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Sinclair Radionics

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soon became Sinclair's most successful audio product, being the second product of the "Project 60" range. The "Project 60" products sold well and were supplemented by the "Project 605" kit in 1972. It was eventually superseded by the more advanced "Project 80" kit in 1974. In May 1973 Sinclair Radionics generated £1.8 million turnover. The last Sinclair Radionics hi-fi product was the System 4000, in 1974.
86: 745:. In September the NEB renamed what was left of Radionics (i.e. the scientific instrument business) as Sinclair Electronics Ltd.; in January 1980 this was changed to Thandar Electronics Ltd. In 1989, Thandar Electronics Ltd merged with Thurlby Electronics Ltd, forming Thurlby Thandar Instruments Ltd. This company now does business under the name Aim and Thurlby Thandar Instruments (Aim-TTi). 255: 610:, which was considerably smaller than its competitors' by the use of hearing-aid-sized batteries. What had made this possible was it had been discovered that there was considerable latency in the display and memory and that, with the addition of a timer, power could be withheld from these battery-draining components for much of the time, thus greatly extending battery life. 673:
at £17.95 in kit form and £24.95 ready-built, although this wasn't available to buy until January 1976. Including a five-digit LED display, it suffered from technical flaws related to the design of the case, the chip, the battery and accuracy. Not only was the watch unreliable, Radionics was not able
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In 1965 the "Micro-FM" debuted as "the world's first pocket-size FM tuner-receiver", but was unsuccessful due to technical difficulties. Despite problems, illegal clones were produced in the far east. Sinclair's final 1960s radio kit was the 1967 "Micromatic", billed as "the world's smallest radio"
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Another Sinclair Radionics product that was introduced in 1964 and failed was the first class D amplifier kit rated at 10 watt RMS: a class D switching amplifier that was good in theory but sadly ahead of its time and available technology. The amplifier used low-frequency germanium transistors as
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In 1974, Radionics launched the DM1 digital multimeter. Such scientific instruments were to form a quiet backbone of Radionics business for the rest of its existence. In marked contrast to the rest of the Sinclair range, the instruments gained a reputation for reliable conventionality rather than
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In 1966, Sinclair Radionics re-entered the hi-fi market with the "Stereo 25", a low-cost pre-amp control system. Production was halted in 1968 due to low supply of transistors which had been purchased in 1964 as rejects from other manufacturers. In 1969 it was replaced by the "Stereo Sixty". This
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pulse width modulators and switches and wrongly relied on the loudspeaker's inductance to filter the class D signal into audio. Most often this would short out the output transistors. When it did work the power level was far below 10 watts and Sinclair's main advertising channel,
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to fulfil the orders it had taken. As a result, Radionics made its first loss in the financial year April 1974 – April 1975. The Black Watch fiasco had a devastating effect on Sinclair's finances, and the company would have gone bankrupt had not the Government, through the
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display required much power. It is often credited as being the world's first attractively styled calculator that did not require mains power to be used like prior calculators. The Executive was a phenomenal success, earning Sinclair £1.8m in profit. In 1973 the slightly larger
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at £99.95. Supply exceeded demand, and 12,000 units were left unsold until they were sold off cheaply. This resulted in a £480,000 loss for Sinclair. Sir Clive Sinclair was certain that the TV1B model released in 1978 would be more successful, but sales were disappointing.
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was launched in 1975. It was a scientific pocket calculator for the very competitive price of £49.95. In 1977 a revised model, the "Scientific Programmable", was released at £29.95. The Scientific Programmable Mark 2 was later released, reducing the price to £17.22.
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magazine, and borrowing £50, Clive Sinclair founded Sinclair Radionics Ltd. on 25 July 1961. Sinclair initially worked alone in the evenings in a room in London (he was still a technical journalist during the day), selling radio kits by mail order.
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like Sinclair's earlier radios. The "Micromatic" was a reasonable success and was sold until 1971. In May 1971 Sinclair Radionics made £85,000 profit on £563,000 turnover; the following year profit increased to £97,000 on turnover of £761,000.
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In 1966, Sinclair Radionics developed the world's first portable television, the "Microvision", but never attempted to sell it because development costs would have been too high based on the complicated design the Microvision used.
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When it became clear that Radionics was failing, Clive Sinclair took steps to ensure that he would be able to continue to pursue his commercial goals: in February 1975, he changed the name of Ablesdeal Ltd. (an
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During the majority of the 1970s, Sinclair focused on building the most affordable pocket calculators with the best design. In 1972 Sinclair released the world's first slim-line pocket calculator, the
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Radionics initially developed hi-fi equipment; it released its first product, the Sinclair Micro-amplifier, in December 1962. The assembly and distribution of this product were contracted out to
