Yashica’s YT-300 Transistor Radio – 1960

Chris and Carol

Yashica produced more than just cameras during its boom years. As a leader in the field of electronic photography in the middle to late 1960s, Yashica’s early electronic devices ranged from such diverse items as transistor radios, record players, movie projectors, calculators, editing equipment and tape recorders to name but a few.

Most of the earliest electronic devices are rather rare now (as one would expect after 50 years) and only occasionally does something come up in auctions both on the web and in estate sales. I suspect that the more common electrical items such as projectors and editing equipment are still flooding eBay and other on-line auction sites.

Finding early radios such as the YT-300 and YT-100 is quite difficult. Here we share some of what we’ve been able to collect over the years.

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Yashica YT-300 Radio Brochure

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Thanks for your visit! If you come across a working Yashica radio or tape recorder snag it! They’re really rare and a fun little reminder of the first transistor radios and how cool they were.

Studio Camera: Samsung Galaxy S4

Chris

3 thoughts on “Yashica’s YT-300 Transistor Radio – 1960”

  1. Got myself a Yashica YC-25 tape recorder. Very similar to the “77” you have pictured, but has a leather case (as part of the unit). Manual level control with a little VU meter. Rim-drive transport mechanism manufactured by Copal (same transport mech is used in the Standard Unicorder 89 by Standard Radio Corp.) It is an unusually well-made mechanism for rim-drive (runs more stable than typical rim-drive machines), as rim-drive type machines were generally much more cheaply made compared to capstan-drive. However the amplifier in this unit is vary basic, with four transistors and DC bias recording. Acceptable quality for voice, but I had to adjust the bias resistor. Very interesting unit. I will be making a video of it for YouTube in the near future.

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