Few brands in the ham radio world have a story as closely intertwined with their founder as Yaesu. One person is behind its creation - Japanese radio amateur Sako Hasegawa, call sign JA1MP - and his name is still written directly on the label of one of the most famous transceivers in the brand's history.
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How did Yaesu come about?
The story begins in 1954, when a young Japanese college graduate and amateur radio experimenter, Sako Hasegawa, enthusiastically read Arthur Collins' article on SSB (Single Sideband) modulation. After building a few SSB generators for himself and his friends, he began receiving requests from radio amateurs all over Japan for complete transmitters.
The first company under which Hasegawa manufactured its SSB equipment was General Television Service Co., Ltd., established in 1956. based in Tokyo's Ota-ku district, originally focused on servicing television receivers. He has been producing his own SSB devices under this name since 1957. In 1959, Yaesu Musen Co., Ltd. was subsequently founded and registered. (八重洲电影株式会社), intended for the production of radio communication equipment for radio amateurs.
The first product of the new company was a crystal-controlled single-band transmitter for the 40-meter band, designated FL-10/40. It was followed shortly by a five-band crystal-controlled transmitter with a mechanical filter called the FL-20, which sold for ¥49,800 in the domestic Japanese market in 1963.
The company's name comes from the Tokyo neighborhood of Yaesu, adjacent to the east side of Tokyo Station, where the company was founded. The name of the district itself has an interesting origin - it is derived from the Dutch adventurer Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn, who was shipwrecked off the coast of Japan in 1600. After being imprisoned as a pirate for a while, he became an adviser to the shogun and for his services received a plot of land in Edo (today's Tokyo), which the locals named after him - his name was pronounced in Japanese as "Jajósu", which was gradually shortened to today's "Yaesu". The word "Musen" means radio in Japanese.
Yaesu Musen was formed with the intention of developing and manufacturing both commercial and amateur radio transceivers initially for the Japanese market only. However, already five years after its establishment, the company signed foreign trade agreements to export to Australia and Germany.
Exports abroad began in 1962/1963. The Swiss company Sommerkamp imported Yaesu devices and sold them under its own brand. Spectronics, Inc. was the first company to bring Yaesu products to the United States. headquartered in Signal Hill, California, in 1965. Yaesu became a major player in the American radio amateur market with the introduction and progressive refinement of the popular FT-101 series in the 1970s.
Overview of Yaesu milestones
The official company history, as published directly by Yaesu Musen Co., Ltd., captures the key milestones of the company's development over more than six decades.
| A year | The event |
|---|---|
| 1956 | Established General Television Service Co., Ltd. in Ota-ku, Tokyo; the beginning of the development of wireless communication devices |
| 1962 | The beginning of the export of wireless communication equipment |
| 1964 | Moved headquarters to Yaesu Ward, Chuo-ku, Tokyo; change of company name to YAESU MUSEN CO., LTD. |
| 1973 | Founded by YAESU MUSEN U.S.A., INC. in Los Angeles; established the Sukagawa factory in Fukushima as the main plant for the production of communication equipment |
| 1978 | Moved headquarters to Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo |
| 1988 | Founded by YAESU EUROPE B.V. in Amsterdam |
| 1989 | Iwate factory established |
| 1991 | IPO, capital increase to ¥4,220 million |
| 1994–1995 | Founded by YAESU UK LTD. (London), YAESU GERMANY GmbH (Frankfurt) and YAESU HK LTD. (Hong Kong) |
| 1998 | Established STANDARD CO., LTD.; acquisition of STANDARD COMMUNICATIONS CO., LTD. by Marantz Japan |
| 1999 | Move headquarters to Meguro-ku, Tokyo; acquisition of the STANDARD HORIZON brand; ISO 9002 certification |
| 2000 | Change of name to VERTEX STANDARD CO., LTD.; acquisition of TRONDULE CO., LTD. |
| 2003 | Established VERTEX STANDARD (SUZHOU) CO., LTD. in China |
| 2006 | Established VERTEX STANDARD (AUSTRALIA) PTY., LTD. in Melbourne |
| 2012 | Name change back to YAESU MUSEN CO., LTD.; moving headquarters to Higashi-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo |
Video: History of Yaesu
FT-1000MP in honor of JA1MP
The suffix "MP" in the designation of the FT-1000MP transceiver is not accidental - it is a tribute to Sako Hasegawa, the late founder of the company with the call sign JA1MP, who greatly influenced the design and equipment of this device. When it was introduced in 1995, the FT-1000MP was Yaesu's flagship - the most richly equipped and at the same time the most expensive transceiver that Yaesu has ever offered to the radio amateur community. It was produced for around ten years in several versions including the original model, the Mark-V and the Mark-V Field.
