Signal/One

Signal/One was a manufacturer of high performance SSB and CW HF radio communications transceivers initially based in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States.

Signal/One Model CX-7 circa 1970. Price when new: US$2395

History

Signal/One's parent company was Electronic Communications, Inc. (ECI), a military division of NCR Corporation located in St. Petersburg, Florida. Key Signal/One executives were general manager Dick Ehrhorn (amateur radio call sign W4ETO), and project engineer Don Fowler (W4YET). Beginning in the 1960s with the Signal/One CX7, ("S1", as they were called) the company made radios that were priced well above the competition and offered many advanced features for the time,[1] such as passband tuning, broadband transmission, dual receive, built-in IAMBIC keyer, electronic digital read out, solid state design, QSK and RF clipping. A Signal/One radio was said to be a complete high performance, station in a box.[1][2][3]

While marketed to the affluent radio amateur, it has been suggested that the primary market for Signal/One, like Collins, was military, State Department, and government communications. Although prized for the performance and advanced engineering, Signal/One's products did not sell as well as hoped, and the company gradually fell on hard times. From the 1970s though the 1990s, every few years, Signal/One was spun off, sold, and resurfaced at another location.[1]

Collectors

The surviving Signal/One products are sought after and actively collected.[2] These include the CX7, CX7A, CX7B, CX11 and Milspec models. The last Signal/One radio was a re-engineered ICOM IC-781. Information available indicates there were 1152 Signal Ones built: 850 CX7, 112 CX11, 168 MS1030 (number of "C" versions is not known), 6 MilSpec1030C, 15 MilSpec1030CI Icom IC-781 conversions and 1 Milspec1030E DSP Icom IC-756 Pro conversion.[4]

See also

References
  1. Drechsel, Norman. "Virtual Signal/One Radio Museum. Signal/One Amateur Equipment". wa3key.com. WA3KEY. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  2. Hoffmann, Fred. "Signal One". Signalone.org. K50G. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  3. Tenny, Jr., T.H. (May 1969). "The signal/one integrated station" (PDF). Ham Radio Magazine. 2 (5): 56. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  4. "Signal/One". Rig Reference. RigReference.com. Retrieved 24 May 2017.


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