Anybody seen the Sears Com/Trek 22880 before? I know some of our German Friends are saying yea it looks like an ITT, maybe even a Grundig, but this one is different and possible illegal for use in the USA and UK. These are some of the first photos of this model on the internet, I did a short search through Sears Catalogs and haven't found it yet, close models to it date around 1977.
Hello Guys,I agree with Longman, it looks like a Sanyo-built unit, and I know for a fact that at one time Sears owned shares in Sanyo, as well as Whirlpool. Both companies made many of their products, and I did a lot of repair work on Sears and JCPenney’s items. Sincerely Richard P.S. I know a guy who is a retired Sears electronics service repairman maybe he can shed some light on the subject .
Good guess guys and I'll post photos soon! Again, I think it might have had an illegal feature thus it is a rare unicorn.
I'm fascinated as to what you are thinking of. All I can think of is radio coverage. Here in the U.K. there have never been any restrictions on that. Wan't to buy a radio thar picks up military airband, or in the 1990s the cellular phone band? No problem. The onus is on the user to tune away from any transmissions they aren't authorised to listen to.
Maybe this will help but I'm guessing without more documention only the well informed will know. The antenna is on the upper right with black tape over it, most of it seems to be intact, I just need to make a replacement knob. It's one of my favorite types that fully retracts into the body. I also love the 70's tape keys that have metal trim, it gives it the professional look. While this is Japanese, it has that German Look with a ton of buttons and dials, the five rotary dials have a thin rubber O'rings for some added grip. I feel like the German Designers proposed their designs and the head guy always said, "add 5 more buttons." The model number is 564.22880000, on Sears Inventory the first three digits are the manufacturer's number (564 = Sanyo) http://vintagemachinery.org/craftsman/manufacturers.aspx?sort=1 Some of the Hong Kong/Taiwan/Singapore equipment might have a number but the manufacturer is difficult to find, then you have to ask nickeccles cuz he knows all these companies.
Wow Mister X you managed to score this one?! 1975-1977 period. Seems to have been the height of the Mono-Box era. (Yes I like some of these Mono-Boxes. National Panasonic RQ-568... Sony CF-480 and Sony CF-490 have "that look" that just feels right.)
I had forgotten about this thread. I can't see anything unusual about the tuning range. Something I did spot amongst the controls would be related to something like this, which actually dates back to 1972. I can see that battery pack has three terminals. The third would be for charging and would stop you accidentally trying to recharge disposable batteries. I think it would be accurate to say that Sanyo led the world in rechargeable batteries for decades. If you include Panasonic Eneloops they still do in NiMH. About twenty years ago I got a free brand new Sanyo cell based battery pack for my Dell laptop after the ones with Sony batteries were recalled due to a tendency to spontaneously catch fire.
Sorry for the delay, long vacation and a messy office. Ok, the big reveal! This model comes with a "wireless" microphone. The black cap to the left of the meter is covering the microphone and the black wire is actually the antenna. The black ring below the chrome is an ON/OFF rotating switch, kind of neat, I only remember the simple sliding switches on my cheap 70's microphones. What you can't see on the back side is an 88-93 Mhz screw for adjusting transmission frequency. While Japan had endless audio equipment that used the FM band for "wireless" local transmissions like a turntable to a boombox or Walkman to speakers, the USA only had "Mr Microphone." While it made Ronco a ton of money, and many people thinking Ron was a genius, I think he just borrowed existing technology. Unfortunately in the USA, this type of "broadcasting" was highly regulated by the FCC and pretty much disappeared in the 1980's.
