[Arran]

I have read varying stories about how these Soviet made sets came to be, there does seem to be a cutoff line starting with mid 1930s RCA designs. In one account I heard that they simply bought American made RCA sets and reverse engineered them. In another account, related mainly to television, was that whatever branch of government was in charge purchased receivers and broadcast equipment from RCA around 1936-37. I have never heard any accounts of RCA manufacturing radios in the Soviet Union nor of assisting the Soviets in tooling up a manufacturing plant. Given the mixture of RCA patterned and indigenous parts in those radios I'm inclined to believe that a lot of reverse engineering was involved. I do know that they did have an existing radio and electrical industry prior to these sets being built, but I think that they used a mix of European and home grown designs in tubes and in set design, so it wasn't entirely set up from scratch. It would be interesting to find out the story behind this beyond speculation and rumors.
You have to remember that the U.S was the technological standard of the day in the production of radio receivers, and RCA was among the technological leaders. So if you wanted to establish a successful electronics industry you would want to at least take a look at what the most successful people were doing. From what I can tell the Italians did much the same, they purchased licenses to produce American Bosch sets in the late 20s and early 1930s to give a kick start to their industry. Before that most of the radios sold in Italy were imported or produced by foreign firms.
Best Regards
Arran