The basic version of the FT-1000MP had an output power of 100 W with an output stage on bipolar transistors and one receiver. The Mark-V version brought a power of 200 W with an output stage of MOSFET tranzistoroch Philips BLF147, dvojicu nezávislých prijímačov, DSP integrované s IDBT, chladenie vrchným chladičom s ventilátorom, externý power supply FP-29 (30 V a 13,8 V) a prevádzku v triede A s výkonom 75 W. Medzi pokročilé funkcie celej série patrilo digitálne spracovanie signálu, prepínateľná trieda A pre zlepšenie linearity výstupného signálu, schopnosť FM operations and the possibility of installing special filter circuits for different modes. Despite the rich equipment, the device was designed so that even newly licensed operators can quickly master its operation - for example, switching between individual bands is done with a single button on the front panel.
Yaesu product overview
Yaesu's portfolio has grown over the decades to include a wide range of equipment categories. Historically, a key role was played by the FT-101 series, which consolidated the brand's position on the American market in the 1970s. In 2013, Yaesu introduced its own System Fusion digital operating mode, using C4FM technology with 4-level FSK keying for digital voice transmission. The system can automatically detect whether the incoming signal is using C4FM or classic analog FM, and also allows for full speed data transmission of up to 9,600 bits per second. Unlike D-Star (developed by Icom in collaboration with JARL) or DMR used by other manufacturers, System Fusion is a technology offered exclusively by Yaesu in devices.
The current portfolio includes several product categories. In the segment of digital devices, the current model is the FT-991A. The category of KV and 6 m transceivers includes models FTDX101D/MP, FTDX10 and FTX-1Field. Mobile stations are represented by the FT-8900 and FTM-510DE models. In the handheld station category, the current models are FT-65E, FT-5DE and FT-70DE. Yaesu also offers antenna rotators, such as the G-2800DXC, G-450C and G-650C.
The modern years of Yaesu
After the death of Sako Hasegawa, Jun Hasegawa took over the management of the company as managing director. In 1998, Yaesu Musen acquired the STANDARD radio equipment brand from Marantz Japan and changed its name to Vertex Standard Co., Ltd. in 2000. In 2007, Motorola announced plans to buy an 80% stake in Vertex Standard and form a joint venture with Tokogiken (a private Japanese company controlled by Jun Hasegawa) that would own the remaining 20%. This deal was completed in January 2008.
The joint venture was dissolved effective January 1, 2012. Vertex Standard's land mobile division has since operated as a separate subsidiary company based in Tokyo, while the amateur radio, airband and marine radio engineering divisions have been brought under a new company with the restored original name of "Yaesu Musen". Today, it is this company that continues to manufacture radio amateur equipment bearing the name of its founder and his call sign JA1MP.
Summary
Yaesu's story is an example of how one radio amateur's enthusiasm for a new technology - in this case SSB modulation in the mid-1950s - turned into one of the world's most important brands in amateur radio technology. The call sign JA1MP is still inscribed not only in the history of the company, but literally also in the designation of one of its most iconic transceivers, the FT-1000MP. From the first FL-10/40 single-band transmitter in 1959 to today's System Fusion digital transceivers, the company has come a long way, but the principle on which it was founded - to design and manufacture quality SSB equipment for the ham radio community - remains at its core today.