(Source: ARRL via Ed Ganshirt)
International Crystal Manufacturing (ICM) of Oklahoma City has announced that it will be going out of business, probably at the end of May. Royden Freeland Jr., W5EMH, son of the company’s founder, posted a letter this week on the ICM website.
“We will be honoring all orders that we have already taken and will be able to fill a limited amount of new orders dependent upon raw materials available,” Freeland said. “We would like to thank you for your past business. The success of ICM over the previous 66 years has been largely due to its amazing customer base.”
International Crystal produces RF control devices — quartz crystals, oscillators, QCM crystals, filters, TCXOs/VCTCXOs, and precision crystals.[…]
ICM has also posted the following message on their website:
Really sorry that ICM gone, they have been reliable supplier for our crystals.
As ICM’s crystals are not usual ones, it’s not easy for customer to find replacement, even all over the world, and this also why they close, they can’t find some raw materials now.
Here, I want to share with guys of our supplier, for TXCO, we we buy from PDI and some Taiwan company, such as TXC, for QCM sensor crystals, we buy from Renlux Crystals from China, for temperature sensor crystals we buy from Epson of Japan.
I remember ICM ads from my CB days, a great, long-standing company. Thanks for all the great work ICM.
I am surprised that no one is buying them out like what happened to ham radio outlet. Crystals are either a high volume commodity, or a unique custom made to order which is ICM’s forte.
That ARRL piece is misleading. International Crystal long sold items other than crystals.
They had equipment related to frequency measuring. In the sixties they had CB sets. They sold for a few years a license free transceiver, 100mW in the 27MHz range, it could legally be used for long distance. The transmitter was remote, mount it up on the roof o overcome issues of low power and short antenna. I do wonder how many sold, the hobby magazines did offer similar construction projects.
They long sold kits to the hobbyist. Modules that could be interconnected different ways to make different things. Tubes in the sixties, then a line of transistorized modules.
Then last week I saw a piece that pointed out that the home microwave oven was fifty years old this year, those Amana Radarange ovens. Heathkit had a microwave oven kit, but then I realize that wasn’t so early. International Crystal sold a microwave oven, not a kit, in late 1967. They were big enough, yet I wonder how well the oven sold? They were not a mainstream company.
On the other hand, in the mid-sixties International Crystal had a mobile showroom, in an airplane. So it had to be successful then.
Crystals are everywhere now, but they are a commodity, mass produced to a relatively few frequencies, electronics used to synthesize other needed frequencies. There will always be a need for custom ground crystals, for all that old equipment like the Drake SPR-4, but all those two way radios don’t need new crystals if the frequency needs to be changed, the new radios just get reprogrammed. Shortwave radios have leapt from only top end receivers needing lots of crystals (and low end needing none at all), to just about all needing one crystal, and all frequencies derived from that. So much cheaper, and better stability, but a lot less business for custom crystal makers.
Michael
I was the Equipment Sales manager for ICM in the 60’s so am very familiar with what you said. Thanks for reminding of memories. I took trips in the flying showroom. 73 W5HJ
Wow!!!! Sorry to hear about this. I’ve dealt with them for years. I guess that leaves Jan Crystals left in the USA.
Sorry to see them go. I remember getting crystals from ICM in the 1970’s for my Heathkit DX-60 when getting started in amateur radio. I could have ordered an accessory variable frequency oscillator — a few crystals were cheaper as I recall.