GE electronics/telephone date codes

Does anyone know how to decode the date codes GE used on their radios, alarm clock radios, telephones, etc?

Most GE electronics have a label that has the model number, serial number, boxes labeled 1-5 with check marks in pen, and a date code. Although the phones don't have the check boxes that I've seen.

The date code has 4 numbers followed by two letters. The second number always seems to be the last digit of the year. In some cases where there was actually a month and year on a separate sticker, the last digit of the year always seems to match the second digit of the date code.

I'm wondering if possibly the last two digits could be the week. Of the 3 GE telephones I have, one says "1835RB" another says "3648RB" and the other says "5752HP".

I also have a GE radio/CD player that says "5643RA".

Since none have more than 52 as the last digits, I'm thinking that's probably the month, as in the "5752HP" would be December.

Years ago I had an 1980s GE red LED alarm clock radio also with a sticker, and I think it followed the same format.

However a GE analog alarm clock I have from the 1960s or 70s has no such code. Either this didn't apply to their clocks, or that unit was made before the date code was used.


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Post# 414347 9/28/2019 at 08:55 (1,672 days old) by fan-of-fans (USA)
Checkrate/Likes Does anyone know how to decode the date codes GE used on their radios, alarm clock radios, telephones, etc? Most GE electronics have a label that has the model number, serial number, boxes labeled 1-5 with check marks in pen, and a date code. Although the phones don't have the check boxes that I've seen. The date code has 4 numbers followed by two letters. The second number always seems to be the last digit of the year. In some cases where there was actually a month and year on a separate sticker, the last digit of the year always seems to match the second digit of the date code. I'm wondering if possibly the last two digits could be the week. Of the 3 GE telephones I have, one says "1835RB" another says "3648RB" and the other says "5752HP". I also have a GE radio/CD player that says "5643RA". Since none have more than 52 as the last digits, I'm thinking that's probably the month, as in the "5752HP" would be December. Years ago I had an 1980s GE red LED alarm clock radio also with a sticker, and I think it followed the same format. However a GE analog alarm clock I have from the 1960s or 70s has no such code. Either this didn't apply to their clocks, or that unit was made before the date code was used.

Post# 414379 , Reply# 1 9/28/2019 at 20:46 (1,671 days old) by MadMan (Chicago, IL, USA)
Checkrate/Likes The only GE thing I have that has a date code stamped on the sticker is a clock/radio probably from the '80s, and the date code is 1643.

Post# 415689 , Reply# 2 11/10/2019 at 16:37 (1,628 days old) by kb3pxr (Waynesboro PA USA)
Checkrate/Likes *Electronics Date Code Super Cheat* Sometimes the only way to determine reliably is to open the device up and find date codes on the ICs (chips). This tells you when the ICs were made The code is in a YYWW format with the YY being the last two digits of the year and the WW being the week with a Monday to Sunday week being used. Today is the last day of week 45 in 2019 so the code for an IC produced in the US right now would be 1945. To find an approximate date of when the item was made you need to find the latest date code that is not too far out of line with the other dates in the unit. For example if most date codes in a device start with 87, but you find an 84 and a 91, you can suspect that the 1984 part was old stock or a replacement from old stock and the 91 was a later replacement. For earlier electronics, part numbers and features can help date a unit. For example a US market TV without a UHF tuner would likely be from 1964 or earlier as UHF tuners were made mandatory after 1964. Radios with with Factory Civil Defense markings at 640 and 1240 for CONELRAD were mandatory from 1953 to 1963 although some radios were made after with the then obsolete markings.