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The French engineer Georges Camille Fernand Vitus, who lived from 1896 to 1969, was a leading radio pioneer, a graduate of the École Supérieure d'Électricité.
During World War I he joined the Center for Studies of the technical and scientific methods of research into equipment and communications, founded and led by Colonel Gustave Ferrie.
In 1921 he began a parts warehouse for radio receivers in the Rue Damrémont 90 in Paris. Not may radios were
factory-made at that time and if they were, they were very expensive, so many radio amateurs made their own radios.
In that same year he designed a tuner type Tesla, which he decides to sell under his own name.
Until 1922 he worked with André Hardy, then he started his own workshop for making parts, in the Rue Saint-Maur in Paris 54. He specialized in the design and manufacture of highly accurate calibrated variable air capacitors and he began with the production of crystal receivers and receivers equipped with valves.
The first receiver of his own design came on the market in the year 1922. The "Studio", a receiver equipped with two valves of the TM type, suitable for the reception of waves of 200 to 4000 meters. This receiver was followed by a model that would be decisive for the success of Vitus receivers: the Mondial. The Mondial won the Grand Prix du Concours de TSF in 1922.
 
Faced with the increased number of radio producers, Vitus had consciously chosen to make products for wealthy customers by producing very small series of receivers of high quality, both in performance and in appearance. Fernand Vitus was a member of the Professional Association of Radio Industries, SPIR (Syndicat Professionnel des Industries Radio Radioélectriques). He was one of the organizers of the first Radio Salon, which took place in 1924 at the Champ de March 3. On the occasion of this exhibition, he presented his latest creation, the "Mondial III", a receiver with four valves. This receiver was admired by the public for its appearance and performance, but Fernand Vitus was a member of the jury, and the Mondial III remained outside competition.
From 1922 to 1926 Fernand Vitus designed and produced receivers of the "Résonance" and "Autodyne" type. These receivers were equipped with TM lamps and the later more efficient micro lamps.
In 1927 he designed the eight-valve "L'Ultra-heterodyne" receiver, which worked according to the superheterodyne principle.
In the late 1920s, Fernand Vitus diversifies his production by designing sound equipment for movie theaters and began with the production of amplifiers for the "talking" movie.
In the building on rue Damrémont, Fernand Vitus designed and built a radio station with an adjustable output power of 150 watts to 10 kilowatts. On December 1, 1926 the first broadcast of "Radio Vitus, poste de Montmartre" took place. The transmitter had an output of 500 watts, and broadcasted at a wavelength of 310 meters. In 1930 Fernand Vitus was no longer able to contribute financially to the costs of the operation of Radio Vitus and he decided to work together with industrialist Bernard Natan, owner of Pathé Cinema. On August 8, 1930, the public company Radio-Natan-Vitus was founded. Fernand Vitus had a 30% minority share in the company, and Bernard Natan took over the management himself. In January 1934 the station was renamed "Poste de l'Ile de France".
The company Vitus continued making radios until the middle of the 50s of the last century.

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