I know the Fidelity CB3000 homebase CB rig, same style as this radio, but was made in Japan by Cybernet/Kyocera. While this radio was made by Fidelity themselves. Of course in the mid 80s Fidelity was bought out by Amstrad.
Kyocera was a name I'd only encountered as a maker of printers, many years ago. I suppose like most large Japanese companies they had multiple product lines.
Nice to see one of these. I had one for xmas 1980 or 81 and remember going with my dad to Boots, who at the time had an audio/tv department in their bigger stores. I'm pretty sure the price was a knockdown £9.99, so perhaps they were selling off end-of-line stock. As an 11 year old I was well impressed with the styling. My original is long gone but I did acquire one a couple of years ago. Those buttons are just a push-fit and sometimes they pop out a bit too far, hence the mis-alignment. You should find that just pushing them home firmly will re-seat them and get things back in line. I notice the centre circles on the buttons on yours are rather yellow. When new they were light silver/grey, so I guess they have discoloured with age.
nice beast, i have one, although the tuning gang has destroyed itself, the thin plastic separators have broke up so set is now unusable 😢 and its a 'special' with an integrated variable resistor for the fm
Comparing a Fidelity with a Grundig is a little like comparing a BMW to a Reliant Robin. Sadly, Ferguson & Fidelity were just about the only "mainstream" British brands in the 70s/80s...neither were much to write home about. Ferguson weren't quite as grim as Fidelity though. Dynatron & Roberts were ok but mostly purchased by wealthy old people! Both were bloody expensive! As far as electronics were concerned, I wasn't exactly "proud to be British"!
Hey you forgot Amstrad :-) To be honest I don't see that the MR1 is objectively worse quality than the Grundig RF440 but I do prefer the Grundig overall. The Ferguson TVs I had in the 1980s were quite good and generally well regarded I think, though old TVs are not something I dabble in.
@@neilsradios ...I forgot Binatone, too! Lol. Ferguson tv's weren't _horrible_ , as such, but I still can't understand why anyone would buy one when you could pay a little more for a Sony. As for Amstrad...dear oh dear...grim!! 🤣
@@neilsradios ferguson TX series tvs were probably some of the best and most common uk made tvs, apart from the various philips chassis, g8, g11, kt3, k30,
A very decent set.
I know the Fidelity CB3000 homebase CB rig, same style as this radio, but was made in Japan by Cybernet/Kyocera. While this radio was made by Fidelity themselves. Of course in the mid 80s Fidelity was bought out by Amstrad.
Kyocera was a name I'd only encountered as a maker of printers, many years ago. I suppose like most large Japanese companies they had multiple product lines.
Nice to see one of these. I had one for xmas 1980 or 81 and remember going with my dad to Boots, who at the time had an audio/tv department in their bigger stores. I'm pretty sure the price was a knockdown £9.99, so perhaps they were selling off end-of-line stock. As an 11 year old I was well impressed with the styling. My original is long gone but I did acquire one a couple of years ago. Those buttons are just a push-fit and sometimes they pop out a bit too far, hence the mis-alignment. You should find that just pushing them home firmly will re-seat them and get things back in line. I notice the centre circles on the buttons on yours are rather yellow. When new they were light silver/grey, so I guess they have discoloured with age.
They are actually a metallic gold colour so maybe they changed the design (they don't seem to have been added later)
My first (Proper) Radio given to me for my 12th birthday in 1977 was a Fidelity RAD 24 still have one (:
Great , looks like a Hacker tunning knob, so some quality !
nice beast, i have one, although the tuning gang has destroyed itself, the thin plastic separators have broke up so set is now unusable 😢 and its a 'special' with an integrated variable resistor for the fm
Comparing a Fidelity with a Grundig is a little like comparing a BMW to a Reliant Robin. Sadly, Ferguson & Fidelity were just about the only "mainstream" British brands in the 70s/80s...neither were much to write home about. Ferguson weren't quite as grim as Fidelity though. Dynatron & Roberts were ok but mostly purchased by wealthy old people! Both were bloody expensive! As far as electronics were concerned, I wasn't exactly "proud to be British"!
Hey you forgot Amstrad :-) To be honest I don't see that the MR1 is objectively worse quality than the Grundig RF440 but I do prefer the Grundig overall. The Ferguson TVs I had in the 1980s were quite good and generally well regarded I think, though old TVs are not something I dabble in.
@@neilsradios ...I forgot Binatone, too! Lol. Ferguson tv's weren't _horrible_ , as such, but I still can't understand why anyone would buy one when you could pay a little more for a Sony. As for Amstrad...dear oh dear...grim!! 🤣
@@neilsradios ferguson TX series tvs were probably some of the best and most common uk made tvs, apart from the various philips chassis, g8, g11, kt3, k30,