Yaesu (brand)

Yaesu (brand)

Yaesu is a Japanese brand of commercial and amateur radio equipment.

It was founded as Yaesu Musen Co., Ltd. (八重洲無線株式会社, Yaesu Musen Kabushiki-gaisha?) in 1959 by a Japanese radio amateur Sako Hasegawa with callsign JA1MP in the Tokyo neighborhood of Yaesu. The initial intent seemed to have been to develop and manufacture commercial and amateur radio transceivers for the Japanese market but by 1964 there were sales agreements placed in Australia and Germany.

In Europe the equipment was sold under the Yaesu brand and the Sommerkamp brand. In 1963 the Swiss firm Sommerkamp imported Yaesu equipment and sold it using their own brand.

Yaesu's line of equipment was first imported into the US by Spectronics, Inc. located in Signal Hill, CA, in 1965. Yaesu became an important presence in the U.S. amateur radio market with the introduction and improvement of its very popular FT-101 line of equipment in the 1970s. In addition, transceivers were OEM'd to Henry Radio in Los Angeles. Spectronics was founded by William Turner, father of Robert Turner who went on to found EMG, Inc. manufacturer of EMG Pickups for electric guitars.

Sako Hasegawa (JA1MP) died in 1990 and Jun Hasegawa took over his job as managing director.

Yaesu Musen acquired the STANDARD radio equipment brand from Marantz Japan in 1998, and changed the company name to Vertex Standard Co., Ltd. (株式会社バーテックススタンダード, Kabushiki-gaisha Bātekkusu Sutandādo?) in 2000. In 2007 Motorola announced its intention to purchase 80% of Vertex Standard and form a joint venture with Tokogiken, which would hold the other 20%. This deal was completed in January 2008. The joint venture was dissolved effective January 1, 2012. The Vertex Standard land mobile division operates as a wholly owned subsidiary headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The Amateur Radio, Airband and Marine Radio business was transferred to the new company "Yaesu Musen".