What Happened to E.F. Johnson? It Built CB Like Police Radio

E.F. Johnson started in 1923, selling transmitting parts by mail from Waseca, Minnesota. In 1949 it shipped the Viking I, a $209.50 kit conservatively rated at 100 watts AM phone and 115 on CW, and it beat its own numbers. The Viking line set the look of a serious station for twenty years. The Ranger had a built-in VFO and still covered 11 meters. The Valiant ran three finals in parallel. Beside them sat the business nobody noticed: police radio since 1939, and two-way radio for taxi fleets and sheriffs from 1961. Everything was heavy, conservative and built to a standard. Then the Messenger CB line rode the 1970s boom past 2,500 employees, and in 1977 Johnson lost $19 million. Carter's 1978 tariff did not save it. Johnson walked away from consumer radio, went back to public safety, and was profitable by 1981. The overbuilt radio never fit a fad. 73. #hamradio #cbradio #amateurradio #boatanchor #vintageradio #electronicshistory