips MW/SW set.

As you said, German and Dutch brands ruled.


The export ones in LAtin America must have been ones intended for other
markets, as they were 76 to 100. Not many of them, though.

I remember seeing a couple Japanaese AM/FMs in a pawn shop. They were
88-108, but these were from the 1970s. Wayy too beat-up and battered
for my taste, so I didn't get them.

But then Ecuador and Colombia are two very different animals. I'm
pretty sure that Colombia got into the FM game much earlier than
Ecuador - at least in the major cities like Bogota (now-departed HJCK,
for instance).

Most Japanese analog-tuned portables cover 76-108 anyway, so that their
owners can take the radios outside the country and have them work. In
Japan they're marketed as FM/TV.

It's a different ball game with the digital units and home/car stereos,
though. Once again, this is just from the ones I've seen and played
with.

Here is an old Polish FM radio (not mine, unfortunately):

http://www.astercity.net/~janekr/1.jpg

A friend did some consulting for J-Wave, an FM in Tokyo. They gave him a
radio. It tunes the non-com band nicely, of course.

Oh yeah, that's about the only FM radio you can pick up with them.
Here's an OLD Sanyo add-on tuner made for the Japanese market:

http://radiomann.hp.infoseek.co.jp/H...-sanyoSFT1.JPG

and an old Pioneer table-top radio (FM only, and the dial knob is
missing)

http://radiomann.hp.infoseek.co.jp/H...F6-Pioniaf.JPG

Hope he still has it. Foreign-market electronics can be a cool thing,
well....if you're a nut-case like me and collect radios.... but that's
a whole different story.

--
Steph