409:. In the same year, Sinclair released the "Micro-6", matchbox-size radio, which the company claimed was the "world's smallest radio"—it could also be worn on your wrist with the "Transrista". 849: 737:
In May 1979, the NEB announced that it intended to sell Radionics' calculator and TV interests; they were bought by the ESL Bristol group (as Radionic Products Ltd.) and
107: 1159: 1102: 1154: 402:. In 1963 Sinclair Radionics introduced their first radio with the "Sinclair Slimline" in kit form at forty-nine shillings and sixpence (£2.47½). 782:" to generate cash, which soon became a commercial success selling in surprising figures. In July 1977 Sinclair Instrument Ltd was renamed to 875: 1144: 907: 94: 703: 1139: 1164: 711: 197: 169: 706:
agreed to provide £1 million for a revived portable TV project, which was finally launched in January 1977 as the Microvision
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Sinclair Radionics launched the System 2000 amplifier, FM tuner and loudspeaker in 1968. followed by the System 3000 in 1972.
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company he bought in September 1973, for just such an eventuality) to Westminster Mail Order Ltd.; this was changed to
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magazine, was so deluged with complaints that it supposedly refused to take further advertisements from Sinclair.
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Finding it inconvenient to share control after the NEB became involved in Radionics, Sinclair encouraged
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of briefcase calculators. Sinclair also attempted to capture the top-end calculator market with the
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increased its stake in Radionics to 73%. By June 1978 Sinclair Radionics was working on the
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A year later, in 1964, Sinclair released the "X-10" amplifier, one of the first commercial
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Sinclair Radionics advertisement in December 1962 issue of Practical Wireless magazine.
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which developed hi-fi products, radios, calculators and scientific instruments.
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and some parts taken from an earlier Sinclair calculator. This was sold as the
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bought a 43% stake in Sinclair Radionics for £650,000, and in October the
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Not to be confused with the later company also founded by Clive Sinclair,
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After raising funds to start the business by writing articles for
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In 1972, Radionics launched its first electronic calculator, the
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respectively. In July Clive Sinclair resigned with a £10,000
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project, which was later taken over by Newbury Laboratories.
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Arnold, William (9 January 1975). "Sinclair keep it lean".
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microcomputer kit. Science of Cambridge ultimately became
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Financial performance of Sinclair Radionics, 1971—1978
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Vol. 205, no. 5. p. 44. 704:National Research and Development Council 638:In 1975, Sinclair Radionics launched the 235:Learn how and when to remove this message 217:Learn how and when to remove this message 1098:Clive Sinclair and the Pocket Calculator 685: 666:In August 1975, Sinclair introduced the 657: 597: 389: 110:of all important aspects of the article. 681: 14: 1127: 973: 906:: CS1 maint: archived copy as title ( 106:Please consider expanding the lead to 920: 831:from the original on 21 December 2021 1017:Sinclair Radionics (December 1975). 993: 394:The Sinclair Micromatic pocket radio 155:adding citations to reliable sources 126: 79: 38: 1119:Aim and Thurlby Thandar Instruments 778:Sinclair Instrument developed the " 385: 24: 1145:Manufacturing companies of England 982:(1). New York: McGraw Hill: 76–77. 25: 1176: 1112: 602:The Sinclair Executive calculator 54:This article has multiple issues. 1043: 994:Owen, Chris (13 November 1985). 131: 84: 43: 1140:Electronic calculator companies 1060: 650:often unreliable idiosyncrasy. 142:needs additional citations for 98:may be too short to adequately 62:or discuss these issues on the 1165:1961 establishments in England 921:Scott, David (November 1974). 868: 854: 843: 653: 434:Calculators and test equipment 108:provide an accessible overview 13: 1: 1091:Sinclair: A Corporate History 1084: 357:was a company founded by Sir 1150:Companies based in Cambridge 678:, stepped in to support it. 7: 10: 1181: 752: 372: 29: 27:Former Electronics Company 718: 700:National Enterprise Board 690:Sinclair MTV-1 television 676:National Enterprise Board 340: 322: 305: 297: 286: 271: 261: 252: 1105:3 September 2013 at the 811: 784:Science of Cambridge Ltd 662:The Sinclair Black Watch 766:Sinclair Instrument Ltd 792:National Semiconductor 691: 663: 603: 395: 355:Sinclair Radionics Ltd 248:Sinclair Radionics Ltd 1019:"The Black Watch Kit" 806:Sinclair Research Ltd 689: 661: 601: 400:Cambridge Consultants 393: 682:Portable televisions 166:"Sinclair Radionics" 151:improve this article 18:Sinclair Electronics 698:In April 1976, the 632:Sinclair Scientific 440: 331:Sinclair Scientific 249: 1135:Sinclair Radionics 825:"The Pace Setters" 768:. in August 1975. 723:In July 1977, the 692: 664: 644:Sinclair Sovereign 624:Sinclair Cambridge 615:Sinclair Executive 604: 438: 407:Class-D amplifiers 396: 379:Practical Wireless 327:Sinclair Executive 291:Cambridge, England 247: 1048:. 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Index

Sinclair Electronics
Sinclair Research
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lead section
summarize
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verification
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"Sinclair Radionics"
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Limited company
Electronics
hi-fi
Cambridge, England
Clive Sinclair
Nigel Searle
Sinclair Executive
Sinclair Scientific

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