Vörös Szikra (Red Spark)

In the same year, two other types of Hungarian public-use complete tape recorders appeared. In the autumn of 1954, the first version of the Vörös Szikra (Red Spark) factory’s eponymous recorder was released. This marked the beginning of the Hungarian tape recorders’ series labeled with the letter ‘M’. The first series of Vörös Szikra was the ‘M1’ type. This recorder was manufactured in two basic variants by what later became known as the Budapest Radio Technology Factory (BRG). The ‘M1’ was initially designed with a lower head position, meaning the tape had to be placed with its oxide side facing downwards (outwards). As this deviated from the established format at the time, they later produced the second variant, the ‘M2’ type, which featured an upper head position where the tape’s oxide side faced upwards. This type also included a radio detector preamplifier tuned to Kossuth Radio, with an on-off switch integrated. The Vörös Szikra recorder stands out as one of the most interesting devices in Hungarian tape recorder manufacturing—a unique upright design among the 26 different types of Hungarian public-use tape recorders. It was crafted with enthusiastic amateur spirit and intellect—a stable, robust, and heavy (19 kg) early electronic tube-based recording device.