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WHO MANUFACTURED THE SBE SIDEBANDER II TRANSCEIVER.

unit_399

unit_399

EL CAPO
Jun 17, 2008
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ALEJANDRIA, COLOMBIA SA
Does anyone know the name of the Japanese company that manufactured CB radios for SBE and Gemtronics back in the day?? I have an SBE Sidebander II, and a Gemtronics GTX2325, and it's obvious that they were both made by the same company in Japan. The SBE circuit boards have no ID numbers, but the GTX2325 is marked "NET 62 A 33," on the bottom. Anyone got a clue as to who made these rigs???

- 399
 

http://www.radiomuseum.org/dsp_hersteller_detail.cfm?company_id=10281

http://www.noobowsystems.org/restorations/sb-33/sbe-company-e.html

Seen reference to Frontier Radio systems of Japan also which I think was a sub of JRC/Panasonic...
Good Luck
Sorry these are not more help
All the Best
Gary

Do know alot of the Gemtronics rigs were by Panasonic...but never put their name on them...they had a division which did private label contract work at the time...

Another reference... http://www.qsl.net/k5dh/raytheon/raytheon.html
 
Last edited:
they were originally made by faust GONSET (sound familiar), then by RAYETHEON, and then by Linear Systems
 
The SBE Sidebander II is the mobile version of the SBE Console II Base Station. Same board inside and a quality good sounding one at that. The audio bandwidth and modulation are top notch for a CB transceiver.
 
We owned a Sidebander 4 - marketed in Australia under the Belcom brand.
It was a 23 channel.

The following is some more info from a page i came across.

SBE
Est. 1962, closed 1975 | USA
SideBand Engineers was founded by the founder of Gonset, Mr. Faust Gonset in 1962. Its goal was to create ideal mobile equipments with latest transistor technology and advanced design.

In 1963, SBE started to sell their first model, SBE SB-33 transceiver. It is known as the first practical transistorized rig; one of the important milestones of the amateur equipment history. The SBE SB-34 followed in 1964.

In 1970s, all of the U.S. amateur equipment manufactures were under attack of the Japanese made rigs. SBE started to sell the SBE SB-35 and SBE SB-36 which were manufactured in Japan, but they could not save the company. Reportedly very few SBE SB-35 manufactured.

SBE withdrew from the amateur market in late 1970, kept manufacturing high quality - high performance CB radios and scanners for a while. Sometime later however the company completely disappeared from the consumer radio equipment market.
 
i still own a console II with a glen 326-g.
and yes it was a great rig in its time.
its about to get repurposed as a 10m rig.
 
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sachabinky said:
We owned a Sidebander 4 - marketed in Australia under the Belcom brand.
It was a 23 channel.

The following is some more info from a page i came across.

SBE
Est. 1962, closed 1975 | USA
SideBand Engineers was founded by the founder of Gonset, Mr. Faust Gonset in 1962. Its goal was to create ideal mobile equipments with latest transistor technology and advanced design.

In 1963, SBE started to sell their first model, SBE SB-33 transceiver. It is known as the first practical transistorized rig; one of the important milestones of the amateur equipment history. The SBE SB-34 followed in 1964.

In 1970s, all of the U.S. amateur equipment manufactures were under attack of the Japanese made rigs. SBE started to sell the SBE SB-35 and SBE SB-36 which were manufactured in Japan, but they could not save the company. Reportedly very few SBE SB-35 manufactured.

SBE withdrew from the amateur market in late 1970, kept manufacturing high quality - high performance CB radios and scanners for a while. Sometime later however the company completely disappeared from the consumer radio equipment market.
Click to expand...

Interesting info. However, I believe I've seen a few 40 channel SBE units.

As all know, 40 channels came to be Jan 1, 1977.

If they closed, did someone perhaps "buy" and continue to market the SBE name?
 
SBE used more than one vendor to build their solid-state CB radios. Pretty sure they used NDI, Standard Communications and at least one other for 23-channel and the very first 40-channel radios.

Their last 40-channel models, the "LM" and "LC" radios came from Uniden.

73
 
Turbo T said:
Interesting info. However, I believe I've seen a few 40 channel SBE units.

As all know, 40 channels came to be Jan 1, 1977.

If they closed, did someone perhaps "buy" and continue to market the SBE name?
Click to expand...

SBE held on until at least 1979, which is the year they registered "By SBE" as a trademark. Part of the marketing campaign for their "Land Command" series of radios. I just learned tonight that the "By SBE" trademark wasn't canceled until 1990, so someone may have holding out hope of a return of the company for a few years.

SBE had several 40 channel models. The Sidebander V/Console V and Sidebander VI/Console VI pairs come to mind, as well as the Keycomm 1000, Formula D, Trinidad III, and the aforementioned Land Command radios. I'm sure there's some SBE diehards here that could name more.

As far as I know, no one bought the SBE name or trademarks. The SBE Entertainment Group that manages hotels in Las Vegas and elsewhere is not related.

I have seen SBE units that were sold in Australia badged as "Liner". I don't know if that was a contract manufacturing job or if Liner was a brand name owned by SBE.
 
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Good stuff. Seems like in 1979 a lot of household CB companies like Royce, Robyn, Hygain, Pearce Simpson, Johnson and a few others exited the CB market. I believe I read it was largely attributed to the sudden dumping of 23 channel radios.
 
Actually, my mistake,,- it was an 18 Channel Belcom that we had,,I just managed to get hold of the very same unit and intend to restore it to full function for my collection.
I'd seen so many 23 channel sidebander 2's lately, i had forgotten about the old 18 channel ones.
 
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