Pop Quiz: Did the Sears 3880 ever have an FT designator outside the USA? Read on.
100% Yaesu product — worthy of a place in the Fox Tango hall of fame.
Why Care About the Sears 3880?
Modern 2m rigs do far more — so why look back? Because this is amateur radio history that evolved from the Yaesu factory in Japan into American living rooms via the Sears catalog. How many hams in the late 1970s flipped pages wishing they could afford $299.95 for a programmable 2m rig with LED readout when most transceivers were still crystal controlled?
Many owned one as a first rig. Though they say SEARS on the front, they are through-and-through Yaesu — an interesting piece of funk that should not disappear into a file cabinet forever.
Sears Catalog 1977–1978
Fall/Winter 1977 catalog: Sears (#1) 3880 PLL transceiver and (#2) 3881 remote 200-channel selector in 10 kHz steps.
Two VHF FM transceivers sold by Sears in the US, both built by Yaesu.
Sears Model 3573 — Yaesu FT-223
Sears Model 3573 (412 3573 0600) was sold worldwide as the Yaesu FT-223. $149 with three crystals for 146.52 simplex, 146.16/76 and 146.34/94 repeater pairs. Additional crystals $4.95 each.
Sears Model 3880
The more interesting of the two Sears rigs: PLL and digital display, front panel resembling the FT-223 but internals closer to the FT-227R. Optional 3881 Channel Selector 200 plugs into the rear jack for 200 channels without programming the internal optical drum.
When these radios were built, the US 2m FM sub-band was 144–146 MHz. Repeater rules proposed in 1970 authorized inputs 146.3–146.6 MHz and outputs 146.9–147.2 MHz. The 3880 tunes 146–148 MHz in 10 kHz steps without crystals.
3880 & 3881 operator manuals and schematics — to be added when available.
3880 vs Yaesu FT-227R
Model 3880 (412 3880 0700) inside resembles the popular FT-227R Memorizer, likely predating it by several years (circa 1977–1978).
Still not convinced? The front-panel switch board clearly shows the Yaesu logo.
Optical Channel Selector
The optical channel selector is made of glass — break it and it’s all over for the 3880.
Like early synthesized scanners programmed with toggle switches or punched cards, the 3880 uses an optical tuning drum for 22 PLL channels between 146 and 148 MHz. Cover transparent slits with opaque dots for binary programming (146.00–147.99 MHz). The optional 3881 selects 200 channels in 10 kHz steps without drum programming.
Open question: Was the Sears 3880 sold elsewhere under an FT designator, or was it exclusively for Sears & Roebuck?
If you know, please contact Fox Tango.
Also from Yaesu for Sears
C. L. Maher W4CLM
Club Administrator, Fox Tango International