Radio Manufacturing

a branch of machine building that produces telephone, telegraph, and radio communications equipment, as well as equipment used in radio broadcasting and television, radar, radio navigation, and radio-control systems for aircraft. The development of radio manufacturing has significantly contributed to technical progress in all areas of the national economy, science, and engineering and has strengthened the defense capabilities of the nation.

In prerevolutionary Russia, radio manufacturing had a low level of development, and a large part of the required radio equipment was purchased abroad. In the first years of Soviet power a program for establishing a modern radio manufacturing industry within the country was developed. One of the first decrees issued by the Soviet government was On the Centralization of Radio Engineering. In 1918 a radio laboratory was established in Nizhny Novgorod (present-day Gorky); it was the first Soviet scientific research organization for radio engineering. There, on the initiative of V. I. Lenin, the radio equipment for the first high-power radiotelephone station in Moscow was manufactured.

During the 1930’s, radio manufacturing developed at a particularly rapid rate in connection with production and advances in superhigh-frequency technology and highly sensitive phototelegraphic devices. New radio-engineering enterprises were established, existing ones were expanded, and lot production was established for many new types of radio equipment, including articles for home use. During the postwar years, radio manufacturing continued developing more rapidly than other branches of industry. Since the 1950’s, in connection with the wide-scale introduction of semiconductors in radio-manufacturing production, there has been a transition from first generation radio equipment (based on electron tubes) to second generation equipment (based on semiconductors) and, in the 1960’s, to third generation equipment (based on integrated circuits).

Present-day radio manufacturing has the following basic characteristics: the development of a large number of interdependent scientific and technical trends, an accelerated introduction of new products to replace older ones, and a transition from the production of individual articles to the creation of complex systems that combine a large number of instruments, on the moon, Venus, and Mars, and to transmit information from these planets. Radio manufacturing enterprises in the USSR built the equipment for the Molniia communications satellites and for the television reception points in the Orbia system, as well as equipment for television centers.

The production of radio equipment for home use is rapidly increasing. Such equipment includes radio receivers, including transistor sets, television sets, including color television sets, radio-phonographs, and radio-tape recorders (see Table 1).

Radio manufacturing includes the development of engineering policies and improvements in the structural designs and other products to meet the cultural and everyday needs of the general public, such as tape recorders and phonographs. As a result of increased product output in radio manufacturing and the rising income of the country’s population, the sales volume of radio products and the use of radio and television equipment by the general public are increasing (see Table 2).

Radio manufacturing is also developing successfully in socialist countries abroad, including the German Democratic Republic, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the Hungarian

devices, and equipment. Examples of such systems are the nation’s integrated automatic communications system, the integrated satellite communications system, the integrated airtraffic control system, and automated control systems. Radio manufacturing incorporates a large number of industrial enterprises and associations and scientific and design organizations; examples are the VEF Plant in Riga, the Krasnaia Zaria and Kozitskii production associations in Leningrad, the Popov Production Association in Riga, and the Elektron Production Association in L’vov.

Radio equipment is widely used in all areas of the national economy, science, engineering, culture, and education. Radio and electronic equipment makes it possible to establish reliable communications with remote regions of the country, automate industrial and technological processes, guide spacecraft, and investigate other planets. Equipment built in the USSR was used to correct the trajectory of and receive signals from the first artificial earth satellites, to receive images of the far side of the moon, to conduct a television transmission of man’s first space walk, to accomplish the first soft landing of space probes People’s Republic, and the Polish People’s Republic. The USSR cooperates closely with these countries in this area as part of the process of socialist economic integration. In the member countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, the production of radio receivers in 1973 was as follows: the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, 71,000 radio receivers; the Hungarian People’s Republic, 199,000; and the German Democratic Republic, 983,000. Production figures for 1974 were as follows: the Polish People’s Republic, 1,419,000 radio receivers; the Socialist Republic of Rumania, 602,000; and the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, 198,000. The production of television sets for home use in 1973 was as follows: the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, 74,000 sets, and the German Democratic Republic, 454,000. Production figures for 1974 were as follows: the Hungarian People’s Republic, 395,000 sets; the Polish People’s Republic, 896,000; the Socialist Republic of Rumania, 451,000; and the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, 409,000.

Radio manufacturing in capitalist countries is highly monopolized. In the USA, the production of radio equipment is controlled by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), which is closely allied with General Electric and International Telephone

and Telegraph (ITT). In Japan, the controlling concerns are Sony, National, and Hitachi, and in Western Europe control is exercised by Philips (the Netherlands), AEG-Telefunken and Siemens (Federal Republic of Germany), and other companies. An international cartel, established by monopolistic agreements concerning the allocation of markets and patent exchanges, encompasses almost all radio manufacturing in the capitalist countries.

The production of radio equipment rose considerably during World War II, during which time lot production of radar equipment began. During the postwar years, radio manufacturing in the leading capitalist countries developed at a rapid rate (see Table 3).