Image source: Universal Radio
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Anil, who writes:
Here is a link to an Ebay auction for the mythical Sony CRF-V21. In all my years, I have never seen one for sale before and it might be interesting for some blog readers…
Mythical is, indeed, the correct word for the Sony CRF-V21, Anil!
I still own this radio. It was manufactured in limited number and was priced 7k..
I remember when this receiver first came out and Sony Canada brought it to an ODXA convention in Scarborough, ON. The owners’ manual was in Japanese. I sat down at it and started to play with it and had it all figured out within 5 to 10 minutes. The engineers from Sony were amazed and figured they could write an English manual from just watching me.
No, actually these do come up on Ebay, perhaps once or twice a year. There was one a few months ago in virtually new condition, and which also had all of its aging capacitors replaced. So, this is definitely not in the ultra-rare category (in that category are the National HRO-600, one of which appeared in 2015, and the Squires Sanderes SS-IBS receiver, one of which appeared in December). We must remember that the V21s suffer from this issue of aging components which can be a huge problem unless you know how to replace the capacitors or know someone who can…
Holy cow. €2000 and it is not functioning!
First one I have ever seen for sale. I remember seeing photos of that radio in my WRTH back in the days and dreaming of that wefax printer.